Play Along
Practice
between
meetings.
Chord shapes, the Circle of Fifths, how to read TAB, and the handful of things that actually make you better faster.
Chord library
Forty shapes
worth knowing.
Numbers inside the dots are which finger to use — 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky. A hollow circle above the diagram means play that string open. An × means don't play it. A thick bar means one finger flattens across several strings. A number to the left of the grid tells you which fret the diagram starts on.
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Start here if you're brand new
Learn Em, Am, C, G, D in that order. Em is two fingers and sounds finished on its own. Am is those same two fingers slid over one string, plus your index on the second string, first fret — three fingers in total. Those five chords will get you through an enormous number of songs, and every one of them shows up in the Circle of Fifths section below. Do not start with F. F is a rite of passage, not a beginning.
Spend ten minutes a day, five days a week, and you will be further along in a month than someone who does two hours once a week. Consistency beats intensity on this instrument.
Music theory that pays rent
The Circle
of Fifths.
It looks like a clock face and it functions like a cheat sheet. If you learn one piece of theory this year, learn this one — it tells you which chords belong together, which key a song is in, where to put a capo, and what to play next when you are writing.
Click any key on the wheel.
The seven chords in this key
Progressions in this key
What you're looking at
Twelve keys arranged in a ring. Every step clockwise moves up a perfect fifth — C to G, G to D, D to A. Every step counterclockwise moves up a perfect fourth. The outer ring is the major key; the inner ring is its relative minor, which uses the exact same seven notes but treats a different one as home.
The magic is in the spacing: neighbors on the circle share six of their seven notes. That is why keys next to each other sound related and keys across from each other sound like a car crash. Distance on the wheel is a literal measurement of harmonic distance.
1. It hands you the chords
Pick any key on the outer ring. One step clockwise is the V, one step counterclockwise is the IV, and the slice directly inward from it on the inner ring is the vi. That wedge — I, IV, V, vi — is the harmonic engine of most popular music written in the last seventy years. (Clockwise and counterclockwise, not left and right — the wheel does not rotate, so "right" stops meaning "V" once you are past the bottom.)
Sit in C: your wedge is C, F, G, Am. Sit in G: G, C, D, Em. Sit in D: D, G, A, Bm. Notice how the same shapes keep reappearing — that clustering is exactly why guitarists live in these keys.
2. It reads key signatures
Going clockwise from C, each key adds one sharp. Going counterclockwise, each adds one flat. The order of sharps is F C G D A E B and the order of flats is that list backwards. So four sharps means you are four steps clockwise: the key of E.
Reverse it to identify a major key from written music: the last sharp in the signature is one half step below the key name. Last flat? The key is the second-to-last flat — with F major, the only major key carrying a single flat, simply memorised. Both rules are for major keys; a minor key shares its signature with a major one, so find the major first and then step down to its relative minor.
3. It is a capo calculator
Guitars are built for the keys clustered on the right side of the wheel — C, G, D, A, E. When a singer needs E♭ or B♭, you do not need new chord shapes. Count how many half steps your easy key is below the target key, put the capo there, and play the easy shapes.
E♭ is three half steps above C: capo 3, play C shapes. B♭ is three above G: capo 3, play G shapes. The readout under the wheel does this math for you on every key.
4. It writes songs with you
- Move counterclockwise to create pull. Chords moving counterclockwise (E7 → Am, or D → G → C) feel like they are falling toward home. That motion is the single strongest gravity in Western music.
- Steal from your neighbor. Borrow one chord from the key one step counterclockwise and the song gets a rock edge — that is where the ♭VII in G–F–C comes from. Borrow from the parallel minor and it gets moody.
- Modulate by one slice. One step clockwise is the smoothest key change there is — the two keys share six of their seven notes, so it slips past almost unnoticed. Good for a bridge. The dramatic final-chorus lift is a different move — up a half step or a whole step, dropped in without preparation. A whole step is actually only two slices away and shares five notes with where you started; a half step is right across the wheel and shares almost nothing. Either way the drama comes from refusing to set it up, so commit and let the whole band land together.
- Use the relative minor for the sad verse. Same chords, different center of gravity. Start the verse on vi and the chorus on I and you get contrast for free.
- Chain fifths for a jazz turnaround. Three consecutive slices, counterclockwise, is ii–V–I. Four is vi–ii–V–I. Extend the chain as far back as you want; it will still resolve.
5. It transposes on the fly
Someone calls a song in a key your voice hates. Find the original key, count the slices to the new one, and move every chord the same number of slices in the same direction. The song's shape stays identical because the relationships did.
Two drills that make this stick
Drill one: play around the circle. Start on C, strum four beats, move counterclockwise — C, F, B♭, E♭ — all the way back to C. Twelve chords, one loop. It is the fastest way to internalize both the wheel and your barre shapes.
Drill two: pick a song you know. Figure out its key, then name the Roman numeral of every chord in it. Once you can hear "that's a IV" instead of "that's an F," you can play the song in any key, and new songs start going in far faster.
Reading music for guitarists
How to read TAB.
TAB is a map of the fretboard, not a map of pitch. Six lines, six strings. The top line is your thinnest string — the high E — and the bottom line is the fat low E. Numbers are frets. A 0 means play that string open.
Notes stacked in a vertical line are played at the same time — that is a chord. Notes spread left to right are played in sequence. Above is a C major chord picked one note at a time from its lowest string upward, then strummed as a block. The x on the bottom line means the low E stays silent — a C chord does not use it.
The symbols you'll actually see
What TAB does not tell you is rhythm. It shows you where to put your fingers, not how long to hold them. Always have the recording playing while you learn from TAB — your ears fill in what the page leaves out.
