One-Finger Guitar Chord Primer, lesson 6

Welcome back to the One Finger Guitar Chord Primer. We're going to learn a new tune in this lesson, Aura Lee, which is much better known as Love Me Tender. Aura Lee is going to teach us a new chord form. It's our first that uses two fingers. Here it is:

This is a type of chord we haven't played yet. Our previous chords were either major or minor. Remember from lesson four in this series that major chords tend to feel content or peaceful, while minor chords sound somber and dark. Dominant seven chords tend to give you a sense of anticipation or even excitement. They also create the expectation that the next chord you hear will be a major or minor chord, which very often follows the dominant seven chord.

Our new chord, shown above, is played on strings 1 to 3 -- or, 1 to 4 for a fuller sound. You place your first finger across strings 1 to 3 (or 1 to 4) on fret 2. And place your second finger on fret 3, string 1. As with our other chord shapes, this one can slide to any fret. In fact, the Aura Lee arrangement in this lesson uses this shape in two different positions: frets 2 and 4.

Before we get to the playalong, which shows you which frets to move your left hand to, listen to this sound file. It tells you the order in which to pluck the strings.

Don't worry about playing the chords exactly as they're played in this sound file. You can play the chords any way you want: one string at a time, or pluck them all at once. Let your right hand do what sounds good to your ear.

Here's the playalong for the left hand.

You can play this in Windows Media Player, and also the free and small-sized VideoLan player.

What to practice: Practice playing along with the video until you can play the complete arrangement. Then, turn off the video and play the song solo while singing the melody.

Review the other songs you know, including Cielito Lindo.

Remember to take the time to play around, to color outside the lines, as a kid with a coloring book does. Music is resilient, and it always gives you another chance to sound good. To help you recall ideas for exploring different ways of playing a song, review this lesson.

In the next One-Finger lesson, we'll learn another two-finger shape.

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Guitar Chords (GC) builds your chops and helps you identify harmonies by ear. GC teaches you chord substitution; Jazz, Rock and Blues progressions; transposing songs; harmonizing melodies; fingerpicking, alternating bass, arpeggios, and much more.