Left-handed guitarists often have to flip every chord diagram in their head. This tool does the flip for you. Pick a chord or type your own frets, and it shows the normal diagram next to the mirrored one for a left-handed guitar, so you can learn shapes without mental gymnastics.
The problem left-handed players face
Almost every chord book, website and video is drawn for right-handed players. The low E string sits on the left of the diagram and the high E string on the right, which matches a right-handed guitar seen from the front. A left-handed player holds the guitar the other way round, so the strings run in the opposite order from their point of view. Every diagram has to be mirrored before it can be used, and doing that mirror in your head, chord after chord, is slow and error-prone. A single string read backwards can turn a clean major chord into a muddy shape. This tool removes that step by showing both diagrams together, so the left-handed version is right there on the page.
How mirroring works
Mirroring a chord diagram is simpler than it sounds. The fret numbers stay the same, but their order across the strings reverses. If a right-handed C chord uses frets 0, 3, 2, 0, 1, 0 from low E to high E, the mirrored version reads 0, 1, 0, 2, 3, 0 in the same low-to-high order of the left-handed guitar. The fingers do not change their fretting job: the finger that held a note on one string holds the same note on the mirrored string. The tool draws both diagrams as grids, with dots on the frets, open circles for open strings and crosses for muted strings, so you can compare them at a glance and see that the shape is a true mirror image, not a different chord.
How to use the mirror
Choose a chord from the list, which covers the most common open chords, or type your own frets in the custom box, separated by commas, from low E to high E. Use -1 for a muted string. Press the button and the page shows the right-handed diagram first and the mirrored left-handed diagram second, each with its fret list. Start with C or G, compare the two grids, and notice how the shape flips left to right. Then try your own shape from a song you are learning, and practise the mirrored version slowly until your fingers find it without looking at the right-handed diagram.
Learning tips for left-handed players
Learn the mirrored shape as its own shape, not as a translation you do every time. Say the fret numbers out loud in mirrored order while you place your fingers. Practise chord changes between mirrored shapes, not between a mirrored shape and a right-handed memory, because mixing the two is what causes mistakes. If a chord feels awkward mirrored, check whether a different fingering of the same chord mirrors more comfortably: the tool mirrors frets, but you choose the fingers. Keep a notebook of mirrored diagrams for the chords in your current songs, so you build a personal left-handed chord book over time.
What about left-handed guitars and stringing
This tool assumes a left-handed guitar strung for a left-handed player, with the low E on the top side from the player’s view. Some left-handed players learn on a right-handed guitar flipped over without restringing, which reverses the string order and the chord shapes in a different way. If that is your setup, the mirrored diagrams here will not match your instrument, and you need shapes built for upside-down stringing instead. For a properly strung left-handed guitar, though, the mirror in this tool is exact, because it only reverses string order and changes nothing else.
Limits
The tool mirrors fret numbers, not finger numbers, because good fingering depends on your hand and on the chord change around it. It also does not teach strumming or picking, which are also mirrored for left-handed players. Use the diagrams together with a teacher, a video, or your own practice routine. The chord tones shown come from Tonal.js when it loads, and they are a bonus check, not a requirement: the mirrored diagram works with or without them.
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