Playing acoustic guitar is wonderful and relaxing hobby. The melodic strumming of strings is peaceful, fun, and somewhat easy to master. I'm going to teach you your first chord.

There are 6 strings on an acoustic guitar.  The chord diagram, each number represents one of the the strings. EADGBE, or as I like to have my students remember it:

The first E is the thickest string, A is the second thickest, and so on.

Eagles

Always

Dodge

Great

Big

Elephants

The first chord you'll learn is E minor. It's typically written "Em" (Big E, little m) easy enough, but when you see Em, you still say, "E minor."

You'll often see chords written out like this on the internet:

022000= Em

Each number represents the strings 022000 = EADGBE. Get it?

Now, the 1st 2 means you should place your finger on the A string, second fret.

The 2nd 2 means you should place another finger on the D string, second fret.

The 0s mean that you don't place any more fingers on any more strings. These are called open strings.

Now, strum.

Congratulations! You have just played your first chord. Every string should ring out loud and clear.