Guitar
32 articles · 6 tools
Guides
Guitar Chord Progressions: the Patterns Behind Most Songs
Chord progressions are numbers, not names — learn I–V–vi–IV once and you can play it in any key. The seven chords of the five guitar keys, the eight progressions worth memorizing, the songs that use them, and how to move any of them with a capo.
Barre Chords: the 8 Movable Shapes and How to Make Them Ring
A barre chord turns your index finger into a movable nut, so one shape gives you twelve chords. Here are the eight shapes that cover 96 chords, a fret-by-fret root chart for both root strings, and the fixes for every kind of buzz.
Guitar Chords: A Beginner's Guide
What a guitar chord is, how to read a chord diagram, and the eight essential open chords to learn first — each linked to an interactive finder where you can see the fingering and hear it.
Guitar string names
Learn the six guitar string names in order — E, A, D, G, B, E — why the numbering runs backwards, the standard tuning, and easy mnemonics to memorize them.
Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning lowers only the low 6th string from E to D, giving D A D G B E. Learn how to tune to it, why guitarists use it, and real songs to try.
Easy guitar songs for beginners
A dozen genuinely easy guitar songs for beginners, grouped from two chords to four — with the exact chords each one uses, why it’s simple, and where a capo fits in.
How to read guitar tabs
Learn to read guitar tablature from scratch: what the six lines and numbers mean, a full table of tab symbols, a famous riff read off the tab, and tab’s one limit.
From the books
Note Names on the Neck
A full fretboard chart of every note name, so you can move any scale pattern to any key.
Other Exotic and Ethnic Scales
Enigmatic, Hungarian minor, Persian, Arabian, Japanese and more — exotic and ethnic scales with fretboard patterns.
Diminished
The symmetrical eight-note diminished scale (whole-half and half-whole) in positional and diagonal fretboard forms.
Whole Tone
The dreamy six-note whole tone scale and its symmetrical shapes, in positions and three-notes-per-string patterns.
Chromatic
The twelve-tone chromatic scale in positional and single-string fingerings for building speed and dexterity.
Modes of Jazz Minor
The seven modes of the jazz minor scale — Lydian ♭7, Super Locrian and more — shown as full-neck patterns.
Jazz Melodic Minor
The jazz (melodic) minor scale, a natural minor with raised sixth and seventh, in positions and full-neck forms.
Phrygian-Dominant
The Phrygian-dominant scale — the fifth mode of harmonic minor — with its Spanish/flamenco color, across the neck.
Harmonic Minor
The exotic harmonic minor scale and its distinctive raised seventh, in five positions and full-neck patterns.
Locrian
The unstable Locrian mode with flatted second and fifth, mapped in positions and three-notes-per-string patterns.
Mixolydian
The dominant, bluesy Mixolydian mode with its flatted seventh, in positions and full-neck fingerings.
Lydian
The airy Lydian mode with its raised fourth, shown in five positions and three-notes-per-string forms.
Phrygian
The dark Phrygian mode with its flatted second, mapped across the fretboard in positions and full-neck patterns.
Dorian
The Dorian mode — a minor scale with a bright raised sixth — in five positions and three-notes-per-string patterns.
Creating Modes
How the seven modes are created from a parent scale — and how to see and hear each as a scale in its own right.
Major
The major scale in five positional patterns and three-notes-per-string forms, with full-neck fingerings.
Natural Minor
The natural minor (Aeolian) scale in five positions and three-notes-per-string patterns across the whole neck.
Major Blues
The nine-tone major blues scale in all five boxes and full-neck fingerings for guitar.
Minor Blues
The eight-tone minor blues scale mapped across the fretboard in five interconnected box patterns.
Major Pentatonic
The bright, country- and rock-friendly major pentatonic scale in five boxes, diagonals and full-neck patterns.
Blues
The six-note blues scale — minor pentatonic plus the flatted fifth — shown in all five boxes and across the neck.
Minor Pentatonic
The five-tone minor pentatonic scale in all five box patterns, diagonal shapes and full-neck fingerings for guitar.
A Word About Fingerings
Why the suggested fingerings aren't set in stone, and how to pick the ones that fit your hand and the passage.
Reading Fretboard Diagrams
How to read the fretboard diagrams used throughout the book — dots, open strings, root notes and fret numbers explained.
How to Learn Scales
How to approach this book and practice scales effectively, so each pattern truly sinks in.
Tools
Guitar tools →Interactive tools for Guitar — try them right in your browser.
Chord progression player
Browse the progressions behind pop, rock, jazz, blues and classical music, hear each one in any key on piano or guitar, and loop it at your own tempo to practice or write over.
Fretboard note finder
Pick a note and a tuning and every place that note falls on the neck lights up, named — click any fret to hear it.
Fretboard note trainer
A position lights up on the neck and you name the note from twelve choices, with instant feedback and a running score.
Guitar chord finder
Pick a root and a chord type and see every way to play it — open shapes and movable shapes up the neck — with fingering, the notes on each string, and a strum you can hear.
Guitar tuner
Allow your microphone, play a string, and tune by ear to standard tuning (E A D G B E).
Tuning drone
Hold a steady reference pitch on any note, in any octave, at A = 440, 442 or baroque 415, with an optional fifth — tune to it and practice intonation, scales and long tones right in your browser.