A chord is a group of notes played together which are known as the root notes, and guitar chord charts show you the forming of these guitar chords and their root notes.  Simply put, a guitar chord chart is a collection of guitar chords.

These guitar chords are usually represented in tablature (or tab for short) form because it is considered easier to read and master than traditional notated music.

There are several different forms of guitar chord.  There is an open chord which means that the unfretted strings are played open.  There are a number of fairly basic open chords which every player should learn very early and certainly before they move on to learn the more complex chords which can be found in other guitar chord charts.

The barre chord means you need to lean your index finger over all six strings in the position indicated on the guitar chord charts.  This texhnique is very similar to using a capo.

The swing chord is traditionally used in jazz and means you only play the three notes indicated.  Again, there are guitar chord charts readily available for this style of chord.

Jazz chords are designed in a similar way to barre chords, in so far as you can easily move them up and down the guitar.  Sliding jazz chords around the guitar gives a very notable jazz sound.

Our guitar chord charts section gives many resources for guitar chord charts and for more information take a look at our Guitar Chord Charts Resources section below.