Finger and string numbers
Fingers 1 to 4, strings 1 to 6, frets counted from the nut: three conventions to learn once and for all, and you can read any chord diagram or tab.
Fretting-hand fingers
The fingers that press the strings are numbered 1 to 4:
| Number | Finger |
|---|---|
| 1 | index |
| 2 | middle |
| 3 | ring |
| 4 | pinky |
The thumb doesn’t get a number: it stays behind the neck. On this site’s chord diagrams, the number in each dot is that finger number.
Your fretting-hand fingers
The thumb has no number: it stays behind the neck.
Picking-hand fingers
If you play fingerstyle rather than with a pick, methods often use letters that come from Spanish: p for the thumb, i for the index, m for the middle and a for the ring finger.
The strings
The strings are numbered from the highest-pitched to the lowest:
| String | Name | Letter (tab) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | High E | e |
| 2 | B | B |
| 3 | G | G |
| 4 | D | D |
| 5 | A | A |
| 6 | Low E | E |
The six strings, as in tab
Watch out: on your guitar, when you look down at the strings, it’s the other way around. The top string is string 6, the low E.
Watch out for the trap: the 6th string, the lowest one, is the one at the top when you hold the guitar. On this site, we usually say “the low E string” or “the B string” rather than the number, to avoid any mix-up.
The frets
Frets are counted from the nut toward the body. Fret 0 is the open string. “3rd fret” means your finger goes between the 2nd and 3rd fret wires, just behind the 3rd.
Next up: How to read a chord diagram, then How to read tab.