Beginner Guitar Chord Chart

This is a good one for learning (and practicing) open chords on the guitar for beginners. Just click on name of the chord from the widget using your mouse or type on your computer keyboard to play around with it. It’s easy to use so that you don’t get bogged down in confusing settings but rather develop muscle memory.

First, check out the left-hand side of the app, where you’ll find a grid containing eight basic chord that span most popular songs. Just click one of the buttons to hear it played back as a synthesized strum and to view finger placement diagram on the right hand side. There’s also a green border around whichever chord is being viewed so you can be sure what shape you’re playing at all times.

How to Use the Guitar Chord Widget

In the image above, you can see how the guitar neck is shown in a very big area on the right-hand side. This clearly illustrates where each of the fingers go for this particuler chord. Strings are represented by vertical lines; the nut is shown as thick bar at the top. The dots represent finger positions, numbered from one (index finger), two, three, four etc. Above the nut, on some of these chords, you’ll notice little symbols. For example, a circle means ‘play this string open’. You don’t press down on any fret. Where there’s an X, it means don’t play or mute the string altogether. This is key when trying to obtain the right sound with certain chord, such as those that don’t make use of all six strings (e.g. D and C).

The widget is intuitive but does take a little practice for reading a chord diagram. From left to right, the lines represent the six guitar strings, starting with the lowest string (the sixth string or low E) and running up to the highest string (high E) on the right. The horizontal lines indicate the frets and the dots tell you which string to press and how many frets down from the nut to place your fingers on that string. Look at number in the dot and make sure you’re forming these shapes properly using correct finger technique. You’ll find that what you’re hearing reinforces what you see.

With the Strum button, you play the selected chord. That way you not only know where every note is located but you can also hear how they blends together. You can even click right on the neck diagram and cause the sound to play again without having to return your cursor to the control bar. That’s nice when you want to practice your hand positioning and repeat the chord as many times as you like.

In the top right area of the widget there is a volume control. Here you can change the volume of the generated strumming sound to suit the situation. If you are practising somewhere quiet or late in the evening, turn it down. This allows you to continue without disturbing anyone else. It remains with each chord change.

Clicking the How to play button opens a helpful reference panel above the controls that gives you a quick summary of how to read diagrams as well as some tips on where your fingers should go. If you’re just learning to read chord charts, I’d recommend leaving this open as you practise. When you need more screen space for the chord grid you can simply toggle the reference panel closed.

The Fullscreen button (in the header) will expand the widget to the full width of your browser. This removes distracting elements so you can see the chord diagrams larger and more clearly for deeper focus or on a bigger screen. If you’re jamming on a real instrument this is especially handy when you want to cast your screen to a projector or TV. Click the button again to exit fullscreen.

For those who don’t want to use their mouse, they support keyboard control for moving around the app. Just hit the Tab key to cycle through all of the controls and chord buttons. When you’re on an item in one of the chord grids, hitting either Space or Enter will select that chord and play it back. Power users should find this easy and accessible too since it follows standard keyboard shortcuts.

To help you get the most from practicing here are a couple of practical hints. Begin with Em (it’s just two fingers), then C, G & D; these four chords alone provide the basis for thousands of folk, rock and pop tunes. Learn where each dot is placed in the diagram because good fingering avoids any awkward stretching further down the line.

Listen carefully when you strum these chords, as you should of be able to play them with clear tones. Adjust your finger placement until it feels comfortabley and if you find that one of the strings is buzzing or sounding muted then check the diagram to see how you should adjust accordingly. Practice playing the notes cleanly without rushing into the chord changes too soon; after all, we want to form the shapes correctly first. Practicing a little bit every day will help you build dexterity and strength, so make sure to play through it daily.

Now get practicing with these essential chords. Listen for how the chord changes feel under your fingers and click around trying out different combinations. Regular use of this widget will help you remember the shapes so that they eventually become second nature. When you’re ready to take what you learn here onto an actual instrument, grab a guitar (or uke) and go.