Learning Guitar Chord Charts
Understanding guitar chord charts is very easy. A guitar chord chart is a small diagram that shows where to put your fingers so that you can play a chord. Some songbooks will put a chord chart where you are supposed to play a chord. Most, though, will just put the chord on the page and leave it to you to know how to play the chord.
What does a guitar chord chart look like? Most guitar chord charts will have vertical 6 lines, representing each of the six strings on the guitar. You will also see four horizontal lines. These represent the frets of the guitar. The lines at the top are closer to the head of the guitar while the lower lines are closer to the body of the guitar. A dark line at the top of the chart is top of the neck and the first thin line below that would be the first fret.
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Between the fret lines and on the string lines, you will see dots. The dots show you where to place your fingers. Some guitar chord charts will have numbers in the dots. The numbers on these charts tell you which finger to put on the string. One is the index finger and four is the pinky finger on these charts. Other guitar chord charts will show numbers above the chart. Numbers on these charts tell you which fret to play the note on.
Most guitar chord charts will have markings to show if a string is played or not. If a string has a dot on it, then that string is understood to be played. But what if that string does not have dot on it? How do you know if you are supposed to play that string or not? For strings that you play that do not have a finger on them, you will usually see a 0 just above that striung. That means that you play that string, but do not put any fingers on it. However, if a line has an X on it, the corresponding string would not be played.
I mentioned that some guitar chord charts have numbers on the dots showing you where to put your fingers. But what if the chord chart does not have the numbers on it. How do you know which finger to put where? Much of this is practice. Generally, you want the position that feels most comfortable. For most chords, the index finger would be on the lower, thinner strings and the pinkey on the upper, thicker strings. Some chords, such as the G chord, do not feel comfortable in this position, so you would not follow this guideline for it. Also, some guitar chord charts have multiple strings held by a single finger. These are usually done with the flat part of the index finger with the other fingers postioned as I described above. This can be tricky to learn how to hold the string and get a clear tone, but keep practicing and you can figure out how to do it.
Many songbooks written for guitar will have guitar chord charts for the chords in the book. But you can also find posters and other places where you can find all sorts of chords that you may come across. These can be helpful if the book you are using does not show the chord charts.
