Major and Minor Triads - Top Three Strings

Being able to effectively play rhythm guitar parts is one of the most important skill a guitar player can develop.

I have found the following set of chord "shapes" to work well for playing a variety of rhythm parts, particularly when the guitar needs to avoid occupying too much sonic space in an arrangement. The first set of shapes covers the three possible inversions of the major triad on the top three strings. On top of each chord diagram is a series of numbers showing the fingers commonly used to make each shape. Under each chord diagram I have indicated on what string the root lies. So, since the first major shape has the root note on the high E string, making this shape at the third fret would produce a G Major chord.  

The chord diagrams for the minor triads work in the same manner. In my next post I will go through using these shapes to play some common chord progressions, and I will try to add a few audio/video files as well.