What Notes Are in a G Chord?
The G major chord contains three notes: G, B, and D. These are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes from the G major scale, which is the formula for building any major chord.
When you play a standard G chord on guitar, you’re actually playing these three notes multiple times across different strings:
- 6th string (3rd fret): G
- 5th string (2nd fret): B
- 4th string (open): D
- 3rd string (open): G
- 2nd string (open): B
- 1st string (3rd fret): G
Notice how G appears three times, B appears twice, and D appears once? That’s perfectly fine! Octaves and repeated notes don’t change the chord – as long as you have G, B, and D somewhere in there, it’s a G major chord.
Watch the Full Explanation
In this video, I’ll show you exactly how to find these notes on the fretboard and explain the 1-3-5 pattern in more detail:
Why These Three Notes?
All major chords follow the same pattern: the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes from the major scale. In the key of G, that means:
- G (the 1st note, or “root”)
- A (the 2nd) – not used in the chord
- B (the 3rd)
- C (the 4th) – not used in the chord
- D (the 5th)
This 1-3-5 formula works for any major chord. For example, a C major chord uses C (1st), E (3rd), and G (5th) from the C major scale.
Different Ways to Play G Major
You can also add a D note on the 5th string (5th fret) for a fuller sound. This gives you two D notes in the chord instead of two B notes, creating a slightly different voicing while still maintaining the G-B-D combination.
Understanding how chords are built from scales helps you see patterns across the fretboard and gives you more freedom to voice chords in different ways.
The use of the tablet was helpful. However, when I played the lesson I heard 2 voice tracks, one a few seconds delayed. A bit distracting!
thanks that is heipful
great lesson on how to find the notes that make up a chord
Little confused.
uou discussed I, III, V intervals
The website on the board was I, IV, V
Hi Fred, that’s a great point. The course is called I IV V because those are the three main CHORDS in every key, however they are derived from the number system for scales.
With I, III, V, those represent the NOTES that are needed in the chords.
The course is really about learning how the number system controls the notes in the chords, the chords in the keys, the scales in the keys – basically everything is wrapped up in the number system, and understanding it is the key to understanding your guitar.
great start ,looking for next
Jonathan I’m not newbe but this a very interesting way to visually explain it Thanks. Swany from Wisconsin
.. On the piano it is easy but the fretboard throws me a curve. When do I know to move up a string or along it to count the intervals?
Thanks…
Hi Glo, think of the fretboard as 6 keyboards laid out one in front of the other, arranged so each is a fourth further away from the center point. Each string is like the keyboard, flattened out so there aren’t any black or white keys… all the white keys are a fret, and the black keys are also a fret, in the same order.
So when you want a G note, pick a string, and count up from the open note in the same way you normally would, but according to semitones. For instance, on the 6th string, start on E, then F, then F#, then G on the 3rd fret.
In the example in the video, I showed how to build a G major chord, using essentially this technique. The chord comes out of the notes in the scale, so that reduces the options available in that key, which is handy.
Hope that helps…