How To Play C Major Chord All Over The Fretboard

When starting to learn guitar, the first thing recommended by all guitar teachers is learning some basic chords. So, In this lesson, I will show you, how you can play the C Major chord on the guitar and will also help you in getting familiar with its different positions and how to play them.

The open C Major chord is easy to play as it requires only three fingers to hold the chord but its other positions can seem a little hard for a newbie.

Open C Major Chord ( How do you hold C chord )

As you can see in the image, the open C Major chord has only 3 notes and the notes are C, E, and G. Here C is the root note, E is the 3rd note and G is the 5th note.

To hold an open C Major chord, simply follow the instruction below:

1. Place your 3rd finger on 3rd fret of 5th string
2. Place your 2nd finger on 2nd fret of 4th string
3. Place your 1st finger on 1st fret of 2nd string.

Make sure there is enough gap between all the finger placement and none of your fingers are touching other strings. If so the sound produced will be not clear. Now you can strum or pluck the strings and you will be amazed by the sound. Congrats on learning your first chord!

C Bar Chord (on 3rd fret)

As you can see in the image, this is the first position of C bar chord. This chord can be little difficult to play if you are a newbie but as you practice the finger placement more and more you can easily master it.

Follow the instruction to hold it properly.

1. Place your 1st finger on the 3rd fret and bar it.
2. With your 3rd finger again bar the 5th fret of 2nd, 3rd and 4th string.

If you are trying it for the first time, the sound will not come out clear but as I said with time and practice it will seem easy to play this chord.

C Bar Chord (on 8th fret)

This is the most common C bar chord played by most of the guitarists. It can be tricky for you if you are just starting out in guitar but practice makes it all easy.

Follow the instruction to hold it.

1. Place your 1st finger on the 8th fret and bar it completely.
2. Place your 2nd finger on the 9th fret of 3rd string.
3. Place your 3rd finger on the 10th fret of 5th string.
4. Lastly, place your 4th finger on the 10th fret of 4th string.

C Bar Chord (on 5th fret)

Don’t get intimidated by this position of C bar chord, it will take some practice but it’s not quite as hard as it looks! To hold this chord, you will need to stretch the fingers quite a bit, but you’ll get used to it over time and it’ll make other chords seem easier.

1. Place your 1st finger on the 5th fret of 2nd, 3rd and 4th string and bar it.
2. Place your 2nd finger on 7th fret of 5th string.
3. Place your 3rd finger on 8th fret of 6th string.
4. Lastly place your 4th finger on 8th fret of 1st string.

The sound and tonality of the chord is beautiful and as you play it you will know.

C Chord – 5th position

This position of the C chord is similar to an open D chord but it’s played on the 10th fret. Playing the notes of this chord individually can be useful when soloing.

1. Place your 1st finger on the 10th fret of 4th string.
2. 2nd finger on 12th fret of 3rd string.
3. 3rd finger on 12th fret of 1st string.
4. Lastly 4th finger on 13th fret of 2nd string.

Conclusion

Now that you have all the 5 positions of the C chord, you can use it whenever it is necessary. Try to practice and memorize all the positions. The more you practice the harder chords, the more you will unlock the fret board!