How to Read Chord Diagrams

Chord diagrams (also called chord grids or fretboard charts) are visual representations of where to place your fingers on the bass. The diagram shows the fretboard as if you were looking down at the neck of the instrument held vertically.

Vertical lines represent strings. On a 4-string bass in standard tuning, the strings from left to right are E, A, D, G — the leftmost line is the low E (the thickest string, closest to the ceiling when you hold the bass in playing position) and the rightmost line is the G string (the thinnest, highest-pitched string). Horizontal lines represent frets. Dots show where to place your fingers. An open circle (O) above a string means play it open; an X means mute or skip that string. Numbers inside dots indicate suggested fingering (1 = index, 2 = middle, 3 = ring, 4 = pinky).

As a bassist you will meet two kinds of fretboard diagram. Single-position diagrams show one note or one shape at a specific fret — the most common kind for bass, since you usually play one note at a time or outline a chord as an arpeggio. Full chord grids show several fretted strings at once and are the convention guitarists use for strummed chords; you need to read them too, because the charts, lead sheets, and tab you encounter will use them.

Chord diagrams are one of three notation systems every working musician meets. The other two are chord symbols (the shorthand like Cmaj7 or Am7 you see on lead sheets) and tablature (the number-on-lines format used for riffs and bass lines). Diagrams are the fastest for finger positions; symbols are the fastest for harmonic communication; tab is the fastest for exact sequences. See the Reading Chord Symbols lesson for the symbol system.