gizmobench

Easy Guitar Chord Chart

Eight open chords, drawn with their fingerings and the notes each one sounds: C, A, G, E and D, then A minor, E minor and D minor. This page opens with the chart narrowed to those eight, because they are the shapes a first-year player can actually hold. None of them needs a barre, every one leaves at least one string ringing open, and between them they play a great many of the songs anybody learns first. Each diagram shows which finger goes where, which strings to leave out, and the note names underneath, worked out from the open strings rather than copied from a list, so you can see what changes when A major becomes A minor. Press Print sheet and the eight land on one page.

123xooEADGBE

A major · x02220
notes A E A C# E
lowest note A on string 5
open shape, fret 2, 5 strings sounding, 1 muted

Chord
A major
Fingering
x02220
Notes
A E A C# E
Tuning
Show

Three fingers in one fret box. Crowded at first, and it is the shape every barre chord is built from.

  • A majorthree fingers in one fret box
    x02220
  • B majorthe barre most beginners meet first
    x24442
  • E minortwo fingers, the easiest full chord there is
    022000
How to read the diagram. The six vertical lines are the strings, sixth (thickest) on the left, and the heavy line across the top is the nut. A number in a dot is the finger that presses there: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little. A bar drawn across several strings is one finger lying flat over all of them. Above the nut, o means play that string open and x means do not play it at all. The letters under the diagram are the open strings of the tuning, which is why they change when you switch to drop D. Notes are named with sharps throughout, so the third of B major reads D# rather than Eb.

Common questions

Which guitar chords should I learn first?
These eight, and in roughly this order: E minor, because it is two fingers and all six strings ring; A minor and E, which are the same hand shape moved across; then A and D, then C and G, which ask for the biggest stretches. D minor is worth learning early because it is D major with its top note moved down one fret. Learn them as shapes rather than as a list to memorise: E and A minor are the same three fingers on different strings, A major and A minor differ by a single note, and D major and D minor differ by one fret. The chart names the notes under each diagram, so those relationships are visible rather than something to take on trust.
Why are there no barre chords in this set?
Because a barre asks one finger to hold several strings flat at once, and that takes weeks of playing to build up, while an open chord can be held on the first day. All eight of these leave at least one string open, so the hand holds fewer notes and the guitar still sounds full. The barre shapes are on the full chart, which the All button shows, along with the sevenths and the two easier ways of playing B. Learning the open shapes first is not a detour: F is the E shape barred, B is the A shape, F sharp minor is E minor and B minor is A minor, so every barre chord you meet later is one of these eight moved up the neck.
What do the x and the o above a chord diagram mean?
They apply to the strings that no finger presses. An o means play that string open, letting it ring as it is, and it counts as part of the chord. An x means do not play that string at all: mute it, or miss it with the pick. D major is xx0232, so the two thickest strings are left out entirely, and playing them makes the chord sound muddy rather than wrong in an obvious way, which is why beginners often cannot tell what is off. The numbers in the dots are fingers, not frets: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little.
Which two chords should I practise changing between first?
E minor and A minor. Look at the two diagrams together: E minor is 022000, two fingers at the second fret on the fifth and fourth strings, and A minor is x02210, the same two fingers moved across one string each, plus the index on the second string at the first fret. The change is one shift and one finger added, so it can be made slowly and correctly from the first day. After that, A minor to E major is the same trick in the other direction. Practise the movement without strumming until the fingers land together, then add the strum.
Can I print this beginner chart?
Yes. Press Print sheet, or use your browser's own print command, and the eight shapes print on one page in black on white, each with its name, its fingering and the notes it sounds. The diagrams are drawn in the page rather than loaded as pictures, so they print crisply at any size. If you switch the Show control to All first, the whole chart prints instead, and if you turn on left handed the printed diagrams mirror too.

Every diagram is a named fingering with its own frets, fingers and muted strings, and the note names under it are computed from standard tuning. It cannot know your tuning or the reach of your hand, and a chord has more than one shape: these are the common ones, not the only ones.