Know Your Free Guitar Chords

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

With the continuing craze about guitar playing, from rhythm and blues to rock ? there is a huge demand for free guitar chords. A guitar chord represents the collection of tones that is sounded when the strings of a guitar are played simultaneously. Cool guitarists have a way with guitar chords ? they play it with style and ease.

Free Guitar Chords, Anyone?

Free guitar chords are illustrated in the customary musical notation and tablature, also known as tabs. With more self-taught guitarists on the rise, free guitar chords are also depicted in chord diagrams for easier reading. However, different people have different interpretations of guitar chords. Some coaches use their own versions which often lead to confusion.

Understanding guitar chord symbols

Free guitar chords often include symbols in the chord diagram layout. The vertical lines are the guitar strings, the horizontal lines are the frets. An x above the vertical line indicates that a string is free or is not played, while an O designates an open string or a string that is not played on the fret. A filled circle means the string has to be fretted.

If you look closely at the neck of your guitar, you will see thin strips running the full width of the neck. These metal strips divide the neck into musical intervals. A fret has its cluster tone where an octave is segmented into twelve semitones. When there is an instruction in the free guitar chords to fret, you simply press down the string on the strip.

Other illustrations on a free guitar chords diagram are the curved line to indicate a barre. When a barre is signaled, you use a single finger to hold down several strings all at once. If there are numbers beneath some strings, you are asked to use the indicated finger number on the note. For left handed players, the diagrams are simply reversed.

Getting those free guitar chords

There are guitar sites online offering free guitar chords, from classics to the latest pop songs. You can choose from a drop down menu the artists or the songs, often arranged alphabetically. These guitar chords are also marked according to their difficulty level. Other sites simply cluster the free guitar chords according to the following ranks ? beginner, advanced, and pro.

To make the learning process easier, there are sites that have video demonstrations explaining the function of each guitar part, the guitar chords, and techniques. The video demo makes it easier for self-taught players to understand the complexities of the guitar chords.

To make the most of your free guitar chords, get a guitar dictionary. This contains 63 basic chords, and when you pick a note, you will hear the sound of the guitar chord. This will require a Flash player, though, so be ready to get one when needed. Yet another tool you can use is a CD of guitar chords that may supplement the free guitar chords you have downloaded from websites. This CD is easy to use because it does not require extra tools to set up.

Also, surf the net for free guitar chords of your favorite songs and artists. There is no end in sight for guitar chords, tips, and even free guitar newsletters. You can also sign up for guitar forums to get more ideas from other guitar players. From there you can start you budding guitar career.