Basics of Blues Guitar Chords: Playing 7 Essential Blues Guitar Chords

Start Playing Blues Guitar Today

This article shows you how to play 7 essential blues guitar chords. Using these 7 chords, and your knowledge of the twelve bar blues progression, you will be able to play blues guitar in 5 essential keys: C, A, G, E, and D. If you don't know the twelve bar blues, see my article, Basics of Blues Guitar Chords: Playing The Twelve Bar Blues.

How to read the chord diagrams

The Guitar articles on this site use standard graphical chord diagrams. You may already know how to read chord diagrams like this, but just in case you don't, here's a quick course in how to read them: How To Read Guitar Chord Diagrams

The 7 Essential Blues Guitar Chords

Now that you know the 7 essential blues guitar chords, you can use them to play the blues in the five CAGED keys:

Blues Chords in C:

I chord:	IV chord:	V chord:

Blues Chords in A:

I chord:	IV chord:	V chord:

Blues Chords in G:

I chord:	IV chord:	V chord:

Blues Chords in E:

I chord:	IV chord:	V chord:

Blues Chords in D:

I chord:	IV chord:	V chord:

This article has shown you how to play 7 essential blues guitar chords. If you know the twelve bar blues progression, you can use these 7 chords to play blues guitar in 5 essential keys: C, A, G, E, and D. To learn the twelve bar blues progression, look for my article Basics of Blues Guitar Chords: Playing The Twelve Bar Blues.