The Skool of guitar excellence
RockSkool: Learning the Shapes
This seems a bit scary at first but it really is quite simple and the best approach I would recommend is as follows:
Take time to learn one major chord and learn the fingering, say the name of the chord to yourself as you play it.
Each time you practise try to get to a point where you can carefully set up your fingering so as a slow gentle strum lets you hear all the strings ringing clearly.
Practise until you can make the shape without having to look.
Now apply this to the other major chords, getting to know them one at a time.
When you can play the all the chords CLEARLY (this comes with time and practice) practise moving from one shape to the next in a chord progression.
You could try going from A, C, D, E, F, G and back to A to begin with. Go slowly and try to concentrate on the quality of your sound rather than how fast you can go. Speed comes in time with practice.
Remember to be patient with yourself, this will take some time to master so stick with it. Don’t practise too long at the start, particularly if your hands or fingers start to hurt. Put the guitar down for the night.
In fact, for beginners, I recommend a you keep the practise sessions short, perhaps 15-20 minutes per night, and build up slowly from there. More important is to practise regularly every day if you can.
When ready, you can try the “Amazing Grace” songs in the song book. Practise these until you can play all four chord progressions comfortably.
Be patient because this is foundational work that you need to master.