Reading chord diagrams and tabs

Guitarists mostly use two kinds of notation: chord diagrams (for chords) and tablature, or "tab" (for riffs, melodies and solos). Both are easy to read — let's learn them.

Chord diagrams

A chord diagram is a picture of the fretboard standing upright, as if the guitar were hanging on a wall in front of you.

• Vertical lines are the strings. The thickest (low E) is on the left, the thinnest (high E) on the right.
• Horizontal lines are the frets. The thick line on top is the nut.
• Dots show where to press, and the number inside tells you which finger to use (1 = index, 2 = middle, 3 = ring, 4 = pinky).
• ○ above a string means play it open (without pressing).
• × means don't play that string (or mute it).

Click the diagram above to hear a C major chord. Read it out: no 6th string; ring finger on the 3rd fret of the 5th string; middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 4th string; open 3rd string; index on the 1st fret of the 2nd string; open 1st string.

When a chord is higher up the neck, a number on the left shows the starting fret, and a long bar means a barre — one finger presses several strings:

Tablature (tab)

Tab is a picture of the strings lying down, with the high E on top — exactly like the fretboards on this site.

e|-----------0-----|
B|---------1---1---|
G|-------0-------0-|
D|-----2-----------|
A|---3-------------|
E|-----------------|

• Each line is a string (top = high e, bottom = low E).
• Each number is a fret. 0 means open string.
• You read left to right. Numbers stacked vertically are played together.

So the example says: 3rd fret on the A string, then 2nd fret on the D string, then the open G string, and so on. Press Play to hear it. (It's a C major chord played one note at a time!)

Common tab symbols

You now know enough to learn your first chords!