A blank chord grid is the sheet a band plays a song from: rows of bars, one chord name per box, the sections marked above. Set how many lines and bars, label the verse and the chorus, then print it or save a PDF and fill it in with a pencil. The preview below redraws as you change a setting. No account, nothing to install, like the rest of our free guitar tools.
What you can set
Every setting under the preview, and what it changes on the printed sheet. The preview redraws on each change, so you can try one and look rather than read.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Total lines | Rows of bars, from 1 to 200. The default 8 lines of 4 make 32 bars, the length of a standard song form. |
| Bars per line | From 1 to 64. Four is the easiest to read while playing; eight suits landscape and simple forms. |
| Line height px | From 24 to 160. Taller boxes leave room for two chords in a bar, or a rhythm sketched under the name. |
| Space between lines px | Zero draws one continuous table. Add space to separate the lines, for notes between them. |
| Bar line thickness, color and spacing | The weight and color of the lines between bars, and an optional white gap on each side of them. |
| Double bar every X bars | A double bar line after every X bars, from 0 (off) to 64. It is drawn at the end of a line too: with the default 4 bars per line and a double bar every 8, it closes the line that ends on bar 8, and every 8 bars after that. |
| Left binding margin px | Extra room on the left edge, for a ring binder or a hole punch. |
| Automatic pages and lines per page | On, the tool fits as many lines on a page as their height allows. Off, you set the number of lines per page yourself. |
| Pages shown | How many pages the preview draws: 1, 2, 3 or all. Only the pages drawn are printed and exported, so choose All before printing a long grid. |
| Bar numbers | A small number in the corner of every bar, counted from the first bar. |
| Sections | Labels printed above a bar, written as bar number and name, separated by commas: 1:Intro,9:Verse,17:Chorus,25:Bridge. Letters work too: 1:A,9:B. |
| Chords to print | Empty by default, for a blank grid. Write bar number and chord, one per line (1:Cmaj7), and the sheet prints them centered in their bars. |
| Crop marks | Small corner marks at the margins, for trimming a printed sheet. |
| Orientation, margin, title, colors | The same page settings as every sheet here: portrait or landscape, outer margin, a heading and a footer, fonts, colors and themes. |
| Export | Print / PDF opens your browser print dialog, where you can print or save a PDF. Export PNG and Export SVG save image files instead; PNG quality 2x saves the PNG at twice the resolution. |
Which grid for which job
| Job | What to set |
|---|---|
| Writing down a song | 8 lines of 4 bars, sections for intro, verse, chorus and bridge. |
| A 12-bar blues | 3 lines of 4 bars, taller boxes, one section called 12-bar blues. |
| A rehearsal sheet | Landscape, 4 lines of 8 bars, double bar every 4, room for stops and repeats. |
| Composing a progression | Bar numbers on, no sections yet, space between lines for alternatives. |
What makes a grid easy to play from
- One box, one bar. The whole point of the grid is that you count boxes instead of beats.
- Even lines. Four bars to a line, or eight, so phrases line up under each other and a repeat looks like a repeat.
- Landmarks. Section letters or names, bar numbers, and a double bar where a section ends.
- Nothing else. A grid is a map of the harmony and the form, not a full score. Rhythm, melody and fingerings go elsewhere.
When the rhythm matters, add it on another sheet: blank staff paper for a melody or a rhythm written out, blank tab paper for a riff. And if you would rather type the grid than write it, the chord chart maker does the same job on screen, with section labels, transposition and a printable result.
Chord grid, chord diagram or tab?
Three formats that often get mixed up, because they all involve chords or the guitar neck. They answer different questions.
- A chord grid, this sheet, says which chord and when: the order of the chords, bar by bar, and the form of the song.
- A chord diagram says where your fingers go for one chord. Print a blank chord chart for those, or read how to read chord diagrams first.
- A tab says which string and which fret, note by note, for riffs, arpeggios and solos.
Not sure which chords go in the boxes yet? Our chord progressions page lists the progressions most songs use, in every key, and the chords in each key table tells you which ones belong together.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a chord grid and a chord chart?
What does one box stand for?
How do I write two chords in one bar?
How do I print the grid or save it as a PDF?
Who made this
Guitar Social Club is the work of Yohann Abbou, a guitar teacher in Paris. He teaches adults, which shapes everything here: people with jobs, limited practice time and a clear idea of the songs they want to play. A chord grid is the first thing worth writing down when you learn a song, because once the form is clear the rest is practice. The rest of our free guitar tools work the same way, and none of them asks you to sign up first.
More about Yohann on his page, and about why Guitar Social Club exists.