Guitar chords are the foundation of music. Many popular songs can be played using just four chords. This free printable chart will help beginners master some of the most commonly-used chords.
Moving guitar chord diagrams are organized based on root and type. A major chord has a major third interval on its lower part and minor third on top; minor chords feature only minor third intervals on top.
1. Guitar Fretboard Workbook
Guitar Essentials: Foundational Fretboard Navigation includes this companion workbook as part of its core curriculum programs from Musicians Institute. Packed with exercises and activities designed to deepen players’ understanding of the fretboard, this easy-to-use book covers essential concepts for players at every level (acoustic or electric). Guitarists will discover how to build any scale or chord themselves and unleash creativity without the need for music reading! Printed paperback.
2. Guitar Reading Workbook
The Guitar Reading Workbook is an invaluable resource for learning music reading skills. From basic symbols to advanced concepts such as chords and strum patterns, its content covers everything you need from harmonic minor scales and melodic minor scales, interval studies, to modal applications.
This method book equips guitarists to sight-read modern staff notation efficiently, clearly and confidently. It covers all important aspects of reading such as pitch and rhythm analysis, navigation symbols, time signatures, key signatures, note names, articulations dynamics and tempos.
Learning to read music may seem intimidating at first, but it’s an invaluable skill that any serious musician needs. Learning this art form will help elevate your guitar playing to the next level by improving technique, writing original songs and understanding fundamentals behind what you play. With proper resources and an experienced in-person or online guitar teacher guiding your learning process, reading music will become easier than ever!
3. Guitar Chords & Scales Workbook
The Guitar Chords & Scales Workbook is an invaluable resource for bass players seeking to master different fretboard scale patterns. It covers major and minor scales as well as modal, pentatonic, blues scales as well as arpeggio patterns with graphic illustrations; also featured are exercises that reinforce theory with practical application.
Traditional scales books often teach scale shapes in isolation without making connections to chords and arpeggios, making it hard for guitarists to understand when and why to incorporate different scales into their music. This book eliminates this issue by placing scale shapes within context with chords and arpeggios to help guitarists comprehend when to employ various scales in their pieces.
This book offers an abundance of chords and arpeggios to create powerful improvised lines, unlike many other scales books which only show conventional scale shapes; instead this one includes exotic ones as well as cross-stringing patterns. Perfect for beginners as well as advanced guitarists.
4. Guitar Scales Workbook
No matter your musical goal – soloing or chord playing – this guitar scales book has everything you need. Beginning with the basic minor pentatonic scale and moving on from there to show different shapes and positions that can be used with major and minor scales as well as exotic variations of them all, starting from the basic minor pentatonic scale and ending at all kinds of exotic scales!
In addition to teaching you scales themselves, this book also shows you how they work within licks and progressions so you can begin using them immediately in your playing. Its approach makes this an indispensable resource for any guitarist.
Although this book offers great information, beginners may find it a bit intimidating as there’s no method book included. If this book is meant as your introduction to music theory and guitar scales, consider pairing it with another method book for an easier start – then use this book later as a reference point!
Chords offer another challenge for your fretting hand than scales, and can give a much fuller sound to a song. Additionally, chords tend to be easier for beginner guitarists than single notes.
Chord charts (also referred to as chord diagrams) depict an image of a fretboard vertically and strings horizontally, with dots representing fingers such as index, middle finger, ring finger and pinky. A number on each string indicates which finger should be used – index finger, middle finger ring finger and pinky.
Basic Chords
Guitar chords are groups of notes drawn from the major scale. When musicians add extra notes in harmony to these chords, songs that please listeners result.
Chords can be read off a guitar fretboard with ease: lines represent where to place your fingers, while dots show which strings should be plucked; an X indicates muted strings while an O indicates those that should form part of a chord.
Open chords (CAGED), F, and G are the easiest for beginners to learn and are especially useful when strumming popular songs! By adding power chords onto these basic chords, additional practice may be needed but will definitely pay off in terms of musical experience!
Major Chords
Chords form the backbone of many musical genres, providing the harmonic structure necessary for melody to take form and give songs their distinct sound. Becoming proficient at using both Major and Minor chords is crucial to becoming an all-round guitarist player.
Major chords are typically the first type of chord a guitarist will learn, as they tend to be happy-sounding arrangements composed of three notes – the root note, major third note and perfect fifth (1 – 3 – 5).
C major chord is composed of a root note C, major third C and perfect fifth E; also known as triads.
Get an easy understanding of all of the major chords on your fretboard quickly with this printable guitar chords book pdf, featuring clear diagrams and playing advice – an invaluable resource for beginners!
