Foundations
Know the instrument, tune it, hear the open strings, and meet the capo before you stack chords. Built for beginners, intermediates, and advanced players — solo or with a teacher in the room.
Parts and hold
A guitar has six strings, a neck with metal frets, and a body. The thickest string is the low E (closest to the ceiling when you hold the guitar); the thinnest is the high e.
Sit tall. Rest the body on your right thigh (right-handed hold — lefty support comes later). Left hand on the neck; right hand strums or picks over the soundhole (acoustic) or pickups (electric). Any guitar in standard tuning works here.
Standard tuning — E A D G B e
v1 stays in standard EADGBE only. From low to high:
| String | Name | Hear it |
|---|
Tune so each open string matches the pitch above. Use the live Tuner (mic) or a clip-on tuner; the buttons here are a pitch reference.
Open strings on the neck
Click a string at a fret to hear it. Open notes sit left of the nut (unfretted). High e is on top — the same orientation as TAB later.
Each fret is one half step — the same twelve-note grid as piano. A finger just behind the fret, not on top of the metal, keeps the note clean.
Capo
A capo clamps across a fret and shortens every string. Open shapes then sound in a new key. That is how you keep easy chords while matching a singer’s Sa or a song that sits too low or high.
The bar is the capo at fret 2. The G grip is the same picture you already know — fretted notes move up with the capo; “open” strings sit on the capo fret. That shape now sounds like A major.
- Capo fret 2 + open G shapes → music that feels like A major.
- Capo fret 3 + open G → like B♭ — useful for many film / folk keys.
Place it just behind the fret, snug but not crushing. If a string buzzes, shift it a millimetre toward the fretwire.
Tablatures — How to read tabs
TAB is a grid. Six lines — one per string, high e on
top (same as the neck on this site). Read left to right: each column is a
moment in time. A digit is the fret to press, not which finger to use.
0 is open (no fret). A vertical bar | is a barline or beat
marker. If several numbers stack in one column, play them together (a strum or chord).
Letters and marks (left hand unless noted):
- h — hammer-on (pick once, then fret the next note with the left hand)
- p — pull-off (flick off to the lower fret; the lower note must speak)
- / and \ — slide up or down to the next fret without lifting
- b — bend (often
8b10= bend fret 8 up toward the pitch of fret 10) - ~ or v — vibrato on the held note
- x — mute that string (percussive click, not a clear pitch)
- <12> — touch harmonic at that fret (see Lead · harmonics)
- t — right-hand tap (see Tapping later)
- D / U under a line — downstroke / upstroke with the pick
On song pages you may also see chord names (G | D | Em | C) above the grid — that is when to change shape, not a melody to read note by note.
Example on the G string (pick → hammer → pull → slide):
e|-------------------------------- B|-------------------------------- G|---5---h---7---p---5---/7------- D|-------------------------------- A|-------------------------------- E|--------------------------------
Deeper cells: Legato · Lead · slide & bend.
All open strings (low E up to high e), written the TAB way — read left to right; each 0 is the next string in the arpeggio, not a chord:
e|---------------------0-- B|-----------------0------ G|-------------0---------- D|---------0-------------- A|-----0------------------ E|-0----------------------
Hear them with Play all open strings (low E up to high e), then match the same notes on the neck diagram earlier on this page. On song pages, chord TAB is where your left hand sits on each string — fret numbers for a grip, not a melody line to read left-to-right like staff notation.
Next layer — how long notes last, chord letters above a staff, and reading pitch on the staff — is on Neck and names · Reading (TAB is assumed; staff sections are at the end of that page).