Hello, there. First of all, let's get that left hand strengthened and working. So start with some conditioning. Put your first finger on the first fret on the high e string (the thinnest one), second finger on the second fret and so on with all four fingers.
Now anchor your second and fourth fingers and pull your first and third fingers off and strech them. Do this a few times and switch fingers- anchor your first and third and pull off your second and fourth.
Some good warming up exercises are 01234 and 02132432.
01234321 is this: |01234321----------------------------| | |---------01234321-------------------| | |------------------01234321----------| | and so on... |---------------------------01234321-| \/ |------------------------------------| |------------------------------------| Be sure to hold each finger down as you fret the next one. 02132432 is this: and can be played on any string. |-02132432-03243543-04354654-| ----> and so on up the neck |----------------------------| |----------------------------| |----------------------------| |----------------------------| |----------------------------| In this exercise it is not necessary to hold each finger down.Now that you're warmed up we can take a look at some basic open chords.
D A7 C G E A
e|-2---0--0--3--0--0----------------
B|-3---2--1--0--0--2----------------
G|-2---0--0--0--1--2----------------
D|-0---2--2--0--2--2----------------
A|-----0--3--2--2--0----------------
E|-----------3--0-------------------
Suggested fingerings:
1 - index 2 - middle 3 - ring 4 - pinky
strings - EADGBe
||||||
D |||132
A7 ||1|2|
C |32|1|
G 21|||3
E |231||
A ||123|
Use this chart and the tab above to finger the chords and play the right strings.A lot of songs can be made out of these chords, like Knocking on Heaven's Door - G,D,C. Just practice switching back and forth between them. You can buy a lot of classic rock books that are made with open chords for beginners. Trust me, there are a lot of them!