Guitar Lessons - Lesson 2: The Fretboard

In my last lesson we learned the very basics. The last article covered the anatomy of the guitar and standard tuning. Before continuing on with this lesson I recommend reviewing the previous lesson which can be found here at AC.

There are twelve notes that make up western music. Please note when I say western music I do not mean "country" music, I am referring to the western world. These notes are A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G ,G#. The # symbol represents a sharp. A# is named A Sharp. Please note that a B Flat is the same note as an A Sharp. A D Flat is the same as a C Sharp, and so on. A sharp raises the note while a flat lowers it. It is also very important to note that there is no B# and there is no E#.

The fretboard contains all of these notes. Below is a chart displaying where each note is through the first 12 frets.

E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E

B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B

G G# A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G

D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D

A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A

E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E

This probably looks a little overwhelming, don't worry. It is not important to memorize this right away. Memorizing the notes on the fretboard is something that takes a bit of time, because of this it is a good idea to start early. I do have a tip or two that will help you in doing this. Take a look at your guitar, at the freatboard specifically. Do you see those dots? You should see a mark at the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and twelfth frets. It may be easier for you to memorize these notes if you memorize the notes on each of these frets first. Memorize the six notes on the third fret, fifth, and so on.

Another tip is this, take a look at the notes on the E,A,D,G strings. There is a relationship between the notes on the E and D strings, and on the A and G strings. There is only a two fret difference between the notes on these pairs of strings.

Also remember that the top and bottom strings are the made up of the same notes. You only have to memorize one of them. This cuts down the number of strings you need to memorize to five instead of six.