How to read chord diagrams

A chord diagram (sometimes called a chord chart) shows you a section of your guitar neck, and the
locations of the notes you need to play. Some diagrams are horizontal and some are vertical, but
they tell you the same information. I have used all vertical diagrams in this book. An X above a string
means you don’t play that string. An O above a string tells you to play the string open. Circle markers
on the strings tell you which fret that string is played at. Some diagrams have numbers on the
fretted notes telling you which fingers to use. The chord name is shown above the diagram.

The images below should help.

Scale diagram: Guitar neck:

The next page shows the basic open chords. They are called open chords because they contain open
strings (except the F chord, but we will include it here anyway). If you find them challenging, you can
simplify them by just playing the notes on strings 1, 2 and 3 (the high pitch strings).

Note: Chords labelled with just a letter name are Major chords.

Chords labelled with a letter followed by m are Minor chords.

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