Beginners will find this chord chart invaluable; it will teach them basic chords on guitar while also teaching about intervals and progressions.
Chords are typically written as single letters; however, sometimes they’re written as numbers such as X32010 to indicate which frets should be pressed; an “0” means you should play that string openly while an “X” denotes mutes it.
Root note
Root note of any chord is represented by its first letter; this is true regardless of its major, minor, diminished, or augmented nature. A Sus 2 chord (commonly known as an F suspended) contains an E root; therefore if you know how to play an open E minor chord you can use its shape to form Sus 2.
Chord diagrams present you with an image of the fretboard vertically, with its thickest string (E low) on the left and its thinnest string (G high) on the right. Sometimes there will also be a number above the fretboard to indicate which fingers should be used (usually 1 index finger, 2 middle fingers, 3 ring fingers and 4 pinky). Some chords also display an X or 0 above certain strings that indicates they should either mute it or refrain from playing it altogether.
A chord’s structure is determined by its intervals; certain intervals can be used across many different kinds of chords. Beginners should begin learning simple open chords which are easy and quick to play.
Major third
Major chords can be one of the more challenging chords to learn, but with practice and time you will master them. Before playing these chords you must also understand their intervals.
A major chord is composed of three notes – its root note, major third and perfect fifth. A major third should always be four semitones above its root note in any key signature; knowing this difference between major and minor chords is crucial as they represent opposite ends of a spectrum.
As well as learning major chords, there are other notes you should familiarize yourself with when learning major chords – including maj7, m7 and sus4 chords which share similar patterns to other major chords but start on different strings – such as these pictured below:
Major fifth
Beginner guitarists typically begin learning major chords early in their playing careers. Easy to finger and with vibrant open voicings, major chords form the backbone of many songs and progressions – the key is trusting your ears when selecting major chords; if one doesn’t sound quite right just move along!
Each basic major chord consists of three notes; however, due to guitar tuning variations, certain notes may duplicate across different fretboard positions. To prevent this from occurring, use a capo on the root note or simply avoid chords that contain duplicated notes altogether.
Guitarists can go beyond playing standard major and minor chords by also playing sus4 and add9 chords, which involve replacing the third note of major or minor chords with an exact 4th while adding9 chords keep their fifth note for a formula of 1-3-5-9 chords.
Minor third
Minor chords share many characteristics with major chords; both use three notes that form three intervals, although minor thirds differ by being one semitone less than major thirds.
By layering minor thirds over major sevenths, this allows you to build many of the same shapes found in major chords – but with a different sound. For instance, you could create a G7 chord by layering minor thirds on top of major sevenths; this gives a C Major chord-esque sound but with darker overtones.
As you begin learning new chords, you may notice they share similar principles. This is because many chords rely on triads composed of root note, major third and minor third to form diatonic chords – found across musical styles and often written out on music sheets with letters or numbers denoting which fret to play and which name the chord (X indicates silence of that string).