Free Guitar Chord Chart



All guitar players are invited to this free guitar chord chart. I provide a free printable chord chart on each page of this library...right click on diagram and select 'Print Picture...'

C Major Chord

Alternative Names: C Major, CM, Cmaj, Cma
C Major Guitar Chord

Music Theory

The C major chord is made up of the "intervals" or scale notes (1 3 5), notes C E G. An interval is the distance between two notes. These intervals have numbers based on the major scale of any given key. The following example shows a C scale and corresponding "diatonic" interval numbers, or degree of the scale:

C Scale: C D E F G A B C
Intervals: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Major chords have stable, positive, upbeat and happy sounds. Learn more about major scales, especially if you want to do some songwriting.

Chord Progressions

Roman Numerals: I II III IV V VI VII VIII are used to represent each of the chords in a given key.

The chords have the same letter name as the degrees of the major scale with which they are associated, as in the chart below.

  • C = 1 = I
  • D = 2 = II
  • E = 3 = III
  • F = 4 = IV
  • G = 5 = V
  • A = 6 = VI
  • B = 7 = VII
  • C = 8 = VIII (same as I)

Here is a common chord progression used in many rock, blues, blue-grass and folk songs. The example in the chart below is in the key of C Major:

I - IV - V - I
C - F - G - C
C Major Guitar Chord F Major Guitar Chord G Major Guitar Chord C Major Guitar Chord
The V chord (G) is commonly played as a dominant 7th to create more tension or pull to the I chord (C). The I, IV and V7 chords are the most important chords to learn. Here is the chord progression chart:

I - IV - V7 - I
C - F - G7 - C
C Major Guitar Chord F Major Guitar Chord G7 Guitar Chord C Major Guitar Chord

Free Acoustic Guitar Lessons

Have a yearning to learn how to play the guitar, but never had time for lessons? Check out my other pages for free acoustic guitar lessons. You'll find free video guitar lessons plus easy explanations of the proper hand positions, free tabs, chart and even the lyrics to the songs! Check out my recommendations for easy guitar music for beginners.

Three Chord Guitar Songs

Ready to learn songs that use only three guitar chords?

The Hal Leonard 3 Chord Songbook of 50 songs only uses three chords: C Major, D Major and G Major.

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