• why I wrote the book
• why it works

Hi! My name is Guy and I am the author of Guy’s Grids.

I hate to memorize. And, I’m not very good at it. However, advancing as a guitarist requires lots of memorization – including the memorization of chord forms. This book was written to facilitate that memorization process.

As a guitarist, I found that memorizing 30 or 40 chord forms was not too difficult. However, beyond that point, I seemed to hit a wall. I remember, for example, being frustrated with my tendency to continually confuse the two chord forms on the right.

Similarly, I became frustrated when my guitar instructor, in teaching me new songs, would frequently need to stamp out chord forms for me that I had played many times before. I had seen these chord forms again and again, but somehow could not commit them to memory.

Well, eventually, I resolved to move beyond rote memorization. My first step was to study chord theory. This, of course, is an indispensable step for any serious student of the guitar. Next, I searched for a great chord reference book that would present the most useful chord forms in a manner that would reinforce the chord theory I had just learned. In particular, I wanted a book that would help me to recognize the relationship between related chords. Remarkably, I could not find such a book. So, I created my own. The result is Guy’s Grids — a product designed and created to meet the needs of the serious guitar student — from beginner through advanced.