Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: Walt Jabsco

Every chord in the PDF (except Emaj, Emin, and Gmaj) does not match with any chord variation in the toolbox. Is the PDF wrong or the toolbox wrong?

For example, the C major chord is formed by playing the root (C), 3rd (E) & 5th (G) notes from the C major scale. And there are many different ways to combine those 3 notes together on the guitar!

But as a beginner you have to start somewhere! So you learn just one basic way to play every major & minor chord.

The essential chords chart is supposed to be a summary of what you will learn throughout the beginner courses. It's not supposed to be where you start. After all, that's what the Fundamentals course is about: starting at zero & learning step by step, chord by chord, etc.

There's no way a beginner can be expected to take a chart with no explanation & play all those chords. It's just a suppliment to use after you've worked through the courses & have practiced all the material.

Regarding the tool box, it's a reference source, not a learning method. It's more like a dictionary of many possible voicings of all possible chords. But you don't learn to read by using a dictionary! You use it after you've already got some skills built & are looking to improve & refine your existing skills & ideas.

So, the beginner PDF has only one way to play the C major chord.

But notice that variation 1 is exactly the voicing used on the beginner PDF. :) The other variations are just different ways to also voice a C major chord.

Hope that helps!