Minor Chords
Minor chords are an integral component of music that creates emotion or mood. They typically feature a flattened third note and tend to sound sad or melancholic.
Tension and drama can also be added to songs with this chord choice, which usually serves as the predominate chord prior to its dominant counterpart in harmonic progressions.
Minor chords can be found in all keys, although they’re most often seen in major and minor key tunes. This book’s chord diagrams showcase various common minor chord shapes including barred and open positions.
Use this chart to learn the basic chords in a given key and their construction, so that you can then build and play chords from these intervals, expanding your understanding of guitar chords and music theory.
Dominant Chords
Dominant chords are more intricate than other triad types. Constructed from the fifth degree of a diatonic scale and adding seventh note for dissonant and harsh-sounding harmony, dominant seventh chords were made famous by The Rolling Stones with their hit song (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction while Blue Oyster Cult utilized one in their hit track Don’t Fear the Reaper.
These chords can give your music an invigorating bluesy sound and add vitality. Learn them today for maximum guitar player satisfaction!
Open Position Chords
Open position chords offer more than melodic beauty; they also give insight into how chords are built – a fundamental skill for songwriting and music composition. Furthermore, learning these chords helps develop smooth transitions between different chords for polished playing that sounds professional.
Open position chords differ from bar chords by containing unfretted strings that ring out freely, enabling guitarists to freely move them up and down the fretboard as if they were still starting positions – hence why these chords are commonly known as open chords! After some practice you’ll soon become adept at playing these common open chords in any key!
A chord chart for guitar is an array of notes played simultaneously to produce a fuller sound than single notes and are easy to alter. They also serve to train your fretting hand differently than scales would.
This pdf ebook features clear, user-friendly chord diagrams organized by root and type for easier reading. Ideal for beginning guitarists, this comprehensive resource covers all the basic guitar chord shapes and movable forms a gigging guitarist may require.
Basic chords
This pdf ebook’s guitar chords are organized according to root and type for easier learning by beginning guitarists, while still providing vibrant open voicings that will aid throughout your playing life. They serve as the cornerstone of many songs whether rock or pop!
Beginners should familiarize themselves with these fundamental open position chords for best results. Easy to finger, they are versatile enough for use across songs while serving as great practice on the fretboard.
This chart features chord shapes derived from the C major scale, with notes that correspond to fret numbers – something visible on chord diagrams that show where fingers should be placed on a fretboard.
Major chords
When you encounter an X or an O above the thick black line that represents your guitar’s nut, this does not indicate some bizarre game of Tic-Tac-Toe but instead serves as shorthand to indicate which strings to strum and which ones to mutes when playing particular chords. Furthermore, the number in brackets refers to its root note which should be one octave higher than 2nd note in its corresponding major scale.
Attaining basic major chords on guitar is vital to your progress as a guitarist, and this ebook provides a solid start. These chords are among the most ubiquitous types in music and often form the backbone of popular songs. The book comes in PDF format with diagrams being infinitely scalable so you can print or view as large an image as you need without losing its quality.
Minor chords
Minor chords are an integral component of music composition and can make your piece darker and moodier. They can often be found in rock and blues songs but you can also find them in jazz, folk and other genres – making them an excellent way to begin writing new compositions of your own!
This book covers all of the most commonly-used minor chord shapes and is easily usable without requiring prior guitar experience or music reading skills to play them. Each chord comes complete with its own fretboard diagram to demonstrate where fingers should be placed along the guitar neck.
This PDF eBook is delivered instantly via email – perfect for reading on computers & mobile devices, or printing into booklet form! All diagrams are infinitely scaleable to look crisp on any screen or device!
Dominant chords
Dominant chords are made up of three or more notes played together and established on one key. There are different sizes or “widths” of dominant chords.
A basic dominant triad consists of a root, third, and fifth note; as well as the seventh interval. This basic dominant triad can be extended with additional notes to form ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth chords known as extended dominant chords.
A dominant chord often resolves to its tonic triad, creating an impactful musical cliffhanger effect that can be overcome by following with a V7-I resolution of its tonic triad; this technique can also be used to shift into another key or end a musical section.
Open position chords
Chords add depth to a song that simply isn’t possible with single notes alone, while helping your fretting hand develop in ways scales don’t. They may even inspire new songs or riffs or add character to your guitar sound!
Open position chords are those which utilize unfretted notes of all six strings of an instrument without fretting or fretting them, usually producing brighter sounding chords than their barred counterparts, as well as being easier to play.
Specifically designed for left handed guitarists, this user-friendly book presents over 300 guitar chords in an easy and portable format. Complete with text and fretboard diagrams for reference, this handy volume makes a great companion when learning guitar chords – each chord chart can easily scale so it fits any computer, tablet or phone screen!