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Understanding chord diagram and tablature

 GUITAR TABLATURE

Guitar tablature (tab for short) is a musical notation that indicates fingering on the instrument rather than musical pitches. The guitar has six lines to represent the six strings (from the first string to the sixth string) . The high E string is 1 and the low E string is 6.

I used broken lines instead  of solid lines to illustrate.

---1-------------2----------------3----4---------0------------E

---------0-------------0-----0--------------------1------------B

----------------------------------------------------0------------G

----------------------------------------------------2------------D

----------------------------------------------------3------------A

------------------------------------------------------------------E

In the tab above, the  numbers on the lines indicate the fret with exception of the number '0'. '0' means play open (without fingering). Reading from the left of the tab, you finger and play the first fret of the high E string which is the "F note",  play the "B string " without fingering (open), then you play the "F sharp" on the high E string  . If you noticed from the left of tab, the '1 'on the High E string,  the '0' are not on a vertical line that means they are play separately, but the last '0', '1' ,'0', '2', '3' are played together. Actually it is a chord: the C chord.  So the notes are played together not separately since they are in a vertical line so to speak. Slide, pull off , hammer and so o on are also indicated in the tab. But I didn't put them in this tuturial. For more information visit simplified theory


HOW TO READ CHORD DIAGRAM

The guitar chords diagram is used to indicate fingering on the guitar. It is basically made up of vertical lines and horizontal lines. The vertical lines represent the frets and the horizontal lines which is usually six indicate the six strings on the guitar. The 'O' the chord chart means play opened and the 'X' means don't play.

How to play guitar chords for beginners





In guitar playing, the left fingers  usually have a numbering system. The index finger is 1, the middle finger is 2, the ring finger is is 3 and the pinky( little finger) is 4.  In the 'D chord' in the picture,  the first fret is represented by a fret number of 1, second fret is 2 and so on. In the D chord, the ring finger(number 3) is fingering the 'D note' , third fret ,second string; the index finger ( number 1) is on second fret, the third string and the middle finger( number 2) is on the F# note( first string, second fret). The Fourth string is played opened. The Chord is play from the forth string, the forth and sixth strings are not played since they are indicated by a 'X' in the chord diagram. Check this video:
How to play chord


BASIC BEGINNERS GUITAR CHORDS

For the basic guitar chords download this book by David Taub. Learning how to play chords on the guitar  to sound clean requires patience and practice. Chords like the F chord and the C chord are usually challenging for beginners.



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