Have you ever been playing a song on your guitar and wondered what the names are of some of those strange chords your fingers are holding? Or have you looked at the chords of a song, and upon seeing something like "Dm7b5," you wondered how the heck you play it? If so, you're in the right place.

The purpose of this guide is to give beginning guitarists and those unfamiliar with music theory a little insight into how chords are constructed and named. I will be assuming almost no prior knowledge of the reader, so I will take my time explaining things, starting with the fundamentals and gradually moving into chords. Hopefully everyone will be able to comprehend what's going on here.

This guide will be divided into several parts - the first three sections cover some background topics and fundamentals that I think are important before we talk about chords. If you're already familiar with those topics, feel free to skip past the first few lessons and start at part 4 or even part 5. The last three lessons are all about chords, starting with the basics and then moving on into more complicated chords. I know that the length of these lessons is intimidating, but that is due to the fact that I tried to explain topics as well as possible and with plenty of examples. I think the time it takes to get through the guide will be worth it. Absolute beginners should be prepared to spend a good deal of time going through each lesson thoroughly - it's probably a good idea to spend one day (or more) per lesson.

So, without further ado:

You'll notice at the bottom of each page, there is a print button for your convenience.

This guide written by Evan Cowan, based on prior musical experience, and the help of two books: 4400 Guitar Chords, designed and created by Remo Guitar, and The Complete Guitarist, by Richard Chapman. Huge additional thanks goes out to my friend Caleb, who helped answer a bunch of my questions. If anything is unclear, or incorrect :-), drop me a message on our forums. Please inform me of any typos or spelling mistakes as well.

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