Guitar chords

What it's for

A handbook of the main open guitar chords, with string-by-string fingering and notes. Perfect for beginners.

How to read the fingering

The sequence of 6 numbers goes from the lowest string (E) to the highest: it shows the fret to press on each string. «x» = don't play, «0» = open string.

Why the fretting hand hurts at first

It is not a lack of strength: it is nearly always where you press. The string has to be pushed down just behind the metal fret, not in the middle of the gap between two frets, because there it takes half the pressure and the note comes out clean. Pressing in the middle forces you to squeeze twice as hard and still produces the buzz that seems to be the instrument's fault.

The other mistake is the thumb: if it climbs over the neck, the fingers flatten and touch neighbouring strings. Kept behind, roughly level with the middle finger, the fingers arrive perpendicular and each presses only its own string. After a few weeks the fingertips harden and the problem disappears by itself, provided you have not learned to squeeze too hard in the meantime.

The chords that pay off most in the first days

You do not need to learn them all. With E minor, A minor, D major, G major and C major you can play thousands of songs, and E minor needs only two fingers: it is the chord to start from, because it sounds good immediately and does not discourage.

The hard jump comes with F, which in the classic position asks for a barre, that is the index finger flat across all six strings. The practical advice is not to insist straight away: reduced four-string versions work perfectly well in a song, and the real barre arrives on its own once the hand has built strength. Many people abandon the guitar at F, and it is an avoidable loss.

How to read a chart, and how to avoid the mirror mistake

The sequence of six numbers runs from the lowest string to the highest, that is from the one that sits on top when you hold the instrument. An «x» says not to sound that string, a zero says to play it open. A string marked x that rings anyway is the commonest cause of a chord that «does not come out» even with every finger in the right place.

On printed diagrams, though, the classic trap is orientation: a chart drawn as if you were looking at the guitar from the front has the strings in reverse order compared with the player's view. The quick way to work it out is to look up an E major, which everybody knows: if the fingering you see does not match what you play, the chart is flipped.

A chord that sounds wrong even when it is right

If the shape is correct and the chord still sounds bad, the causes are nearly always three. Old strings, which lose brightness and pitch: they feel oxidised to the touch before you hear it. The instrument's intonation, when the guitar is fine on open strings but goes sharp up the neck. And a nut cut too high on cheap guitars, which forces hard pressure and pushes the notes at the first frets sharp.

All three are cheap to fix: strings anyone can change, the other two are a setup job that costs less than people think and changes the instrument more than any new accessory.

Nearby tools

To tune there is Guitar tuner, to see which notes a chord contains Chord notes, and to fit a song to your voice Transpose chords. To build a sequence Chord progressions and for tempo Metronome.