G Major Chord on Guitar, Piano and Ukulele – How to Play it

The G major chord is built from a root note (G), a major third (B), and a perfect fifth (D):

G chord [Musical explanation]

The G major chord is a major triad with formula 1 – 3 – 5. Therefore, to build it we need G (1), B (3) and D (5):

This is due to the fact that a major chord is made up of 2 third intervals:

If we apply this principle to the G chord we obtain that:

Thus, this confirms that the G major chord is defined by:

Root (G) – Major Third (B) – Perfect Fifth (D)

G Guitar Chord

The G major chord guitar has the following shape on the fretboard:

Let’s analyze in detail this chord diagram above to make sure that we understand how to play the G on guitar:

Let’s start by analyzing the 3 circles in blue, which indicate that on the strings 6 (E), 5 (A) and 1 (e) we have to place the fingers 2 (middle), 1 (index) and 3 (ring finger).

Note by the way the number 1 in black on the left that indicates on which fret we start playing the chord.

On the other hand, at the top we see that we have the characters:

G B D G B G

This simply means that in the:

And at the bottom we find the numbers:

1  3 5  1  3 1

This indicates that in the:

⚠️ Important: it is not mandatory to memorize all this information to play the G chord on guitar. But it is highly recommended to know it in order to understand the musical theory behind each chord.

Other ways to play the G guitar chord

In addition to the diagram shown at the beginning of the article, we can also find the G chord in the following fretboard positions:

G major triad chords and inversions

Triads

First Inversion (G/B)

Second Inversion (G/D)

What chords are in G major?

The G major scale harmonized results on the following chords:

G (I) – Am (ii) – Bm (iii) – C (IV) – D (V) – Em (vi) – Fº (viiº)

A very good chord to practice with G is the D chord, since it is the fifth chord in the progression and the dominant.

G Ukulele Chord

Here you can see as well two ways to play the G chord on the uke:

G Piano Chord

To play the G chord on piano we only need to find the same music notes on its keys:

Music scales in which the G major chord can be found

• G major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • G Am Bm C D Em F#dim
• C major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • C Dm Em F G Am Bdim
• D major scale (harmonized with triads)
  • D Em G♭m G A Bm D♭dim
• E minor natural scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Em G♭dim G Am Bm C D
• A natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Am Bdim C Dm Em F G
• B natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Bm D♭dim D Em G♭m G A
• A harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Am Bdim C Dm Em F G
• C harmonic minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Cm Ddim E♭aug Fm G A♭ Bdim
• D natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Dm Em Faug G A Bdim D♭dim
• C natural minor scale (harmonized with triads)
  • Cm Dm E♭aug F G Adim Bdim

G Major Chord PDF

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