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Guitar Chord Theory

An introduction to chord theory covering chord names, chord construction, triads, intervals, scales.

Introduction to Guitar Tab Notation

Explanation of how to read and write guitar tablature.
My Introduction to Guitar Tablature is also available in German, Italian, Czech, Dutch and French.

Basic Guitar Techniques

How to play bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs and vibrato.

Guitar Chords

A list of over 42,000 guitar chords - find almost any chord you need!

Introduction To Guitar Chord Theory

This gives an introduction to guitar chord theory, chord names and chord construction, and explains all you need to know about:

Understanding chord names (what is a D/E chord? a Badd4?)
Musical intervals (5ths, flat 7ths, minor 3rds etc)
Triads
What notes are used to build a particular chord

This Guide To Guitar Chord Theory is simple to read and should answer all your questions relating to guitar chords. You might be surprised at how easy the basics are once they are clearly explained!

Go here for the text version of my Introduction To Guitar Chord Theory.

Go here for the HTML version of my Introduction To Guitar Chord Theory.

Music and Chord Theory reference tables

I've made two reference tables which summarise parts of my introduction to chord theory.

My Guitar Chord Reference Table lists the spelling of most basic guitar chords.

My Table of Key Signatures, Scales and Triads lists the key signature, scale and triads for all keys. It also has information on relative major and minor keys.

How To Read And Write Guitar Tablature

This introduction to guitar tablature explains all the symbols and conventions commonly used in guitar tab, so if you're not sure how to interpret and actually play tablature, this guide should tell you all you need to know. It also offers hints on how to write your own tablature files that are easy for others to read and understand.

Go here for the text version of my Guide To Guitar Tablature.

Go here for the HTML version of my Guide To Guitar Tablature.

Translated versions of the Guide to Tablature

Thanks to the efforts of Dominik Osterholt, Marco Farcito, Martin Ilek, Maurice Makaay and Pierre Charpenay, my introduction to guitar tablature is now available in German, Italian, Czech, Dutch and French versions. Click on the links to view/download. Note that the German version is in rich text format and cannot be viewed on a web browser - you need to download it and view it on a text/word processor.

Many thanks to Dominik, Marco, Martin, Maurice and Pierre for their work on the translations! If you have any questions on the translated versions, you can contact Dominik (German translation) at dominik[at]osterholts[dot]de, Marco (Italian translation) at marcofarcito[at]libero[dot]it, Martin (Czech translation) at mailek[at]email[dot]cz, Maurice (Dutch translation) at maurice[at]gitaar[dot]net and Pierre (French translation) at charpenay.pierre[chez]neuf[point]fr.

Basic Guitar Techniques

If you are a beginner on the guitar you might find this guitar techniques page useful. It describes basic fretting hand techniques such as bends, vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs. Go here for my explanation of basic guitar techniques.

List Of Guitar Chords

Go here for my list of guitar chords. This page has chord shapes for over 42,000 different chords, covering chords in all keys, so you should be able to find most chords you need here.

These chord shape lists are the result of a chord generator program I have been working on for several years. The program works out all possible ways of fingering a given chord, and then selects the simplest and easiest shapes for output.

Awards

My "Guide To Guitar Chord Theory" has won a StudyWeb excellence award.

Last updated March 2015