How To Read Guitar Chord Boxes

Learning to read chord boxes - or chord diagrams - is essential to any guitar player!

A chord box shows you how to play a chord. Before you can imagine, you’ll use chord box diagrams to play your favorite songs. Fun, eh? :)

Let’s take a look at the image below. It’ll help you get familiar with the symbols we use in a chord box diagram.

What do the lines mean?

The vertical lines in the diagram represent the six strings.
The line on the furthest left is the thickest string.
The two lines at the top of the box represent the nut.
The rest of the horizontal lines represent the frets.

What do the dots mean?

The dots represent the strings you should place your fingers on, and the numbers inside the dots show which finger to use.

Number 1 is the index finger.
Number 2 is the middle finger.
Number 3 is the ring finger.
Number 4 is your pinky.

Numbering the Strings

We usually use numbers to refer to the strings as well. For example, you might hear the 3rd string rather than the third thinnest string in my guitar lessons. Some people prefer to name the string by pitch, but that can be tricky later in our Beginner Guitar Course. My preference is to stick with calling them Strings 1 - 6! So, you must memorize that:

The thinnest string is string 1.
The thickest is string 6.

Which Strings to Play?

When reading a chord box diagram, observe that some strings have an X and others have an O above them. That tells you if you should or should not play a string! You should memorize that:

The O stands for open. It means that you play an open string – with no fingers holding it down.
The X means that you should not play that string at all.
You’ll always play the strings that have fingers on them.

Guitar Tabs vs. Chord Diagrams

We use tablatures - or tabs - to writing music for guitar, while chord diagrams only tell us how to play a chord. We’ll learn more about tablatures later on in our course. For now - no need to worry about it!

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