How to Read a Guitar Chord Chart

Reading a guitar chord chart is as easy as “ABC”! In this primer we will cover the basics of how to read a chord chart. Lets start out in alphabetical order with the first example being the A chord.

As you can see from the first example of a chord chart, it is the typical type of chord chart that you would see in any guitar book or magazine. Of course, depending on the publication of the book or magazine, the chord charts that you may see might have some variation. However, you will notice that the examples shown in this tutorial are pretty similar and you will be able to understand them and their little variance pretty easily.

So let’s get to the explanation of the parts of a chord chart.

Looking at the first example, you will notice at the top that there is a large letter. This letter is telling you the chord name. So the first example is representing the “A major” chord. Next you will notice a grid, which represents the fret board. The horizontal lines represent frets and the vertical lines represent strings. From left to right of the chart, the vertical lines would be the low E string to the high E string. The dots on the strings represent your finger placement on the fret board.

So now that you understand the basics of the chord chart, let’s go into more detail. As you can see there are numbers listed on the bottom of the chart. These numbers represent which finger is used on your fretting hand. They are in order from your index to your pinky. So the number 1 is your index, the number 2 is your middle finger, 3 is your ring finger and 4 is your pinky.

Another thing that you may notice is that on the A chord; you will see an arch line above the dots. This arch line means that the dots are played with the same fingered, or “barred”. So looking below you will also notice that all dots are played with the first finger or index finger.

At the top of the fret board representation, you will see Xs and Os. An X means that the string is muted so that no sound is played from that string. However the O means that the string is open and strummed as part of the chord.

Let’s move on to our next example.

This second example is of a B chord, it looks pretty much the same as the A chord except now we have one more item on the right hand side of the chord chart. This "2nd fret" lets you know that chord shape is played at the second fret.

So now the first fret of the chart is actually played on the second fret of your guitar. You will notice that the X is still shown on the low E string, this is because you still don’t want it to ring out. However don’t let that X fool you, the first fret on the chart should now be played at the second fret of your guitar because on the right hand side the chart tells you to do so.

The third example is just an open C chord. I wanted to add this just to show you another example. So to give you a step by step, the low E string is muted. Your ring finger should fret the 3rd fret of the A string, Your middle finger should fret the 2nd fret of the D string, the G string should be played open, your index finger should fret the 1st fret of the B string and the final high E string should also be played open.

Now that you have a better understanding of how to read a guitar chord chart, you can get to work on studying tons of chords! Good luck!