That sounds bad! Tuning #1

It can be quite demoralising when beginners are just getting to grips with their first chords and it really doesn't sound quite right. The fingerings are right; you're playing all the strings you're supposed to, and none that you're not. But it still sounds rubbish and nothing like it did in the lesson. The answer is probably 'Tuning'. Each of the guitar strings should be 'tuned' to the correct note or pitch. As you look down on the guitar the first string you see, and the fattest,  is the E string. The next is A, then D, then G, then B, and then another E. Each of the strings can be made looser or tighter by turning the Tuning Pegs at the end of the guitar - these are basically butterfly type screws that connect to the peg that the strings are wound around. The tighter that you make a string, the higher its pitch or note will be, and the looser that you make a string, the lower its pitch or note will be. All you need to do is to tune (tension) each string so that they are correct. i.e. E A D G B E. How do you do that?  I'll answer that in a later post! For now, don't be put off. Just keep practising those chord shapes in the sure and certain knowledge that when you've tuned up it'll sound great.....!