Guitar chords, or any chords for that matter, can be expressed in a variety of different ways. Sometimes this means guitar chords might include weird symbols or numbers.

I want you to be able to identify the different ways guitar chords can be written, even if you don’t quite have a full grasp of what the chord might be representing. For that reason, I’m not going to go too deep into the theory behind these ways of writing guitar chords or show you how to play these chords. To learn how to play guitar chords, visit our growing list of guitar chords with chord chart diagrams here.

1. Major guitar chords

Often major guitar chords are just represented by a capital letter. For example: G, D, C. Sometimes major chords might have an added “maj” attached to the letter like: Gmaj, Dmaj, Cmaj. Those can all be understood as major guitar chords.

2. Minor guitar chords

Minor guitar chords will often be represented by a capital letter followed by a lowercase “m” or [...]