Core Location: Ground
Chord/scale & fretboard grids are very helpful in learning how things look visually on the guitar. We do recommend you print some blank grids (these are 6 x 6 for either orientation.) & map stuff out.
Guitar chord grids are one of many ways to visually show how to play (fret) guitar chords. It is a 'grid' of the fretboard with dots showing you where to place your fingers. Grids can also be called frames or charts or boxes. The path uses these (and scale grids as well), but favors tab and reading in the end. These are also right-handed oriented. Left-handers will have to do a bit of re-visualization (flip it).
The chord name will appear above the chart.
We will sometimes see the fingerings inside the dots, or along the bottom of the strings, or myriad other variations of shapes and/or numbers.
Since chord grids are dominantly right handed, they provide a challenge to left handed players [gotta flip it around], unless a given source provides a left handed version.
We will more commonly see chord grids oriented vertically (like below), rather than horizontally (like above), especially in songbooks. Learn to interpret both horizontal & vertical grids. Ultimately, once we know a chord, you don't need a picture of it, yet, sometimes the type of voicing for a particular chord in a song can be helpful when shown in a grid (typically at the beginning of a tune - there can be modified voicings, which are good to know).
Scale grids show us scale patterns on a fretboard. They are a great way to get to know our fretboard & get functional in all key centers, quickly. Like chord grids, they are intended to be a learning tool which is ultimately transcended (move into higher/deeper modes of mind/body). In a way, scale grids are chord grids, as they contain all of the tones to create the chords from the tone set.
Here is a scale grid:
Here is one way we realize this grid into tablature, into playing...
In the tab, we start on the lowest root, play to the highest tone in the pattern, descend to the lowest, then return to the root.
Chord/scale & fretboard grids are very helpful in learning how things look visually on the guitar. We do recommend you print some blank grids (these are 6 x 6 for either orientation.) & map stuff out.