Dissecting chord diagrams

Few years ago, I had a classmate who was very interested to learn how to play the guitar.
Without second thoughts, she immediately bought a brand new guitar from the nearby music store.
Her guitar came packaged with a few song books.

A girl playing the guitar while reading the songhits. Photo Credits

However, when she opened the books to learn how to play the chords, she didn't know how to read the diagrams and she became very frustrated.
Hopefully, after reading this you won't be confused reading chord diagrams and be on your way to start playing the songs you like.


Let us briefly examine the parts of chord diagram:

A chord diagram showing the E-chord.

• The grid of six vertical lines and five horizontal ones represents represents the neck of your guitar positioned in the same way with the image below:

Position of the guitar in the chord diagram. Photo Credits

• The vertical lines represent the guitar strings. The leftmost vertical line is the 6th string (the thickest string) and the rightmost one represents the 1st string (the thinnest string).
• The horizontal lines represent frets. The thick horizontal line at the top is the nut of the guitar, where the fretboard ends. So the first fret is actually the second vertical line from the top.
• The dots that appear on vertical lines between horizontal lines represent the string/s and fret location that you need to press down to produce a note or a chord. One string vibrating by itself is called a note. When multiple strings are vibrating at different frequencies the sound produced is called a chord.
• The numerals directly below each string line indicate which left-hand finger you use to fret that note. The fingers of your left hand(fretting hand) are labeled as: 1 = index finger; 2 = middle finger; 3 = ring finger; and 4 = little finger. On other diagrams, these numerals are sometimes written inside the dots or just beside them.
• The X or O symbols directly above some string lines indicate strings that you leave open (unfretted) or that you don’t play. The X above the nut indicates a string that is not used. Don’t pick or strike that string with your right hand. An O indicates an open string, meaning no finger is pressed on that string but you still play it. 

Basic guitar chord chart.

Reminder this: If a chord starts on a fret other than the first fret, numeral appears to the right of the diagram, next to the top fret line, to indicate in which fret you actually start. Chords that fall within the first four frets typically use open strings, so they’re referred to as open chords.

That's it buddy. Very easy, eh?!