So every basic major and minor chord that you know, and will ever learn, only has 3 different notes in it. If you are strumming a basic C major chord, and play 5 strings...you are still only playing the notes C, E and G. It is just that there are 2 C notes and 2 E notes.

Here are some basic chord forms for C, Dm, Em, F, G, A m and B^o. You will see that each chord only contains 3 different note names. Some of the notes are just doubled or tripled. The notes in the chord do not have to follow any particular order, as long as there is a D F A....it is a Dm chord.

C	Dm	Em	F
G	Am	Bo

Page 2, Basic triads built from the C major scale

Page 4, Comparing major and minor chords

Basic chord construction jump zone