Chord Diagrams
Chords are written on a chord diagram. This chord diagram shows you exactly where to place your left hand fingers in order to play a particular chord. A chord diagram is a grid of horizontal and vertical lines representing the strings and frets of the guitar. The following chord diagram illustrates an open E major chord.
Left Hand Fingering
- Index Finger
- Middle Finger
- Ring Finger
- Little Finger
The black dots show you where to place your left hand fingers. The white number tells you which finger to place on the string just before the fret. If there is no dot on a string, you play it as an open (not fretted) string.
F Major Bar Chord
F
To play the F Bar chord place your:
- First finger just behind the second fret of the first fret.
- Second finger just behind the second fret of the 3rd string.
- Third finger just behind the third fret of the 5th string.
- Fourth finger just behind the third fret of the 4th string.
The other chord diagram symbols used in this book are summarized with the following two open chord shapes.
A dotted string indicates that string is not to be strummed. A small bar connecting two black dots indicates they are held down by the same finger. This is called barring.
An X on the string indicates that string is to deaden by another finger lightly touching it. The string is still strummed as a part of the chord but it is not heard.
The previous three chord shapes are all open chord shapes because they contain open strings (i.e., not fretted) as well as fretted strings.
