Do The Guitar Grooves With The G Family Chords

Original members of the Rivermaya Band

The G family of chords is my favorite. As a young boy, I grew up listening to the nostalgic songs of Eraserheads, Riyermaya, and Siakol. These OPM bands used the G family of chords a lot in their compositions and I've spent a great deal of time learning to play these great songs on my guitar.

Original members of the Eraserheads Band

So far, we have already tackled two chord families, A and D. Some chords in these families also belong to the G family. The basic chords that make up the G family are G, Am, C, D, and Em. If you have been following along with my previous posts, for sure, you already how to play the chords G, D, and Em. That means you only need to learn two more chords, Am and C, to complete your repertoire.


The following figures shows the fingering of the chords in the G-family:

Am Chord diagram and left-hand fingering

 

C Chord diagram and left-hand fingering

 

Notice the similarity between these two chords. The notes that the Am and C share (1st and 2nd finger) are known as common tones. Only the 3rd finger is needed to be switched to a different position. Always keep in mind not to play any string that is marked with an X symbol and in the case above, the 6th string.

For the chords G, D, and Em, please refer to my previous posts.

Now lets try playing these in a progression as shown in the image below:

Progression in the key of G

Practice this progression over and over in order for you to get used to switching chords and to build up those left-hand calluses. Also take notice of the 2nd and 3rd beats of each measure wherein you need to play two strums "down-up" in a single beat.