Guitar cheat sheets for players who’d rather play than study.
The scales, chords, modes and soloing ideas I use every day, each one on a single page that sits next to your guitar. Look at it, then go make some noise.
- Lead, Theory, CAGED & Songwriting: all four bundles
- Download right after checkout. Print them or keep them on your phone
- $7 once. No subscription
Right for you if you know a few chords and the pentatonic box and want to see the rest of the neck. No music reading needed.
Guitar is supposed to be fun.
Somewhere along the way, learning guitar turned into homework. Scale books with 600 boxes. Chord dictionaries. Two-hour videos on modes that leave you more confused than when you started.
So the guitar sits on the stand, and when you do pick it up:
- You play the same pentatonic box at the 5th fret you’ve played for years.
- You learned a pattern last month and it’s already gone, because nobody told you why it works.
- You know the names of the modes but couldn’t tell someone when to use one.
- You want to write your own stuff, but you don’t know which chords and notes go together.
I made these sheets to skip the homework. Each one shows how the pieces connect: which notes are in the chord, which scale fits over it, and where those notes are all over the neck. You get the why at a glance, then you play.
Free charts show you the box. These show you where to land.
That’s the minor scale sheet from the Lead bundle. It doesn’t stop at one pattern. It shows the scale across the whole neck, the chords that come out of it, and which notes to aim for so your solo follows the music.
| Free chord & scale charts | These sheets |
|---|---|
| One shape at a time | The whole neck, connected |
| What to play | Why it works, and when to use it |
| Modes as a list of names | The chord tones each mode brings out |
| Scattered across 20 sites | One page each, next to your guitar |
Four bundles. One $7 download.
Everything comes in one zip file the minute you check out.
Lead Guitar
Get out of the box and solo over the chords, not just near them.
- My 12 Step Guitar Soloing Method, condensed onto the sheets
- Rock, blues, jazz and country: the go-to progressions and what to play over each
- Minor, pentatonic, major, melodic minor, harmonic minor and phrygian dominant sheets
- How to turn a pentatonic into any other scale, and when to use each one
- A tone sheet: EQ, pedals and amp settings behind each genre’s sound
Guitar Music Theory
Finally see why the notes you play work, without a textbook.
- Fretboard memorization sheet, with the tricks that make learning the notes go fast
- One-page theory map: how intervals, scales and keys are built and fit together
- Chord shape sheet: turn a few shapes into thousands of chords by knowing which note to add or move
- Every note of every chord and every scale, on two reference sheets
- Ear training sheet: intervals matched to songs you already know
CAGED & Modes
Follow any chord change anywhere on the neck.
- CAGED charts for every major and minor key, chord tones highlighted
- CAGED used the useful way: connecting scales and chords across the neck
- Modes sheets that show the chord tones each mode brings out, so you know when to use one in a real song
Songwriting
Stop playing other people’s songs and start writing your own.
- A quick method for writing chord progressions, melodies and lyrics
- Top-line melody sheet: how the part people remember and sing gets built
- The most common progressions and sounds in each genre, on one page
Your first 10 minutes with the sheets
Four bundles is a lot. You don’t need all of it on day one. Here’s where I’d start.
Fretboard sheet
Use the tricks on it to learn the notes on your low E and A strings. Everything else builds on this.
Pick a song you like
Find its key, then grab the CAGED chart for that key. Play the chords and look at where the chord tones sit.
Jam over it
Put on a backing track in that key and solo with the matching scale sheet, aiming for the highlighted notes when the chords change.
Here’s what’s in the box
There are so many sheets I didn’t print all of them for this video. They’re digital, so print (or don’t) whatever you want.
All of guitar theory on one page
Theory isn’t hard. The way it usually gets taught is.
So I put the ideas that matter on a single sheet: how intervals are made, how scales are made, how keys are made, and how they fit together.
Once you see the why, the rest of the bundle shows you the how.
No music degree required
No dense harmony textbook, no conservatory jargon. Just the fretboard, explained.
Songwriters & producersFind the chords, progressions and melodies for the sound in your head, fast.
Players stuck in the boxYou know some songs and the pentatonic shape, and you’re ready for the rest of the neck.
Gigging playersKnow what to play over any change, in any key, without a chart on stage.
Who made these?
I’m Matt. I’ve been playing since 2003 and teaching guitar through Play It Loud from Nashville for about 16 years. I made every one of these sheets myself, the same way I teach: show the why, then get you playing.
I’m not here to turn you into a theory nerd. I want you writing, jamming and having fun with the guitar again.
7 private lessons’ worth for $7
Each row is what I’d cover in a private lesson (about $60 each), boiled down to a sheet.
| Learning the fretboard notes | $60 |
| Modes and the chord tones each one highlights | $60 |
| The 12 Step Guitar Soloing Method | $60 |
| Ear training, songwriting & top-line melody | $60 |
| Scales, chord shapes & every note of each | $60 |
| Rock, jazz, country & blues progressions and soloing | $60 |
| Dialing in tone: EQ, pedals & amps by genre | $60 |
| Total | $420 |
| Your price | $7 |
Honestly? It’s how I meet new players.
If the sheets help, maybe you’ll take one of my courses someday. If not, you still have the sheets. After checkout you’ll see one optional offer for my Pentatonic Prison Break course. Take it or skip it; your download comes either way. No subscription, nothing else gets charged unless you choose it.
Got the wrong thing? Email me within 14 days and I’ll swap it for any Play It Loud product of equal value.
Questions
Do you mail me printed sheets?
No, they’re digital. Right after checkout you get an email with a link to download a zip file of every sheet. The link works for 30 days and up to 3 downloads, so save the files to your computer or phone once you have them.
Can I use them on my phone?
Yes. Print them at home or at a print shop (I’ve tested both), or keep them on your phone or tablet.
What level do I need to be?
If you can play a few chords and the pentatonic box, you’ll get a lot out of these. You don’t need to read music or know any theory first.
Which sheet do I start with?
The fretboard sheet. Then follow the three steps in the Start Here section above.
I mostly want to write songs. Is this for me?
Yes. The Songwriting bundle covers progressions, melodies and lyrics, and the theory and CAGED sheets show you which chords and notes go together, so you can write instead of guess.
Is this a subscription?
No. $7 once and it’s yours. Nothing renews.
Less homework. More playing.
Put the sheets next to your guitar and let them do the remembering. Four bundles, one download, $7.
Matt, Play It Loud
Questions? Email [email protected] and I’ll answer myself.