Bluegrass Guitar Chords

The chords that run bluegrass guitar

Most bluegrass and old-time songs live in a handful of keys, so a small set of open chords covers an enormous amount of the repertoire. In the key of G — the most common — you'll use G, C, and D over and over; add A, D, and E and you're ready for the key of D as well.

The seventh chords (D7, A7, E7, B7) turn up constantly too, usually pulling the song back home to the root. Learn the majors first, then the sevenths, and you can back the bulk of a jam.

How to use the diagrams

1. Open the chord library and set the instrument to Guitar.
2. Pick the root (G, C, D…) and the quality (major, minor, 7th).
3. The diagram shows which string and fret to hold for each finger, and which strings to leave open.
4. Add the chord to a chart and press play to hear it in a full band, so the shape and its sound stick together.

Boom-chuck and the chords

Bluegrass rhythm guitar is built on the "boom-chuck" — a bass note on the beat, then a strum on the off-beat. However, none of it works without a clean chord underneath, so the shapes here are the foundation. Once the chords ring true, the boom-chuck pattern rides on top of them.

Capo for singers' keys

Guitarists lean on a capo to play in a singer's key while keeping easy G or C shapes. So if a song is called "in B," you might capo the 4th fret and play G-shape chords. The chord library shows the shape you actually hold; the capo takes care of the rest.