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Breaking the
Learn Guitar The Way Most People Never Get Taught When Learning Chords!
When learning chords, most people want to show you shapes and diagrams that don't make a lot of sense when you try to figure out why a chord is what it is, and if you can remember the name of the chord, you likely can't alter it on the spot to turn it into another chord type.
This book is the why, the how, and the where of:
Knowing what key you are in
Knowing which chord type you're playing
How to alter it on the spot
Before we continue this page, please note that you can download the 1st chapter of this book this book absolutely FREE, yours to keep!
Guitar Can Be Frustrating, But It Doesn't Have To Be!
Guitar Can Be Frustrating, But It Doesn't Have To Be!
Many guitar players give up on chords, leaving that sweet-sounding stringed instrument to collect dust, because the way they often get taught is to focus only on memorizing shapes, without understanding what they’re actually playing.
When you don’t know the notes behind each chord, it’s nearly impossible to:
alter them
create variations
move them around the fretboard.
This leaves beginners stuck, frustrated, and unsure how to progress—turning what should be a creative, fun process into a confusing guessing game.
My Journey from Chord Cluelessness to Confidence!
My Journey from Chord Cluelessness to Confidence!
I started learning guitar theory around the year 2000 or so, (that's me on my 18th birthday on the left) I would sit on the couch as my dad would show me open chords on an old acoustic from the 70’s.
The problem was that I was learning the open chords, but also, they were just chord shapes to me at the time, so I knew what chord it was, but not the notes that made up that chord, and I definitely, at the time, couldn’t play those chords anywhere else on the fretboard.
Alot of the times, I would be in a garage and my dad's friends would show me how to play something and I wouldn’t be able to identify what chords they would be playing, I would just be able to copy what they were doing.
For over 20 years, I thought that Major 7th chords were 6th chords and it’s because I never use to analyze the notes of the chords I was playing. I had also played songs for years without knowing any of the chords at all!
Problem 1 - Only Knowing How To Play a Chord 1 Way.
Problem 1 - Only Knowing How To Play a Chord 1 Way.
It may seem beneficial to know how to play a chord, if only it's one way, however, this is not as beneficial as you may think seeing as to how it greatly reduces your ability to improvise solos and switch between chords smoothly.
Problem 2 - Remembering Shapes But Forgetting Names
Problem 2 - Remembering Shapes But Forgetting Names
Often times, beginners don't know their root notes, so they can play a chord and have no idea what chord it is. If they do know the chord, they often can't play it in any other key.
Problem 3 - Calling a Chord By The Wrong Name
Problem 3 - Calling a Chord By The Wrong Name
This is one of the cardinal sins. If you're going to learn a chord, you need to at least know what chord it is, but I have seen a lot of beginners play a chord, which is an actual chord, but call it by the wrong name.
This is especially counter-productive because what happens is, while learning a song, they will keep going back to the chord they mistake for another.
It's a harder habit to break the longer it goes on for.
Problem 4 - Playing a Song, But Not Knowing Any of the Chords
Problem 4 - Playing a Song, But Not Knowing Any of the Chords
This happens a lot where someone will be taught a song, but not know any of the chords. They will just know how to play it.
Although this is technically playing the guitar, it really hinders your understanding not only of what you're playing, but how to play it on different parts of the fretboard.
1. Understand What Makes Up the Chords You Already Play
This is important because you can play a chord, sure. You can even name that chord.
But if you don't know what notes the chord is made of, how are you going to alter it to make it a minor instead of a Major, or go from a Major to a Major 7th?
The unfortunate thing about this is that the number of notes that changes many chords from a Major to a minor, augmented, Major 7th, or dominant 7th is exactly 1 note.
If you don't know that, you are missing out on how easy it is to learn a song and sometimes play it right the first time.
2. Identify Chords by Sight and Sound
One of the greatest things about learning root notes and chord formations is that you can go to a concert or watch a friend or seasoned guitarist play and be able to identify the chords they are playing.
This allows you to pick up on parts of a song you may have been confused about or play along with a friend on a song you've never played, but after a verse or 2, you'll play it as though you knew it the whole time.
3. Master Chord Theory Without Learning Sheet Music
Sheet music is jokingly (but, not jokingly) said to be what you show a guitar player to make them stop playing.
Although I am not against learning to read sheet music, sheet music is something that a lot of people struggle with (myself included) and some people aren't interested.
Learning chord theory is a way of learning theory out of what you already know and if chords is what you're trying to learn, you definitely want to know what they're made of.
1. Determine How To Formulate A Scale
This book is different because instead of showing random chord diagrams that don't explain how or why a chord is built, I analyze, in detail, why a chord is what it is.
In this book, I explain how to use a simple formula to calculate a Major scale (Page 22) and the Major scale is used throughout the entire book for every chord type to make things simple so that you don't have to learn 13 different scales, we just stick with one.
We use it to determine a chord's triad.
This formula works for every chord so there's no guess work.
2. Use That Scale To Identify What Notes A Chord Is Made Of
One of the greatest things about learning root notes and chord formations is that you can go to a concert or watch a friend or seasoned guitarist play and be able to identify the chords they are playing.
This allows you to pick up on parts of a song you may have been confused about or play along with a friend on a song you've never played, but after a verse or 2, you'll play it as though you knew it the whole time.
3. How To Apply These Notes To The Fretboard To Form That Chord
Each chord that is played on the guitar only uses the notes that are in that triad and no notes that are not in that triad get played.
I demonstrate (Page 24) how to apply these notes to the fretboard, and best yet, once you learn that chord shape, you can use it for every key of that chord type all the way down the fretboard.
This book gets inside a chord and shows you how you can alter it into any chord you want by just having the knowledge to do it.
© 2026 Brandon J. Smith, author of Breaking the Chord Code.
Breaking the Chord Code and all related content are the intellectual property of the author.
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