How To Read A Guitar Chord Diagram

To Read A Guitar Chord Diagram, You First Need To Get The Right Perspective. Then It’s Going To Be Self Explanatory.

Here You Look On The Guitar Fretboard From The Very Same Angle Like On The Chord Diagram.

Let’s Imagine, You Wanna Play The Am7 Chord & The Diagram Looks Like This:

Am7

Then It Translates On The Guitar Like This:

There Are Two Notes You Need To Fret: First Fret On The B String And Second Fret On The D String. The Diagram Is Showing You Additionally Which Finger You Have To Use To Fret The Notes.

The Numbers Inside The Dots Represent The Fingers You Have To Use. This Is How The Fingers Of Your Gripping Hand Are Numbered:

The T Stands For Thumb. In Rare Cases Some Chord Notes Are Fretted With The Thumb.

Don’t Play This String

The X Means That You’re Not Allowed To Play That String.

So Simply Don’t Strum It.

In Some Cases The X Might Be A String In The Middle So That You Will Inevitably Strum It When You Strum Across All Six Strings.

Then It Is Referred To As A Dead Note. Technically You’re Hitting The String, But It Is Muted, So It’s More A Noise Than A Sounding Note.

In Case Of The Previous Am7 Chord You Can Decide Simply Not To Strum That String Or To Wrap The Thumb Around The Neck And Mute The Low E String By Slightly Touching It With Your Thumb.

Open Strings

The Chord Diagram Is Also Showing You Which Open Strings Are Part Of The Chord

Here We Need To Strum The High E String, The G String And The A String.

Conclusion

The Chord Diagram Is Telling You The Following:

1. To Mute The Low E String
2. To Play The Open A String
3. To Put Your Middle Finger On The 2nd Fret Of The D String
4. To Play The Open G String
5. To Put Your Index Finger On The 1nd Fret Of The B String
6. To Play The High Open E String

And This Is What It Looks Like:

Alright, I Hope That Was Helpful & Insightful.

If You Wanna Learn How To Play Some Really, Really, Really Easy And Astoundingly Great Sounding Chords, Then I Warmly Recommend You Check Out This Article Here.

And If You Wanna Learn Just The Standard Guitar Chords, Then You Might Wanna Go Here.

And Make Sure You Go Through My Ultimate Guide On How To Play Guitar Chords Right. There You’ll Discover Many Awesome Tips And Tricks For Guitar Beginners Who Wanna Start With Playing Chords.

In This Sense, Stay Tuned & Be Your Own Teacher.

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