How to Outline Chord Shapes

A lot of guitar tablature can be hard to read. To understand tablature or "tabs," you have to know that tablature is just a diagram of the fretboard. Unlike traditional sheet music, tabs show just what notes a player is playing on the fretboard. The structure of tabs can sometimes create problems for chords that are played in various styles, with each note sounding at a different time, as in flamenco or other classical guitar styles. Outlining chord shapes is a method to help you see what a chord looks like.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Find a section of a tab sheet where you think (or know) a chord is being played.

2. Look at the various notes that are a part of the chord. The chord area should know various notes "scattered" across different strings. What it doesn't show you is that while all of these several notes are being played, the guitar player's left hand isn't moving, but instead, is holding a chord structure.

3. Get all of your scattered notes and arrange them by string. Draw up your own tab sheet and for each string, write in a fret, from bottom to top, so that all of these notes stand exactly in line with each other.

4. Follow the chord outline on your guitar. Get your fingers onto the frets you wrote down and look at your left hand. It should look familiar. You'll see that you can follow along on the tab by creating these chord positions for your left hand and adapting as necessary.

5. If you have a couple of extra notes for a particular string, hold your chord pattern, but shift your finger to accommodate those note changes. If you have too many extra notes, the tab you're reading may not be a chord structure, but a lead guitar solo.