Guitar · Chapter 5 of 23

Reading Chord Charts

A chord chart is a picture of the neck standing up, with dots where your fingers go. Learn to read one and you can play any chord in any songbook.

Every chord in this course comes with a small diagram, and so does every chord in the chord finder. Here is how to read them.

What the lines mean

Up and down: strings

Imagine the guitar standing up in front of you, facing you. The six vertical lines are the strings: string 6 (low E) on the left, string 1 (high E) on the right.

Across: frets

The thick line at the top is the nut. The lines below are frets. A dot between two lines means: press there. A number beside the chart (like “5fr”) means the chart starts higher up the neck.

Above the nut

o = play this string open. x = don’t play this string (skip it, or touch it lightly so it stays silent).

Here is E minor, one of the easiest chords: fingers 2 and 3 on the 2nd fret of strings 5 and 4, and every string open around them. Press the chart to hear it. The letters under the strings are the notes it plays.

Finger numbers and x

The number in each dot is the left-hand finger: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little. In C below, string 6 has an x: start the strum on string 5. In D, strings 6 and 5 are both x: strum only the top four.

Barres and fret numbers

A long bar across several strings is a barre: one finger (usually 1) lies flat across all of them. In the F chord below, finger 1 presses every string at the 1st fret. The second chart has “5fr” beside it: its top line is the 5th fret, so this D chord is played higher up the neck, with a barre at the 5th fret.

Barre chords take practice; they come in chapter 16. For now, just read them.

Written as numbers

Chords are also written as six characters, one per string from string 6 to string 1: 022000 is E minor, x32010 is C, xx0232 is D. You will see this in the chord finder and in many songbooks.

Left-handed? Turn on the left-handed switch near the top of the page and every chart turns into a mirror image, with string 1 on the left: the way your own guitar looks when it stands facing you.

Try it. Without looking at the explanations, read the charts for Em, C and D and finger them on your guitar. Strum each once, only the strings without an x, and check that every note rings.

Remember

Vertical lines are strings, low E on the left; horizontal lines are frets.
Dots show where to press, with finger numbers; o = open, x = don’t play.
A long bar is a barre; “5fr” tells you where the chart starts.