Learn
Guitar chords
Every shape on one page, drawn from the fingering rather than photographed. Standard tuning, low E on the left.
Open chords
The shapes that carry most songs. Learn these first: they are the keys a beginner can play without a barre, and every one of them is built from the same handful of finger positions.
x 0 2 2 2 0x 0 2 2 1 0x 0 2 0 2 0x 0 2 0 1 0x 0 2 1 2 0x 0 2 2 0 0x 0 2 2 3 0x 2 1 2 0 2x 3 2 0 1 0x 3 2 3 1 0x 3 2 0 0 0x 3 2 0 3 0x x 0 2 3 2x x 0 2 3 1x x 0 2 1 2x x 0 2 2 2x x 0 2 3 0x x 0 2 3 30 2 2 1 0 00 2 2 0 0 00 2 0 1 0 00 2 0 0 0 00 2 1 1 0 00 2 2 2 0 0x x 3 2 1 03 2 0 0 0 33 2 0 0 0 13 2 0 0 0 2Barre chords
One shape, moved up the neck, gives you all twelve keys. The E-shape and the A-shape cover everything; the root is whichever note the barre sits on. These hurt for a fortnight and then stop hurting.
1 3 3 2 1 11 3 3 1 1 11 3 1 2 1 12 4 4 2 2 22 4 4 3 2 23 5 5 3 3 34 6 6 4 4 45 7 7 5 5 5x 2 4 4 3 2x 2 0 2 0 2x 2 4 4 4 2x 3 5 5 4 3x 4 6 6 5 4Power chords
Two notes — root and fifth — with no third, so the chord has no major or minor character. That is why they survive heavy distortion, and why they move so easily: the same shape at any fret.
0 2 2 x x xx 0 2 2 x xx x 0 2 3 x3 5 5 x x xx 3 5 5 x x1 3 3 x x xTuning
Standard is E-A-D-G-B-E, low to high. The interval pattern is four fourths and then a major third (G to B), which is why chord shapes look irregular around the second string — and why a shape that works on the bottom four strings shifts by one fret when it crosses onto the B string.
- Ukulele tuning
- Baritone ukulele
- Drop D