Standard tuning, low to high
Mnemonic that works: Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie — thickest string to thinnest, low E up to high e. Then note the flip: TAB puts the highest-sounding string on the top line, the same way higher notes sit higher on a musical staff. That is upside down from the view you get looking at your own guitar, where the fat low E is the string nearest your face. Trust the letters down the left edge, not your eyes.
Fret numbers, fast
Every fret is one half step. Twelve frets is an octave — fret 12 is the same note as the open string. The dots on the neck mark frets 3, 5, 7, 9 and the double dot marks 12. Those are your landmarks; learn to find fret 5 and fret 7 without counting and sight-reading TAB gets dramatically faster.
Tips & tricks
Fixes for the
things stopping you.
Every one of these came from an actual question asked at an actual meeting.
My barre chord buzzes
Almost never a strength problem. Four things to check, in order:
- Roll your index finger. Use the bony side of the finger, not the soft pad. Rotate it slightly toward the nut.
- Move closer to the fret wire. Pressing in the middle of the fret takes far more force than pressing just behind the wire. Get right behind it.
- Drop your thumb. It belongs behind the neck, roughly opposite your middle finger — not hooked over the top.
- Pull, don't squeeze. The leverage comes from your elbow pulling back, not your hand crushing forward. Some forearm effort is unavoidable — those are the muscles that work your fingers — but if it is burning after thirty seconds you are squeezing far harder than the note needs.
Then check the guitar. High action or old strings can make a clean barre nearly impossible. Ask an adviser to look at it.
My chord changes are too slow
One-minute changes. Pick two chords. Set a timer for sixty seconds and switch back and forth as many times as you can, counting each clean change. Write the number down. Do it again tomorrow. You will watch the number climb, and watching it climb is what keeps you practicing.
Find the anchor finger. Between C and Am, two fingers never move: index on the second string first fret, middle on the fourth string second fret. Only your ring finger relocates. Between Em and Am the two fingers you already have slide over one string and the index drops in behind them. Look for the finger that can stay planted and pivot around it instead of rebuilding the chord from scratch.
Keep strumming through the change. Do not stop your right hand while your left hand catches up. A missed beat is worse than a fuzzy chord. Play through it.
My strumming sounds stiff
Your strumming hand should never stop moving. Keep it swinging in steady eighth notes — down-up-down-up — and simply miss the strings on the beats you do not want to hit. That is the entire secret. Rhythm is what your hand is doing continuously; the pattern is just which swings connect.
Start with all downstrokes on the beat. Then add an up between beats 2 and 3. Then between every beat. Do it to a metronome or a song, never in silence.
Loosen your grip on the pick. Hold it just firmly enough that it does not fly out of your hand — any tighter and the strum stops sounding like music and starts sounding like a rake.
How do I figure out a song by ear?
Step one: find the key. The last chord of the whole song is usually home — choruses often end on the IV or the V on purpose, to pull you back into the next verse. Hum the note the song feels like it wants to land on and find it on the guitar.
Step two: try the wedge. More often than not the other chords are the I, IV, V and vi of that key. Use the Circle of Fifths above to get all four instantly, then play them against the recording and listen for which one fits.
Step three: name what you find in numbers. "I, V, vi, IV" travels with you to every key. "G, D, Em, C" only works once.
My fingers hurt
Fingertip soreness in the first few weeks is normal and it does resolve — calluses build in about two to three weeks of regular playing. Short daily sessions build them faster and hurt less than occasional long ones.
Pain in your wrist, forearm or thumb joint is a different thing entirely. That usually means the guitar is sitting too low, your wrist is bent too sharply, or you are gripping far harder than the note requires. Stop, adjust, and ask someone at a meeting to look at your hand position. Playing through joint pain is how people end up not playing at all.
What should I practice in ten minutes?
Split it three ways and use a timer so you actually stop:
- 3 minutes — hands. Chromatic runs, spider crawls, or one-minute changes. Boring on purpose.
- 4 minutes — the hard part. The four bars you keep flubbing. Not the whole song. Slow enough to play it right, then nudge the tempo.
- 3 minutes — play something you love. Badly is fine. This is the part that makes you pick the guitar up tomorrow.
Ten focused minutes a day beats a heroic weekend session every single time.
How do I play well with other people?
Count everyone in. Out loud. Four clicks before the first chord, at the actual tempo you intend to play. Most train wrecks start in bar one.
Play less than you can. When six guitars all strum full chords, it turns to mud. Somebody plays the bass note, somebody plays a simplified rhythm, somebody plays the melody up the neck. Leaving space is a skill.
If you get lost, stop and listen. Find beat one, come back in on the next chord change. Do not hunt for your place while playing — the audience hears the hunting.
Watch each other. Endings, dynamics and tempo changes are all decided with eye contact, not telepathy.
Tuning, capos and gear basics
Tune every single time you pick it up. Free apps are fine. Tune up to the note, not down to it — approaching from below takes the slack out of the tuner gear and the note holds.
Capo placement matters. Just behind the fret wire, not on top of it, and only as tight as it needs to be. Over-clamping pulls the strings sharp.
Change your strings. Dead strings are the single most common reason a guitar sounds bad and refuses to stay in tune. If they look gray and feel gritty, they are done. The club can help you restring at a meeting.
Song sheets & downloads
Grab the charts.
Everything the club is currently working on, plus reference material. New files land here as they're written.
Add a chart or a tab
Drop a PDF into the site folder, then copy one of the rows above in
play-along.html and point it at the new file. Two minutes, no build step, no
dependencies. Members: send new charts to the sponsor and they'll go up.
Reading about it
is not playing it.
Tuesdays 11:30 AM. Fridays 11:00 AM. Bring the questions you could not answer here.