When you begin to play the guitar you will be learning open chords which are just a matter of practice, but blues music makes heavy use of seventh chords which can be tricky for the beginner. You can play major or minor chords without the seventh if you want to but if you listen to blues using seventh chords, you will see that the feeling is much stronger.
You might need to use all four left hand fingers to fret seventh chords. The G7 chord is easy but the C7 chord and the B7 involve applying pressure on four guitar strings. This use of the pinky in fingering these chords will require a bit of practice.
One simple trick for the blues beginner guitar player is getting the hang of when to lift your fingers off the fretboard. Changing from the A minor chord to the C major chord involves moving only the third finger of the left hand from the second fret on the third string to the third fret of the fifth string, yet beginner guitar players will often make this chord change by lifting all the fingers off the old chord position and replacing them in the next chord shape.
A basic chord progression in the key of E can easily be learnt by blues beginner guitar players. It contains the chords E, E7, A7 and B7:
E E E E | E E E E | E E E E | E7 E7 E7 E7 |
A7 A7 A7 A7 | A7 A7 A7 A7 | E E E E | E E E E |
B7 B7 B7 B7 | A7 A7 A7 A7 | E E E E | E E E E |
Here is the tab for the E chord:
e———————–|
B———————–|
G——–1————–|
D——2—————-|
A—-2——————|
E–0——————–|
The E7 chord is the same but has a D note added at the third fret of the second string:
e———————–|
B———-3————|
G——–1————–|
D——2—————-|
A—-2——————|
E–0——————–|
The B7 chord is a little awkward because all four fingers are crowded together:
e———-2————|
B——–0————–|
G——2—————-|
D—-1——————|
A–2——————–|
E-x———————|
And here is the A7 chord:
e————0———-|
B———-2————|
G——–0————–|
D——2—————-|
A—-0——————|
E–x——————–|
Here is a video on playing 7th chords:
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