Chords are played to accompany a melody. The melody is sung or played by another musical instrument (e.g., guitar, piano, etc.). The chords can be strummed using a pick (playing all six strings together), or played fingerpicking style (playing one string at a time). The following exercise demonstrates the melody of a song called Aura Lee. You can play the chords by applying fingerpicking Pattern 1 to them. The melody can be sung or played by another instrument.
This example contains only the first four bars of the melody of this song.