Guitar Chords


Chords are one of the first things that any new guitarist will want to start mastering. Chords are played when a guitarist presses down on one or more strings and strums at least two strings. Although this makes it sound like it is possible to do this at random to make a chord, the actual construction of chords is considerably more complex. Learning to play chords is often simply a matter of rote memorization of the correct finger positions, but for those familiar with musical theory, there is also a more detailed explanation behind how chords are constructed.

In the case of major chords, they are comprised of a root note, a note which is a major third above the root note, and a note which is a perfect fifth above the root note. The root note is the note after which a chord is named. So for a C chord, the root note would be C. A major third is a note four semitones, or half-steps, above the root note. Again taking a C chord as our example, the major third of C is E. A perfect fifth is a note seven half-steps above the root note. The perfect fifth for a C chord is G. Not all major chords always include a perfect fifth, as it is the note which is least missed when it is dropped from a normal chord. So while it is accurate to say that most major chords are comprised of three types of notes, this is not always true.

When it comes to the finger placement for a major chord, some of the notes are played on multiple strings. In the case of the C chord mentioned above, the second string is fretted at the first fret and the fifth string at the third fret, both of which thus produce a tone of C. The first string is left open, while the fourth string is fretted at the second fret, so that both of these strings produce a tone of E. The third string is also left open, to produce a tone of G. The sixth string is not played in this C chord. Thus there are two C tones, two E tones, and one G tone comprising this chord.

For minor chords, the basic structure is similar to that of the major chords, but the key difference is that instead of a major third, they use a minor third. A minor third is three half-steps above the root note, which makes the secondary note one half-step below that used for a major chord. In addition to major and minor chords, augmented and diminished chords are also common varieties of chords. Augmented chords use a major third and an augmented fifth (eight semitones above the root note), while diminished chords use a minor third and a diminished fifth (six semitones above the root note). There are several other varieties of standard chords as well, but major, minor, augmented, and diminished cover the vast majority of chords when sorted by type.

Chord diagrams are presented in a number of ways, with the most common being a visual representation of the fretboard, with horizontal lines representing frets, and vertical lines representing strings. Chord diagrams are set up to match the fretboard as if a guitarist was looking at it directly, not as the fretboard appears to the guitarist while he or she is playing. On the fretboard diagram, filled circles indicate the positioning of the guitarist's fingers. Open circles above a string indicate that the string is to be strummed, but not fretted, while an X above a string indicates that the string is not played for this chord. Curved lines which span several strings indicate a barre, which requires a guitarist to press down several strings at the same fret with a single finger. In some chord diagrams, numbers beneath the filled circles correspond to the fingers which are best used to press each string, but these are not a part of every chord diagram.

Another common way of showing how a chord is to be played is a shorthand method, where numbers and X's are written in a straight line. In the case of the C major chord above, the shorthand for this chord is [X32010]. The X is for a string which is neither fretted nor played. The numbers higher than 0 indicate the frets at which those strings are pressed down, while the 0s represent the unfretted strings that are played. If you compare this shorthand to the text explanation of the notes played for a C major chord, you should see a correlation between the two. Again, as with chord diagrams, shorthand chord notation presents the strings in the order you see them as you look directly at the fretboard, not as the fretboard looks while you are playing.

Probably one of the easiest ways in which a guitarist can keep track of the many chords he or she might learn is with a poster or website that lists a large number of chord diagrams. Although these will generally only list standard chords, rather than power chords, they are still a valuable reference, even for a more experienced guitarist. To a novice guitarist, it is essential to have this sort of quick reference, as most of the chords will need to be played repeatedly before they are drilled into your memory.