What are chords and what is their purpose?
A chord can be defined as a group of notes that sound good when played together. One purpose of chords is for rhythm accompaniment to yourself, or others as they sing. As banjoists, we often pick rolls while holding chords. In standard G tuning, the open strings form a G chord. To form any other chord, you will need to hold one or more fingers down simultaneously. The three main types of chords you will encounter as a folk musician are major, minor and 7ths.
