Slide the chord runway
Open strings already voice G major. Move one straight slide across all six strings for the I, IV and V chords, or inspect two compact minor grips.
This is an interactive chart of open G tuned chords. To access the chart click here. Simply press the buttons using a mouse on your computer. The widget will brings up the chord, fingering suggestions, and slide locations. Major and minor chord are covered.
Tuning is given in the sidebar as D G D G B D (lowest to highest). Because this tuning is open major, the guitar sound like an open G major chord when you pluck the strings without pressing any frets.
How to Use the Chart
Across the main stage, there is twelve frets on the fretboard. You can view markers that show where your fingers go, or use a slide bar based off the chord you choose. In the row of landmarks, we highlight the key positions of G at the open position, C at the fifth fret, and D at the seventh fret.
The sidebar contains a series of chord tiles that you can click on to alter the contents of the fretboard. There is one for each of the following voicings: G, C, D, Am, Bm, Em7. When you press on a tile it sounds the chord and also update the fretboard view.
For the straight-slide versions of the chords (G, C and D) there’s a bar across the neck to show the slide position. The rest employ individual fingering for their minor chords and Em7.
The tools on the bottom of the sidebar is what you use to control your audio experience. The Lift the bottleneck button will clear out the current sound and the fretboard. This ensures the widget stay silent until you choose another note.
The slide resonance slider controls the level of tone being created by your slide. To make it quieter, drag it to the left; to make it louder, drag it to the right.
There is an auto-play button called the Tour I-IV-V-I, that runs through one of the most popular progressions in this tuning. You’ll hear the slide jump from chord to chord over the notes G, C, D and then back to G. You can turn the guide on/off by toggling it on the How to play button which also reveals some handy keyboard shortcuts.
To use the extra space for seeing the detail of the fretboard there’s the Fullscreen button too.
The chart is also interactive through keyboard shortcuts that is quicker than using the mouse. The spacebar will sound the current chord choice when pressed and the up/down arrow keys step through the available chords. That way you don’t have to reach for the mouse as you’re auditioning different voicings.
If you’d like to see the chord tour played automatically, just hit T. To turn off the audio and clear the fretboard, hit L. To toggle between showing/hiding the help instructions, hit H. And if you want to go into/out of fullscreen mode, hit F.
Looking more closely at the fretboard we can see the difference in fingered chords compared to a slide one. A bar runs across the neck of the guitar at the same fret position where a bottleneck slide would of been placed for that chord. On fingered chords, you have dots indicating where your fingers go. Crossed out strings are ones to mute. Open circles are the ones to pluck without pressing down on them. The bottom caption also states the frets used and what notes they are.
Compare the minor grips to the slide chords and try them both out. The fingered chords are all on fewer strings than the full barre chords. Listen for the key notes in each chord this way. Hit the tour button to listen at a fixed speed. Get used to running through it by pressing the spacebar and arrow keys.
The volume slider is there so that you can adjust the sound to suit your ears.
This is a reference tool for learning open G guitar. Use this widget to practice chord shapes, hear what the tuning sounds like, and see how the slide position relates to standard fingerings. As you learn the fretboard, the visual feedback will support what you’re hearing with your ear.
Explore each chord and all of its voicings, take your time. Start pressing or clicking keys and bring the chart to life.