Start here
Getting started
GuitarStart is a chord trainer. It scrolls a score in time, stops on each chord, and shows you the tab and the finger shape so you can place your hand before the next change. This page covers the guitar itself, then how to use the app.
The instrument
What you are holding
A guitar is a neck with metal frets, six strings, and a body that makes the strings loud. You only need a few parts named to read a chord.
Neck and frets
The frets are the metal strips across the neck. Press a string just behind a fret — between the fret and the headstock — so the note rings cleanly. The 1st fret is the one closest to the headstock.
Nut and headstock
The nut is the slotted ridge where the neck meets the headstock. An open string is one you do not press. It rings from the nut.
Two hands
Your fretting hand (usually the left) presses the strings. Your strumming hand (usually the right) brushes them. Swap that if you play left-handed; the finger numbers stay the same.
One fret, one step
Each fret is one semitone, the distance from one piano key to the next. Two frets is a whole tone, the distance from C to D.
Tuning
The six strings and their notes
A standard guitar has six strings, tuned E A D G B E from thick to thin. Chord diagrams in GuitarStart use that same order, low E on the left. A handy sentence: Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie.
- 6EThickest string. The low E, nearest your chin.
- 5AThe next string down.
- 4DMiddle of the bass strings.
- 3GSits between the D and the B.
- 2BJust beside the high E.
- 1eThinnest string. The high e, nearest the floor.
String 6 is E, then A, D, G, B, and string 1 is the high e. The two E strings are the same note name, two octaves apart. The thick one is written E; the thin one is written e.
Harmony
What a chord is
A chord is several notes sounding at once. On guitar, a chord is a shape: which strings you press, which you leave open, and which you leave silent.
C major
Dots are fingers. The number inside a dot is which finger to use. A circle above a string means play it open. An × means mute that string — do not let it ring. The thick bar at the top of an open chord is the nut. If a diagram says “3fr”, the top line is that fret, not the nut.
Open chords, like C, G, D, E, A, Em and Am, use open strings and are the first shapes to learn. Seventh and sus chords add a finger or lift one. Barre chords lay one finger across several strings and slide that whole shape up the neck.
Press with the tips, just behind the fret, and arch the other fingers so they do not deaden neighbouring strings. A buzz usually means you are too far from the fret, or not pressing firmly enough.
The numbers
Which finger is which
GuitarStart numbers fingers the way chord diagrams do. Hold up your fretting hand, palm toward you, and match the badges.
- 1
Index. The finger next to your thumb. Often the one that barres.
- 2
Middle. The longest finger.
- 3
Ring. Beside the pinky.
- 4
Pinky. The smallest finger. It gets stronger with the harder shapes.
- Thumb wraps behind the neck to support the hand. It has no number on these diagrams. A 0 on a string means no finger — play it open.
Notation
How to read guitar tab
Tab is a picture of the six strings. The top line is the thin high e, and the bottom line is the thick low E — the opposite of reading a chord diagram from left to right.
C, in tab
Each number is a fret. 0 means open. 1 means the 1st fret, 3 means the 3rd, and so on. x means do not play that string.
Numbers stacked in one column are played together — that is a chord. Numbers written one after another along the line are played in order, one note at a time. In practice, GuitarStart shows one chord at a time, so you will see a single column.
The C above reads, from high e down to low E: open, 1st fret, open, 2nd fret, 3rd fret, mute.
A tool
How a capo works
A capo is a clamp that presses every string at one fret. It moves the nut. Every open string, and every shape you already know, sounds higher.
Clip it across the neck, just behind the fret you want — snug against the metal, not floating in the middle of the space. Squeeze until the strings ring clearly with no buzz, then check each string.
Each fret raises the pitch by one semitone. Capo on fret 1 makes every chord a half step higher. Capo on fret 2 makes them a whole step higher: a G shape sounds like A, a C shape sounds like D, an Em shape sounds like F♯m.
That is why singers use one. You keep the easy open shapes and the song sits in a comfortable key. The diagrams in GuitarStart are written with no capo. Put a capo on and play the same fingers; only the note names change.
If a song says “capo 2”, put it on the 2nd fret before you start, and treat the capo as the new nut. “Open” now means the string ringing against the capo.
This app
How to practise with GuitarStart
The score moves on its own. Your job is the shape in your hand when a chord reaches the line.
Step 1
Choose chords
On Practice, tick shapes under Your chords. Start with open chords — C, G, D, Em and Am cover a lot of songs.
Step 2
Set the clock
Tempo is beats per minute. Time on each chord is how long the score waits while you place the shape. A longer wait is easier. Session length is how long you play.
Step 3
Press play
The score scrolls. At the gold line it stops, shows the tab and the finger diagram, and counts down. Strum, then get ready for the next name.
Step 4
Use the buttons
Pause with the button or the space bar. Next chord (or the right arrow) skips a hold. Hear it plays the shape. Reset clears the session. Chord changes you tick mid-session apply the next time you start.
Step 5
Turn sound on
Metronome click keeps the beat. Play the chord when it arrives strums the shape for you, so you can compare what you hear with the diagram.
Step 6
Play a song
Songs runs a real progression at that song’s tempo, repeating it for the session. Same score, same diagrams — the chords arrive in the order of the tune.