Useful References

Reading Chord Charts

A guitar chord chart displays the notes in a chord by associating them with finger positions on the guitar neck. The index finger is numbered 1 through to the little finger which is numbered 4. The thumb is denoted T.

Sometimes fingering, as such are not given at all. The chord chart may be no more than a series of dots on a grid showing where strings are stopped and where strings are open, i.e. unstopped. Unstopped strings may be marked with an X or an O above the chart.

We have imported links to Phillip J. Facoline's Ultimate Guitar Chord Chart Web Page

Click on the page number below to view the respective page of the chord chart.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14

Click here to view the chord chart in PDF format.
Click hereto download the chord chart in Postscript format.

Writing Notes

While most guitarists will and can read from standard musical notation, others may more commonly use tablature, a notational system that describes how the fingers are placed on the strings and frets of the instrument. The bottom line (called line 1) is usually the bottom string of the instrument. This was common notation for lute music.

On the upper 'Guitar' line you will see a combination of standard notation, chord numbers and chord charts, while the lower 'Bass Guitar' line is set out in tablature form. Here, on the lower line, the tail/flag combination tells us the note's time-value and the line and the number on it tells us on which string (line) and fret (number) the player's finger should be placed. Chords notated in tablature will be a vertical column of numbers (fret positions) one on each line (string).

The Origins of Tablature Notation

Tablature (as it applies to lutes and viols) shows locations rather than specific pitches. It allows retuning of the instrument (scordatura), and makes reading chords much simpler. While it is possible to transcribe tablature into staff notation, the music usually makes much less sense, and may be much more difficult to read, especially when using a non-standard tuning. But there is a vast amount of music in tablature, and it is well worth the effort to learn it.

We have taken the following extract from Reading Lute Tablature by Conrad Leviston.

5  |--e--|--k--|--p--|--v--|--9--|-   G   
   |     |     |     |     |     |
4  |--d--|--i--|--o--|--t--|--7--|-   D   
   |     |     |     |     |     |
3  |--c--|--h--|--n--|--s--|--z--|-   A   
   |     |     |     |     |     |
2  |--b--|--g--|--m--|--r--|--y--|-   F   
   |     |     |     |     |     |
1  |--a--|--f--|--l--|--q--|--x--|-   C

                                     _     _     _     _     
5   |--e--|--k--|--p--|--v--|--9--|--e--|--k--|--p--|--v--|-  G
    |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
4   |--d--|--i--|--o--|--t--|--7--|--d--|--i--|--o--|--t--|-  D   
    |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
3   |--c--|--h--|--n--|--s--|--z--|--c--|--h--|--n--|--s--|-  A   
    |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
2   |--b--|--g--|--m--|--r--|--y--|--b--|--g--|--m--|--r--|-  F   
    |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
1   |--a--|--f--|--l--|--q--|--x--|--a--|--f--|--l--|--q--|-  C

     5     i     n     g     1

5  |--e--|--k--|--p--|--v--|--9--|--e--|--k--|--p--|--v--|-   G   
   |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
4  |--d--|--i--|--o--|--t--|--7--|--d--|--i--|--o--|--t--|-   D 
   |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
3  |--c--|--h--|--n--|--s--|--z--|--c--|--h--|--n--|--s--|-   A 
   |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
2  |--b--|--g--|--m--|--r--|--y--|--b--|--g--|--m--|--r--|-   F   
   |     |     |     |     |     |  _  |  _  |  _  |  _  |
1  |--a--|--f--|--l--|--q--|--x--|--a--|--f--|--l--|--q--|-   C   
   |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |
+  |--A--|--B--|--C--|--D--|--E--|--F--|--G--|--H--|--I--|-   G

To illustrate this with a practical example we have extracted the material below from an online method for the Portuguese Guitarra by Ron Fernández.

We show first the tuning of the 12 strings on a Portuguese Guitarra, a system called the Lisboa tuning.

The strings are set in courses - each course being a pair of strings set to the unison or one octave apart. For this reason the player needs only consider the six courses.

To notate a scale the tablature shows the six courses as the six horizontal lines below the normal stave. The numbers refer to the fret positions or fingerings for playing each note in turn; 0 indicates an open string.

To show how the notation works in practice we reproduce two lines from an arrangement of Fado Menor em Re.

In the example below, we have scored the same running scale passage on two lines, the upper line is standard notation, where the pitch of each note can be read from the stave, and the lower line a TAB line for standard six-string guitar, where the pitch of each note is determined by knowing the pitch of each string (represented by the six lines of the TAB staff) and the placement of the finger along the fingerboard frets (given by the numbers on each line).

Writing Chords

We list below all the standard chord symbols, names, component notes and chord formulae.

There is an excellent pop-up chord chart for guitar on the Chordfind.com web site.

Reference:

• Chris Juergensen web site has some very useful comments on chord symbols

Players will come across other names, in some case chords misnamed, or not numbered in the 'conventional' way. There are variations in the naming of alterations; for example, m instead of mi for minor, b5 (i.e. flat 5) or #5 (i.e. sharp 5) may be written -5 or +5, respectively. The same terminology will be found for b9 (-9), b11 (-11), b13 (-13), #9 (+9), #11 (+11) and #13 (+13).

We have collected the chords above plus many more in Chords described and transposed in lesson 17C.

