Notes on the Guitar Fretboard
Here is a fretboard diagram of all the notes on the guitar. Play the notes on each string from the open notes to the 12th fret. The note on the 12th fret is one octave higher than the open note e.g., the open 6th string is an E note and the note on the 12th fret of the 6th string is also an E note,but is one octave higher.
Chord Symbols And Alternatives
In sheet music notation, there is a lack of uniformity in writing chord symbols. For example, the C major seventh chord can be written as either "Cmaj7" (used in this book), "CN7" or "CM7". The following table outlines symbols used in this book, together with correct pronunciation and alternative symbols used for each chord type.
In the sheet music, chord symbols which indicate the bass note to play are sometimes used. For example, C/G indicates a C chord with a G bass note (it may also be written C/G bass). The bass note will note always be a note of the chord; for example, Am/G is an A minor chord with a G bass note, which could also be called Am7.
How to Read Sheet Music
Most of the sheet music you will buy in a music store will be arranged for piano. Piano music is written using two or three staves, with the chord symbols written above the top staff. It may also contain unfamiliar symbols and terms. At this stage you need only look at the top staff, which contains the melody line (tune), the lyrics and the chords. In some sheet music chord diagrams may also be included.
As most sheet music is arranged by keyboard players quite often the guitar chord shapes given are incorrect, unnecessary or impractical, and many piano arrangements of guitar based songs do not sound anything like the recorded version. Guitar tablature versions of sheet music are gradually becoming more popular and in many cases are very accurate arrangements of the song. If you want to learn more about reading music and tablature see Progressive Guitar Method Book 1: Beginner TAB version.
Also many piano arrangements are in difficult keys for a beginning guitarist and quite often use unnecessary chords. Piano sheet music also gives no indication of how to strum the chords. So piano sheet music is only a guide for a guitarist but is useful for lyrics and a general chord guide.
If the song contains chords that you are not familiar with you can:
- Learn how to play this new chord as shown in this book.
- Change the key of song.
- Substitute an easier chord. Use the following easy chord table which lists the type of chord you may see in the sheet music (on the left of the table) and the simpler chord you can substitute (on the right of the table). If you know how to transpose and substitute chords you can play almost every song ever written using only a few basic chord shapes. It is recommended that you do further chord study and at least learn how to play all the common bar chords.
Easy Chord Table
Here is an example of simplifying a chord progression, by using the chord substitutions outlined in the previous table.
Chord Construction
All chord types are based upon a unique formula which relates back to the major scale which has the same letter name as the chord, e.g., C chords are based upon a formula that is applied to the C major scale. Here is the C major scale written in standard music notation on TAB (tablature). If you play these notes you would get the familiar Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do sound.
The letter name of each note is written below the note on the staff (3). The number written below the letter name is the degree number of the note in the scale. These thirteen note degrees are all that is needed to create all chord types. Each chord type will have its own unique formula.
C
The formula for the major chord is 
which means that the major chord consists of the first, third and fifth notes of the major scale, e.g., the C major chord consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the C major scale, i.e., the C E G notes. These notes can be in any order and can be duplicated but there must be at least one of each of those notes, e.g., in the following C major chord shape there are two C notes, three E notes and one G note. The G major chord consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the G major scale, i.e., the G B D notes.
The formula for a minor chord is 
which means that the minor chord consists of the first, flattened third and fifth notes of the major scale.
e.g., the C major (Cm) chord consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the C major scale, i.e., C Eb G. So even though it is a minor chord the chord formula still relates back to the major scale.
The chord formula chart on the right lists all the chord types in this book along with its formula (relative to the major scale) and an example based upon C.
A full understanding of chord construction is very useful as your playing ability advances as it is particularly useful when improvising, substituting or writing an accompaniment for a song or piece of music.
You will need to know about major scales, keys, key signatures, sharps(#) and flats(b). All this information and everything you need to know about useful theory for guitar can be found in Progressive Guitar Method: Theory .
Chord Formula Chart
The following table lists all the types of chords in this book and the note degrees from the major scale required for each chord. As an example each chord type is also shown in the key of C. Study the following diagram and its relationship to the C major scale from the previous section.
# =Sharp (raise note one fret), b=Flat (lower note one fret), bb=Double flat (lower note two frets)
