Beginning Guitar Chord Chart Page 2
ADVERTISEMENT
1
2Using the Beginning Guitar Chord Chart
John Fickett, 2010, version 1.2, download at
Rows:
C
Dm
E
7
F
G
7
Am
B°
Key of
C major
C major
D minor
E seven
F major
G seven
A minor
B dim
B diminished
or A
m inor
O
O
X
O
O
O
O
O
O O
O
O
O
O O
O
X X
O
O
Each horizontal line in the chart represents the usual chords for a particular major and a related minor key. (
e last note and
the last chord of a song almost always indicate the key of the song.)
e notes of a major scale turn out to be the same as those
associated with its “relative minor” scale. In other words, the C scale (white keys on a piano) is identical to an A minor scale,
except the C scale starts and ends on C and the A minor scale starts and ends on A.
All chords are not created equal:
e three lightest-background chords on any line are the most common in the major key. For
instance C, F and G7 are the most common chords in the key of C. Next most common (and the most common in the relative
minor, A minor) are Am, Dm and E7.
e B diminished crops up much less o en.
Only the keys that are most common for guitarists are included in this beginning chart.
Columns:
I
IIm
III
IV
V
VIm
VII°
7
7
tonic
supertonic
mediant
subdominant
dominant
submediant
subtonic
do
re
mi
fa
so
la
ti
root
leading
Roman numerals are sometimes used to refer to particular notes of a scale even if the key is not speci ed.
e roman numerals
at the top of the chart head columns that move up the notes (degrees) of the scale: I is the rst note, II is the second, etc. For
example: In the key of C, I is C; IV is F; and V is G. In the key of E, I is E; IV is A and V is B.
ese notes have other names
that you may encounter.
ose names are in small letters under the roman numerals.
e roman numerals can be used not
only to refer to notes, but also to chords, as in this chart. IIm means the minor chord of the II note, or, in the key of C, a Dm.
As the shading demonstrates, the I, IV and V7 chords are the main chords in any key.
D
Chord Diagrams:
D major
=
X
O O
Chord diagrams show where the strings should be fretted for a particular chord. Remember to press down the string rmly just
behind the fret. Playing a chord a string at a time will reveal any strings that are pressed down too far behind the fret, not
pressed rmly enough, or accidentally muted by touching them with another nger.
Some diagrams show a heavy bar, behind a certain fret, across all, or most, of the strings.
ese chords, “barre chords, ” are
played with the index nger holding down all the strings and other ngers ngering the chord in front of it. Notice, for
instance, that an F chord is just an E chord moved up one fret, and the index nger clamped down behind.
A little x indicates a string that should not be played (it doesn’t t in the chord). An o indicates a string that is played open (or
barred).
e thicker string in each diagram indicates the lowest note that is the same as the chord name (the “root”).
Where to start:
Start with a song you love. Other than that, start with the commonest chords, the ones with the white background on page
one.
is includes only seven chords, D, G, A7, C, D7, F and G7, because the same chords appear in di erent keys. From there
move to the lighter gray chords, then the darker gray chords. You can look up chords you need for a particular song on a more
advanced list.
e Ultimate Guitar Chart II, by Phillip J. Facoline, is a massive free chord chart with a gazillion chord diagrams.
You can download it (along with this chart) from my site, at , in the downloads section.
Practice a few barre chords every day from day one—just expect them to sound terrible and feel impossible for a couple of
weeks while you build some new muscles—they will become very useful.
Have fun!
John Fickett (john@kingdomout for questions, suggestions or corrections)
2
ADVERTISEMENT
0 votes
Related Articles
Related forms
Related Categories
Parent category: Life