What would be the first chords a new guitarist should learn (within the first month or so)

I always start my students with basic open chord like open D,D,A,Am,E,Em,C,G,B7,D7 etc....

Check out our chord finders,references

http://www.theguitarfiles.com/chordgen.php

http://www.theguitarfiles.com/chordreference.php

bar chords are a good starting point...just learn the major chord form in diagram...now you can slide it up and down anywhere on the neck and get different chords with the same chord form.

Bar chords would be step 2 in my opinion because of hand strength issues. They are the best chords to use in the long run as you can do more with them.

learn Eminor! always a great first chord. I remember sitting in my room strumming that chord over and over, with the greatest sense of achievement ive ever felt! haha

First Cords to learn are...
C,Am, E, Em, B,
The hardest ones are...

F, Bm7, Em7,

mostly the 7s or harder to play... but the first one to play is the C

I would recommend learning the easiest chords first. The easiest chord on the guitar is "C". But I would also recommend learning them in groups of three, called triads, so that you can sing and accompany yourself on simple songs, like "Happy birthday", "red River Valley", or any simple three chord song that you may remember from school or whatever. The easiest triad, (triads are also known as three chord progressions), is the key of "G", with the G chord being the chord we usually start and end the song with. The G chord in this case is called the tonic chord. The other two chords are "D" and "C". Practice them a LOT. Let the forum know how you're doing .Good luck.

I would start with open chrods first like brian said.