Transposing Chord Names

The invaluable article by Catherine Schmidt-Jones, entitled Transposition: Changing Keys, discusses how one transposes chord names.

Special Effects

The guitar's large range of special effects can be notated on standard stave notation and in tablature. We give a summary of the most common, each with a short description.

Arpeggios or spread chords, are notated in the same way as on a keyboard instrument, and are played 'up' the chord from the lowest note.

Two signs, familar to string players may be found above or below a number.

	down-stroke, the string is plucked with the hand moving downwards
	up-stroke, the string is plucked with the hand moving upwards

Slurs are indicated using the standard curved line, with an H indicating a 'hammer-on' (or ascending ligando), and a P indicating a 'pull-off' (or descending ligando).

The pitch of a note can be changed while it sounds by sliding the finger on the fret before or after plucking or picking it so that its pitch alters down a fret or two if bending before sounding, up a fret or two if bending after sounding, or up and then back down again if bending after sounding. The sign is a curved arrow pointing up, or the letters BU, for an 'up' bend (also called an ascending bend) or a curved arrow pointing down, or the letters BD, for a 'down' bend (also called a descending bend).

If the fret finger slides from one note up to a second note where the second note is not resounded, or the note is struck while the finger is sliding, these are called slides rather than bends. The difference is that bends occur during notes, while slides happen between notes. Slides are shown by a line lying between two notes and the letters sl. placed above the line.

If the fret finger touches the string lightly and the string is then plucked 'bell-like' high natural harmonics are produced. A similar result is produced when with a string, fretted in the normal way, is lightly touched over a fret by one of the plucking hand fingers while a second finger plucks the string. These are called artificial harmonics. A harmonic is shown with a diamond notehead and, in tablature, with both fret positions shown on the same line (corresponding to the two fingers on the same string) surrounding by a diamond shaped border.

Muted playing, where the fret hand lies on the strings and the plucking hand strikes the string is shown by using the percussion symbol, an x for the note head, while the palm mute effect, where the plucking hand touches the strings just ahead of the bridge to dampen the sound, is shown by writting P.M. over the staff or tablature line.

Three or four oblique lines written across the tail of a note is called tremolo. The note is played repeatedly as quickly as possible. If, instead, the fret finger is rolled back and forth rapidly the effect is called vibrato. It is marked with a wavy horizontal above the stave which shows the duration of the effect.

A final detail may be the use of letters (for example, p for thumb, i for index finger, m for middle finger, a for ring-finger) indicating the fingers to be used when playing 'finger-style'.

Voicing Chords

Alisdair MacRae Birch, a New York based guitar teacher, points out that because a guitar has only six strings and a guitarist five fingers, some chords have to be adapted, in particular by leaving out internal voicings or notes. For example, a major 9th chord might be played by using a major 7th chord with the root raised by a whole tone to produce the 9th. The root is missing from the chord, and this modification is called 'rootless voicing'.

So

Major 7th Voiced : 7-3-5-1
Major 9th Voiced : 7-3-5-9

Why can the guitarist get away with missing out the root? The root of a chord can be implied by other notes, mainly the third and seventh. The notes that are used are called 'guide notes' (or 'guide tones', 'target notes', 'goal notes'). The third is important because it gives you the tonality of the chord, major or minor, while the seventh could be a major seventh or a minor seventh (as in a dominant 7th chord) and that distinction is important too. So the root is implied rather than played. Many guitar players are habit-bound playing root-position chords and think it necessary to play every note in every chord. In fact, to make the art of chord melody playing more musical, the main consideration must be the melody. If the addition of the third and seventh of the chord is sufficient and rhythmically appropriate there is no need for the root.

In the common ii-»V-»I progression, the seventh of each chord moves chromatically to the third of the next chord. These notes and the way they move from seventh to third make the progression clear.

The term 'rootless voicing' is also used when the root of a chord is left out in a keyboard part because it is being played on another instrument, for example a bass guitar, or on the organ pedal board. In a jazz combo the pianist never plays the root note of the chord otherwise he would be duplicating the bass players job of laying down the root harmonies. Jazz keyboard players like Bill Evans frequently use rootless voicings because by leaving out the root in the voicing, the chordal harmony is given a more ambiguous flavour opening the door to more interesting harmonic possibilities.

The fact that notes can be implied and need not be played is one of the basic features of the jazz written by Duke Ellington, one of the greatest of jazz composers. By opening up the texture and thereby increasing the harmonic ambiguity, Ellington had invented the device to open up a completely new and highly influential style of jazz music - he had found the "Divine Simplicity".

References:

The Lute

We have added a summary taken from Caroline Usher's guide to obtaining a lute & strings, lute societies, and publishers which provides a simple guide to the lute.

In the late sixteenth century, the lute family put forth a marvellous offshoot in the form of instruments with neck extensions and second pegboxes, the archlute and theorbo or chitarrone (the latter two terms are interchangeable). The second neck and pegbox extend the bass range of the instrument with diapasons tuned diatonically in a scale. These instruments were initially created for accompaniment, primarily of the voice, from a figured bass part, but soon developed a solo repertoire written in tablature. In modern terminology the archlute employs renaissance tuning for its upper 6 courses, the theorbo/chitarrone employs a re-entrant tuning, like renaissance tuning except that the top 2 courses are tuned an octave down. This is because the theorbo typically is a larger instrument with a longer string length, and gut strings of such length could not be tuned to the higher pitches.