This portion of the site is designed to teach visually impaired people guitar chords as they would apply to each given key. It is optimized to be accessed with the assistance of the JAWS for Windows Screen Reading software and other screen readers.  In my method, the key of C will be regarded as the center of the tonal universe and therefore considered the perfect place to start. So let's start with the basic chords in the key of C.

The chords in the key of C are based on the C Major Scale. The C Major Scale goes like this:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. That's basically going from C to C, using all of the notes in between, which are not sharps or flats. That's because there are no sharps or flats in the key of C.

All of the chords in chart one are based on the basic triad (3 notes) except for the G 7th chord, which is based on 4 notes. The basic triad that chords are based on consists of the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of a scale. For example, the C Major triad consists of a C, an E and a G, which are the 1st, 3rd and fifth notes of the C Major scale.

The first note in the C Major scale is C, the third note in the C Scale is E and the fifth note of the C scale is G. There is your C Major triad. C, E and G. The D Minor chord is based on the C scale but starting at a different point. It starts at the D. So, the C scale starting from the D note would be D, E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the scale starting from that point would be D, F, and A. That is your D Minor Triad. And we proceed in the same manner with the remaining chords. Remember, all of the basic chords are based on the triad.

The chords are presented in a numeric format. That is a series of 6 digits, with each representing the strings of the guitar starting from left and working to the right, we work from the low E string towards the high E string. An X represents a string that is not plucked or strummed. A zero represents a string that is not fretted. In other words, you are not to press down on any frets of a string with a zero but it is still plucked or strummed. A 1 would represent the string being pressed down on the first fret, a 2 would mean that it is pressed down on the second fret, and so on.

The fingering works in a similar manner. An X means the string is not strummed, a zero means that the string is strummed but not fretted and the 1 would represent the index finger. The remaining fingers are represented by the 2 being the middle finger, the 3 being the ring finger and the 4 being the pinky. Once again, the chords of the key of C are based on the C Major Scale which consists of C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. So without further ado, let's move on to chart one:
 

Chart 1: The Basic chords in the key of C
Chord: C Major	Numeric: 01023X	Fingering: 01023X
Chord: D Minor	Numeric: 1320XX	Fingering: 1320XX
Chord: E Minor	Numeric: 000220	Fingering: 000320
Chord: F Major	Numeric: 112331	Fingering: 112431     1st Fret is barred
Chord: G Major	Numeric: 300023	Fingering: 400023
Chord: A Minor	Numeric: 01220X	Fingering: 01320X
Chord: G 7th	Numeric: 100023	Fingering: 100023

Explanation: Skip to Chords You may have noticed that the F Major chord requires that you do what is called barring the chord. That means that you lay the index finger across all of the strings that are pressed down by it. Below are some additional chords that I refer to as substitute chords. They can be played in the place of some of the chords above. The C Major 7th chord may be played in the place of a C Major chord, just to add that fancy flair to the song. Seventh chords are based on 4 different notes. The triad plus the seventh note of the scale. For example, the C Major 7th chord uses the C Major triad plus the seventh note of the C Major scale, which is a B. So the notes in the C Major 7th chord are C, E, G, and B. The D minor 7th chord follows in a similar manner but starts out on the D. So the notes of a D Minor 7th chord are D, F, A, and C.

Explanation: Skip to Chords Now we get to slightly more complex substitute chords. They are the ninth chords. Ninth chords are based on five different notes. The same notes that are in the seventh chords but the ninth note is added. So a C Major 9th chord would contain the following notes: C, E, G, B and D. These chords are really fancy and can be used to substitute the same chords that the seventh chords can act as substitutes for. Go ahead and play them. Starting to sound like jazz isn't it?

Explanation: Skip to Chords Okay, now we get into suspended 2nd and suspended 4th chords. If you remember, a chord is determined to be a major or minor chord by the third, with a major third being two whole steps up from the root tone or 1st note of the triad and a minor chord has a third that is one and a half steps up from the 1st. A suspended 2nd chord uses the second note of the scale in the place of the third. A suspended 4th chord uses the 4th note of the scale in the place of the third.  So technically, a suspended 2nd or suspended 4th chord is neither major nor minor.

The Key of A Minor:       Chords based on the A Harmonic Minor Scale: A, B, C, D, E, F, G sharp and A

Explanation: Skip to Chords Each major key has its own relative minor key. The relative minor key to the Key of C is A Minor. All of the chords listed prior to now contain no notes that stray from the C Major Scale. Some of the chords in the Key of A Minor will have some notes that aren't in the C Major Scale. For example: the E Major chord has a G sharp note in it. If you use the C scale but start from the A note and make the G note sharp, you will get the A Harmonic Minor Scale. This would obviously be the best scale to use when soloing over a chord progression which contains the following chords:

 

Chart 5: The basic chords in the key of A Minor
Chord: A Minor	Numeric: 01220X	Fingering: 01320X
Chord: B Diminished	Numeric: 13132X	Fingering: 14132X     1st Fret is  barred
Chord: C Augmented	Numeric: X1123X	Fingering: X1123X    1st Fret is  barred
Chord: D Minor	Numeric: 1320XX	Fingering: 1320XX
Chord: E Major	Numeric: 001220	Fingering: 001320
Chord: F Major	Numeric: 112331	Fingering: 112431     1st Fret is barred
Chord: G Sharp Diminished	Numeric: 1010XX	Fingering: 2010XX

Explanation: Skip to 6th Chords Okay, so now we have a few chords you haven't seen prior to the previous chart. We now have diminished chords and augmented chords. The names are derived from the location of the fifths. A diminished fifth is when the fifth note of the scale is lowered one half tone, or half step. An augmented fifth is when the fifth note of the scale is raised one half step.

The 6th Chord:
Explanation: Skip to Chords The sixth chord uses your basic triad and adds the 6th note of the scale. You may use the C6, D Minor 6 and F6 in either the key of C Major or the Key of A Minor. The G6 should only be used for the C Major key. This would be in keeping with the Major Scale or A Harmonic Minor Scale. Obviously, you may experiment but you should always abide by the basic rules before you attempt to break them through creative excursions. The sixth chord works great for descending chord progressions. One example is to start on a C major chord, then do the C major 7th chord and then the C 6th chord.

 

Chart 6: Major and Minor 6th chords
Chord: C 6th	Numeric: 55553X	Fingering: 33331X   5th Fret is barred
Chord: D Minor 6th	Numeric: 1020XX	Fingering: 1020XX
Chord: F 6th	Numeric: 5353XX	Fingering: 4131XX   3rd Fret is barred
Chord: G 6th	Numeric: 7575XX	Fingering: 4131XX   5th Fret is barred

That concludes the lesson for the key of C Major. The lessons for the remaining keys will not have as much information provided in them since we are using the lesson of the key of C Major as the foundation for the rest of the lessons.

The Next Key: Key of G