Guitar For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Translate fingerboard diagrams to a real guitar

The following figure, which shows how a chord diagram and a tab staff relate to an actual guitar, helps you turn guitar notation into chords and melodies.

24 common guitar chords for different music styles

The following figure shows 24 common, easy-to-play guitar chords that you can use in many different songs in a variety of styles — including folk, country, rock, and blues. Left-hand fingerings appear immediately below the strings (1 = index, 2 = middle, 3 = ring, and 4 = little). An O above a string means to play the open string as part of the chord; an X above a string indicates it isn’t part of the chord and shouldn’t be played. A curved line means to play the dots (fretted notes) below the line with a barre.

Notes on the neck of a guitar

The following neck diagram shows the notes for all the frets on the guitar up to and including the 12th fret. Use this diagram to find individual notes on the guitar or to transpose any movable chord or scale to a different starting note. Sometimes you see two notes at the same fret; these notes, called enharmonic equivalents, have the same pitch.

Essential guitar tools and accessories

Following is a list of 12 essential tools and accessories that will help you keep your fingers and your guitar in tip-top shape and in good working order and provide you with the hardware to create a variety of music. All the following items are fairly inexpensive; they can fit easily in a resealable plastic bag and be stored inside your guitar case.

1. Electronic tuner/metronome

2. Extra strings

3. String winder

4. Cleaning/polishing cloth

5. Pencil and paper

6. Digital recorder

7. Mini toolkit: Screwdrivers, wire cutters, pliers, allen wrenches

8. Nail file/emery board

9. Capo

10. Picks

11. Slide

12. Strap