READING CHORD BOXES

 

What are chords?

This site is designed with the beginner in mind and as i said on the homepage of this site  you do not need to be able to read music of understand the theory behind the make up of the chords in order to play guitar (unlike piano), so I’ll keep it as simple as possible.  A guitar chord is made up of a group of notes being played together. Chords can consist of all 6 strings to just a few. They are named after the root note in the chord.

How do you know what strings to play?

There is a simple standard way of showing how a chord is played/constructed. This is a simple diagram called a Chord Box. The below diagram shows how a chord box looks without the chord diagram on it.

The diagram should be viewed as if your guitar is upright in front of your with the string facings you.

The correct finger positions that form the chord are shown as in the diagram below. The Chord shown is a D major.

The numbered circles indicate where the related fingers should be placed to form the chord. Above the chord box an “X” indicates a string that should not be played, in this case the 6th string or Low E is not played. An “O” indicates a string that is played open (not pressed down at any point).

A number 1 represents the index finger (next to the thumb).

A number 2 represents the middle finger.

A number 3 represents the ring finger.

A number 4 represents the little finger.

When learning new chords from books, DVDs or the Internet this is how they will be shown.

Now you know how to read them check out some essential chords every body should know.