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I've decided to show you a 4 guitar chord progression that is out of the key of C major. I will also be adding a guitar lesson on strumming this chord progression, so stay tuned for that lesson.
The key of C major has the notes and chords of: C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, B diminished and C major. The progression I will be showing uses the chords of: C major, A minor, F major and G major. C, Am, F, G. This is called a I- vi -IV- V progression. 1-6-4-5 progression.
When you see the small roman numeral symbol, such as the (vi), this represents the minor guitar chord.
C would be the I, D minor would be the ii, E minor would be the iii, F major would be the IV, G major would be the V, A minor would be the vi and B diminished would be the vii.
The guitar chords and tablature below will show you how to play the progression.
1 = Index finger
2 = Middle finger
3 = Ring finger
4 = Pinkie
T = Thumb
After you practice the picking style above, you can use it to play this progression. This is called a I - IV- V progression in the key of C major. The song Blowin in the wind, uses this progression or is very close and maybe in another key. You can adapt my fingering style to it, but it is not the fingering style that is used in the song.
Once you learn this progression and song, you can begin to write your own songs. But, the idea here, is to let you see that you don't really need to learn a hundred chords to begin to play music. I would highly recommend that you learn this song, at least by strumming it. Then you can move on to the picking lesson. A couple verses have been included below, if you would like to learn the complete song, you might want to look up some sheet music. I've added the chords below and some of the lyrics. Remember, you need to play the picking style above.