Originally Posted by: txladykatthanks everyone! now the "open" chords make sense to me. I never could figure out what was the difference between open and major chords. So open chords are anything played in the first octave at the top of the fretboard, right?

I think you've gone a bit too far... A major chord is the first, third and fifth notes of a major scale played together. An open chord is any chord played with at least one open string (played with no frets down). You can play an open E Major chord:

e--0--
B--0--
G--1--
D--2--
A--2--
E--0--

Open chords are usually played in the first position - i.e. fingering starts at the first fret. Apologies if I've sounded patronising.... I'm not, just trying to be clear... I hope I am! :D