Open Chord Guitar Chart

With this widget you’re able to hear how each chord would sound as well as view fingerings all in one go. It is an interactive chart of open position guitar chords that you can also ‘play’ on the screen itself. Simply click where you want to, or use your computer’s keyboard to select options and navigate around interface.

Common beginner chords is placed convenienty close at hand. This enables you to experiment with strumming pattern and shapes easy without a physical instrument.

How to Use the Guitar Chord Widget

The chord buttons along the top (shown above) are a selection of common open chords: Am, C, D, Em and G plus a few sevenths and sus2/sus4 variations. Simply click on any of the buttons and corresponding chord appears in the diagram beneath, while the chord that’s ‘active’ is always highlighted. Alternatively, hit spacebar or Enter key to select a chord. Use the Tab key on your computer keyboard to move cursor from one chord button to the next.

In the middle there is big panel showing the guitar neck, with six vertical lines representing strings, although these are interrupted by heavy bar along the top for the nut, then horizontal lines for the frets. Each fret have a little dot which shows precisely where to place your finger(s), and within each dot is written the note name. The x over a string indicates this should not be played, while the o over a string tell you to strum it open. Where more than one dot occur on a single fret, a darker bar suggests a barre chord, where one finger is placed across more than one string.

The diagram has two play back buttons below it which allow you to hear how the chord sounds. The first button (Strum) will simulate striking a chord fully, letting each note ring out just like they does, but with a slight rolling effect. The Arpeggio button will play notes one at a time starting on bottom note up to highest note in the chord, which can be helpful when double-checking whether or not your voicing is clear or when working on fingerpicking pattern. You’ll notice that these play buttons allows you to try it without ever having to leave chart view.

The volume slider is on the lower-right side of widget. It gives you control over total sound volume. Slide it to the right to increase the volume or to the left to decrease it to suit your surroundings. Clicking the Help panel button (top corner) will toggle a handy reference guide describing how the controls work as well as explaining what each symbol in the diagram mean. To get more screen space, click the Fullscreen button to blow out the chart so it fills your monitor.

Instead of playing just a A minor (Am), try using some of its close relatives such as Amaj7 to discover how sound changes with added extensions. Stick with the arpeggio mode though, so you can single out each string and make sure you’re playing all notes accurate as indicated in the diagram. There’s a keyboard that allow rapid cycling through many chords at once without having to lift your fingers off typing space.

You may want to look closely at the voicings in this collection. They are laid out so that you can see where your fingers go and hear how each chord sound. This helps you develop muscle memory faster then just looking at still pictures. Begin with simple major and minor shapes then progress onto the trickier seventh and suspended chords.