003 Chord diagram

Chord diagrams

The most usual way to represent chords in a visual manner is by what we call a chord diagram.

Let’s explore the 6 different elements of a chord diagram:

1) First we need agraphic representation of the section of the fretboard that the chord goes in:



2) Indicator of what string to press:



3) A circle outside the fretboard and aligned with a string means “play this open string”



4) An X on top of the strings and outside the fretboard diagram means “don’t play this string” .



5) Numbers inside the circles give us a suggestion of the fingers to use for pressing those notes.




The numbers represent the fingers of the hand we use to press the strings on the fretboard.

1 = index
2 = middle
3 = ring
4 = pinky


The numbers in the circles are suggestions, usually good suggestions; but what really matters is where we press the string, not what fingers we use to do so. Sometimes using different fingers than the ones suggested by a diagram can be better suited.

6) A somewat think line covering two or more strings tells us to use “a bar“.



Whenever we use one finger to press two or more strings at the same time, we call that finger’s position a “bar”. When we have a chord that uses a “bar”, we say that chord is a “bar chord”. Another way to write it would be as follows:



7) A position indicador (or fret indicator) happens when chords are located far from the nut. In the fallowing example the position indicator is the number 4 to the left of the fretboard.





Vertical and horizontal diagrams

We can find chord diagrams drawn in two ways. A vertical (as the examples seen so far) ad a horizontal.

Summary

In summary, we saw six different components of a chord diagram:

1. A graphic representation of a section of the fretboard
2. An indicator of what strings to press and which fret to press them on
3. If needed, what open string to play
4. If needed, what open string not to play
5. Optional, number indicating what fingers to use for to press the strings
6. A “bar” indicator, meaning that we need to press two or more string with one finger.
7. If needed, a number outside the fretboard indicating what frets the chord is located at.
   
   

I hope this has been helpful. Happy practice 🙂