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What Are Chords?
A chord is any grouping of three or more notes. You can play them melodically, one note at a time, or harmonically, with all the notes sounding together, but they're chords all the same. The notes you group together will change the sound of a chord, obviously, and will also change the name of the chord you are playing. There are hundreds of combinations, the most common method for learning these combinations is through chord diagrams, which are also referred to as chord charts.
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Major Chords
Major chords are considered ‘happy’ sounding chords, and convey positive feelings through music. Major chords are always implied in the notation of music. If there is a single ‘E’ above music notation, that means an ‘E Major’ chord should be played in that spot. All other chord qualities have individual markings. Major chords are the easiest chords to learn. Knowing these will allow you to be able to play hundreds of songs.
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Minor Chords
Minor chords are the counterpart to major chords and convey ‘sad’ emotions through music. Knowing your minor chords is the next step to mastering the guitar. They are represented with an ‘m’ after the chord name. Minor chords tend to sound ‘sad’ because of the lowering of the ‘third’ note in the related scale by one half-step. Below are the fingerings for open minor chords.
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Dominant 7th Chords
These chords get their name from the seventh scale degree within the structure of the chord either as a major 7, dominant 7, or the less-used diminished 7. Major 7th chords sound ‘jazzy’ and have a smooth and pleasant sound to them. They are a great substitution to the block major chord fingering. Dominant 7th chords are featured a lot in rock n roll and blues music. Diminished 7th chords are a bit more advanced and typically only occur in classical and jazz music.
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Diminished Chords
Below you will find fingerings to the basic diminished chords, often written as ‘dim’ or with a small circle ‘o’. These chords have a lot of tension in them because of the interval of a tri-tone built into the chord structure. These chords need to ‘go somewhere’ in a progression and resolve well to a major chord.
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Augmented Chords
Augmented chords are very dissonant but can be used in very creative ways. Where the diminished chord pulls to a major chord, the augmented chord is a bit static and doesn’t have much weight pulling in any particular direction, major or minor. Augmented chords, designated with ‘aug’ or a ‘+’ symbol, are built on two major 3rd intervals stacked on top of each other. Another way to think of this would be to raise the 5th of any chord up a half-step and you’ll get an augmented chord.
Benjamin Cole
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2025
The print is pretty small,a larger scale would be better, but it is ok just not what I expected.
Steve
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2025
Well made. It was too difficult for my old tired eyes to see.
Corey B. Cather
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2024
Easy to understand and use!
Dr. John Wheeler
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2024
I love these charts. They are big enough to read and laid out perfectly.
C. Sarton
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024
This was very helpful in learning the chromatic scale and to understanding what chord progression was all about. Great help. Thanks.
Just Me
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2024
Handy for finding chords when learning via online song arrangements.
Petra
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2023
Me & my ukulele student love this! It’s especially helpful for learning where the notes in the chord are; an activity for them is telling me where the root, 3rd, 5th, etc is. If they get stuck, they find the chord on the poster & then tell me
bruce millar
Reviewed in Canada on April 20, 2022
it waswhat I expected.useable information.
wow8kids
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2022
I’m 51 and started guitar lessons in a class while I was still 50 (about 6 months ago). The teacher goes faster than my brain can take it all in and remembering all the chords has been difficult. I keep this gem on my stand and refer to it every time I have my guitar out. It’s not 100% complete, of course, as there are dozens and dozens of possible chords. However - all the basic ones and lots that aren’t basic are on there and it’s still worth the money for a beginner!
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