GuitarChords.net

G major guitar chord

G major is G, B, and D. The first picture uses three fingers and still plays the thickest string. Copy that picture, then read the list if a string is unclear.

x means muted. 0 means open.

G major

Short code 320003, thickest string first.

  1. Low E string: fret 3, middle finger, note G, 1st.
  2. A string: fret 2, index finger, note B, 3rd.
  3. D string: open, note D, 5th.
  4. G string: open, note G, 1st.
  5. B string: open, note B, 3rd.
  6. High E string: fret 3, ring finger, note G, 1st.

G major uses the notes G, B and D.

This is a beginner grip.

People write "G" for "G major".

The first shape does not use a barre.

Another shape on this page uses a barre.

The next beginner chord on this site is D major. Open the D major page.

More G guitar chords.

Also G minor, G dominant 7, G major 7, G minor 7, G suspended 2, G suspended 4, G power chord, G diminished, G augmented.

G major, another shape

Short code 355433, thickest string first.

Barre fret 3 with the index finger on the low E, B and high E strings.

  1. Low E string: fret 3, index finger, note G, 1st.
  2. A string: fret 5, ring finger, note D, 5th.
  3. D string: fret 5, pinky finger, note G, 1st.
  4. G string: fret 4, middle finger, note B, 3rd.
  5. B string: fret 3, index finger, note D, 5th.
  6. High E string: fret 3, index finger, note G, 1st.

G major uses the notes G, D and B.

Why do these two G major shapes sound different?

Both pictures are G, B, and D. That is G major. The first picture rings three open strings in the middle (D, G, and B) and still plays the thick string. The second picture is a barre at fret 3 with no open strings. Same three notes. The barre shape usually sounds thicker because nothing is ringing open.

If the G major in a song sounds heavier than what you get from the first picture, try the barre picture lower on this page. It is still G major. This first picture leaves the B string with no finger. Some lessons put a finger on that B string. That can still be G major.

This site shows the chord. It does not play the recording. If you play along with a recording and it does not match, the recording may use the barre shape, a capo (a clamp that raises every string), or a chart that is not this G. Check those before you decide your fingers failed.

B is the note that makes this chord major instead of minor. On the first picture that B is on the A string, fret 2, index finger. The open B string is the same note higher up. Play G minor after this G major. On G minor that note is B flat. Listen for B turning into B flat.

You can play G major well and D major well and still have trouble in a song that uses both. The hard part is moving from this first G shape to the first D shape without stopping. No finger stays on the same string and fret. Practice that change slowly.

Chords that go with G major

The matching minor chord is E minor. Open the E minor page.

This site also has C major and D major.

Progressions that start on G major

Play each line in order.

G major, C major, D major, G major

This is the campfire loop. G major (G) to C major (C) to D major (D) and home. Your ear already knows the last chord is coming, and that little click of "yes" is why beginners and church basements and country radio never get tired of it. It feels like a door shutting gently, not slamming.

G major, D major, E minor, C major

This loop is why so many pop songs feel like they have a plot. Bright, brighter, then E minor (Em) makes it personal, then C major lets you keep going. Country-pop and adult contemporary use it too, not only Top 40. Good for a chorus people can feel on the first listen.

G major, E minor, C major, D major

G major to Em is the first drop in the stomach. C major and D major walk you back the way a slow dance does. 1950s doo-wop and old love songs wore this path smooth. People hum it in the car before they know the words.

G major, D major, C major, G major

No minor chord, so no lump in the throat — only forward. 1970s rock, church-camp songs, anything that wants grit and a grin instead of a sad verse. You stomp. You keep going.

G major, A minor, D major, G major

A minor (Am) is a quieter color, not a tragedy. D major turns you around. G major is still home; you just took the long way. Jazz standards and softer pop from the 1930s on like that little wait before you land. It feels grown without getting hard.

Songs with G major

Listen for this chord, then use the grip on this page.

Let It Be

G major sits in this Beatles song. The recording is in C major. It also uses C major, A minor, and F major. The verse is C major, G major, A minor, F major.

G major is the second chord of the verse.

Let It Be is a C major song. In the verse you play C major first, then G major. C major sits still. G major is brighter. It is the first step forward.

On January 30, 1969 the Beatles left the basement studio in their own company building, Apple Corps, at 3 Savile Row in London. They walked up onto the roof. It was lunchtime. They had not played a public show since 1966.

Ringo Starr later said in Anthology they could have gone to the Palladium or the Sahara. They went up five floors of their office instead.

John Lennon said, at the door to the roof, that they should go play the show. Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg told that story when Peter Jackson’s Get Back film came out in 2021.

They played for about 42 minutes, until the police asked them to turn it down. It was the last time they played in public. They did not play Let It Be on that roof. Let It Be is a piano song they cut downstairs in the same building. The roof was still the day they stepped outside and played for the street.

In the verse, you leave C major and play G major. G major is brighter. That month they left a cold soundstage, then a basement, and they went up onto the roof to play live.

Creep

G major sits in this Radiohead song. The recording is in G major. It also uses B major, C major, and C minor. The verse is G major, B major, C major, C minor.

G major is the first chord of the verse and the chord the song keeps coming back to.

Radiohead put Creep out as a single on September 21, 1992. It is on their first album, Pablo Honey, in 1993. G major is the home chord. It is the chord the verse starts on.

Thom Yorke wrote it years earlier, at the University of Exeter, in the late 1980s. He told NME in 1992 he had been in the middle of an obsession that lasted about eight months. It did not work out, which made it worse. He later said he should not have admitted she was a real person.

This song is the one he brought to the band from that time. G major is the chord you sit on at the start of the verse. Then you play B major (B), C major, and C minor (Cm), and come back.