Guitar Chord Article Index for
Guitar 		Shopping
Chord 		Website Links For
Guitar 		 

Information About

Guitar Chord
  CATEGORIES ABOUT GUITAR CHORD
   
chords
   
guitar performance techniques
   
APPAREL
BABY
BEAUTY
BOOKS
CAR TOYS
CELL PHONES
DVD'S
ELECTRONICS
GOURMET FOOD
GROCERIES
HEALTH & PERSONAL
HOME & GARDEN
JEWELRY
MUSIC
MUSIC INSTRUMENTS
OFFICE PRODUCTS
SOFTWARE
SPORTING GOODS
TOOLS & HARDWARE
TOYS
VIDEO GAMES
SHOPPING HOME
MORE SHOPPING...



A guitar chord is a Chord , a collection of tones usually sounded together at once, played on a Guitar , a type of chromatically fretted String Instrument .

Chord voicings designed for the guitar can be optimized for many different purposes and playing styles. Guitar chords can be composed of notes played on only a few strings at a time, whether occurring on adjacent strings or not, or on all the strings.

The instrument is generally very capable and versatile for chording purposes, but it does exhibit some differences with other Instrument s. Most guitars only have six strings, which means that for the very largest of chord-voicings it's often necessary to drop or omit one or more tones from the chord; this is typically the Root or Fifth . The layout of notes on the Fretboard sometimes demands that the notes in a chord do not run in tonal order, or makes possible a chord which is composed of more than one note of exactly the same Pitch . Many chords can be played with exactly the same notes in more than one place on the fretboard.

intervals plus one Major Third interval near the middle). Conventionally, the string with the highest pitch (the thinnest) is called the ''first'' string, and the string having the lowest pitch is called the ''sixth''.


NOTATION


Chord diagrams


Guitar chords can be represented in standard Musical Notation , Tablature (frequently referred to as ''tab''), or in chord diagrams, which are shown below.

There are several symbols used in the chord diagram format:
  • Vertical lines represent the guitar Strings . The line on the left represents the sixth (or thickest) string on the guitar.

  • Horizontal lines represent Fret s on the guitar. Unless a different fret number is indicated on the right-hand side of the diagram, the top horizontal line represents the nut (or "zeroth" fret).

  • An ''X'' above a vertical line indicates a string that is not played.

  • An ''O'' above a vertical line indicates an open string (a string that is played without being fretted).

  • A filled circle on a vertical line indicates the position in which a string is fretted to play a note.

  • A filled circle and square on a vertical line also indicates the position in which a string is played, and that the note is the Root Note or an octave of it.

  • A curved line is used to indicate a barre, which is a single finger used to hold multiple strings down at once.

  • Numbers beneath certain strings indicate the finger number that is usually used to play this note. (One represents the index finger, two is the middle finger, etc.)


Note that the chord diagrams have to be reversed for Left-handed guitars and guitarists.


Fret numbers

A shorthand for chord diagrams is to simply give the Fret numbers of each chord. For example, this might be given as '' 3 2 0 1 0 '' in the case of the C major chord which is pictured below. The leftmost character gives the fret number of the sixth string (in this case ''X'' means it is not played) and the rightmost character gives the fret number of the first string (in this case open).


SIX-STRING GUITARS WITH STANDARD TUNING

Guitar chords take advantage of the Intervals between the strings, which in each case are Perfects Fourths excepting the interval between the ''B'' (second) and ''G'' (third) strings, which is a major third.


CAGED major chords

Major Chord s contain a Root Note , a Note a Major Third above the root and a note a Perfect Fifth above the root.

In the case of C Major, these notes are C, E and G. The graphical representation on the right shows how left-hand fingering produces:
  • E on the first string

  • C on the second string

  • G on the third string

  • E on the fourth string

  • C on the fifth string

    • No note is played on the sixth string.


In a similar way, the chords A Major, '''G Major''', '''E Major''' and '''D Major''' are often played as:

These five chords are fundamental to guitar for a variety of reasons including:
  • they are all major triads, and as such they are all primary reference chords

  • they all occur and are available in ''open position'': the first three frets plus open strings

  • each has its root on a different string

  • their overall gross large shapes become the basis of the CAGED system

  • they can be connected and linked together to create one large long contiguous 12-fret or one-octave greater resource pattern of major triad tones encompassing the entire fretboard.



B major and F major shapes

The two remaining Whole Tone major chords (to complete an octave) are those of B major and '''F major'''. These are commonly played as Barre Chord s, with the first finger used to press down multiple strings across the guitar fingerboard.

On examination, it becomes clear that these two chords are logical extensions of the A major and E major chords above. The B major chord is the same shape as the A major chord but it is located two frets further up the Fretboard . The F major chord is the same shape as E major but it is one fret further from the Headstock . In effect, barre chords act as if the whole guitar has been shortened, like a moveable nut or Capo .

Barre Chords in the shape of A and E major can be played anywhere on the fretboard. Wherever they are played, these chords are ''major'' because they have the same shape, and this determines the Intervals between the notes. The root of the chord in any position can be worked out from the diagrams above.


C major, G major and D major shapes

The other three shapes in the CAGED system are C major, G major and D major. These can be transformed into barre chords in a similar way to the A major and E major shapes.

The CAGED system therefore creates five major barre chords which can be used to play all the major chords in more than one position on the fretboard.


  { Class "wikitable" style="margin:auto text-align: center width:30%"
  { Class "wikitable" style="margin:auto text-align: center width:30%"