Chord Finder

Reading a chord diagram

A chord diagram is a picture of the neck standing up, as if you were facing the instrument. The vertical lines are the strings, with the lowest-sounding string on the left (on the right in the left-handed view). The thick line at the top is the nut; the lines under it are the frets. When a shape is higher up the neck, a number like 5fr says which fret the top row is.

• A dot is where a finger presses, just behind the fret. Its number is the finger: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little finger, T thumb.
• o above a string: play it open. x: don’t play it (or mute it lightly with a finger).
• A long bar across several strings is a barre: lay one finger flat across them.

On the banjo the diagrams show the four long strings. The short 5th string is usually played open with the thumb.

Why so many shapes?

The same chord can be played in many places on the neck. The first shapes shown are the ones most players learn first, near the nut. The others move up the neck: they sound higher, and some are easier from the chord before or after. For the guitar, the finder keeps the chord’s own note (its root) as the lowest note, so the chord sounds settled; a slash chord like G/B asks for a different bass note on purpose.