Chords in Open D

The chords are listed as chord diagrams and are grouped under the root note of the chord.  For each chord, there can be many different chord possibilities known as chord voicings as shown in the example below.  A chord voicing is just a fancy way of saying that the order of the notes is rearranged in the chord.  The example below is the chord group for the D major chord.  The diagrams give you the names of each note in each chord.  The root note is indicated in blue and the other notes of the chord are in black.  Repeated notes are shown grayed to show they are duplicates.

How to read the Chord Charts

Each fret diagram shows 5 frets at a time with the frets closest to the tuning pegs at the top.  Each line is a string with the bass strings on the left and the treble strings on the right.  These fret diagrams have fret numbers (i.e. 0-5) along side it; it shows a 5 fret segment of the fretboard in which the chord is played.  In the example above, the top line shows a 0 indicating the nut of the guitar.  As another example, the diagram on the right shows a chord that would start at the 4th fret because the top line has a 3 next to it.  Your index finger is then positioned behind the 4th fret.

When a string is to be played "Open", The circled note appears above the first line. For example the chord shown to the right shows the 1st and 2nd strings played open (the 1st & 2nd strings aren't fretted).  When a string is fretted, you see a colored circled note on the appropriate fret to be fingered.  When a string is not to be sounded, there is a "x" above that string line (the chord on the right shows the 6th string isn't played in this chord).