How many notes on a guitar

You have played every note your guitar can play That is, one instance of each frequency. It's as if you layed out all the notes on one string and went 3 or 4 octaves in a straight line. This is the hidden framework of the guitar. In the green region there are 12 notes one octave , in the blue region there are 12 notes one octave , and in the dark blue region there are 12 notes one octave.

This is equivalent to the spaces where black keys are missing on the piano. There are situations in which you might use Fb or Cb to describe guitar notes you are playing, but this is a more advanced theoretical concept and you can name all of the notes on the neck without resorting to using such descriptions at all.

Sharps work the same way as flats but in reverse. A sharp note is 1 fret higher than its reference note. It should also now be clear that the notes between the natural guitar notes can all be named in two different ways. D and Eb are the same fret for example, as are A and Bb.

By now, you may have noticed a pattern. If you look at the natural notes on each string, they always follow in the same order, with the same spacing between notes, and with each string beginning four notes lower than the previous string with one exception, see below. In music theory terms, we would say that each string is tuned a perfect fourth above its neighbor. We can call this a guitar-playing hack because learning guitar fretboard notes because it means that if you learn the pattern for the natural guitar notes on one string, you already know that pattern on the next lower string, starting at the fifth fret.

This is a huge benefit in cutting down on memorization time. There is one string that breaks this pattern however, the G string is only 3 letters or 4 frets lower than the B string.

In this case, the musical pattern still repeats from one to the other but starts at 4th fret instead of 5th. Having already learned the high E string, the low E string is a freebie. Because it begins on the same open note, all of the strings are in the same places.

You already know the guitar notes for this one. It also continues to follow the rule outlined above, by being 4 notes 5 frets below A. For many beginners, the notes on the E and A strings will be the most important notes to memorize. This is because these notes are the root notes for the most common movable chord shapes. To memorize the guitar notes on the E and A strings, practice playing just the natural notes going up and down the strings.

Say the name of each note as you play it. Repeat this a few times at the beginning of your guitar practice each day until you feel comfortable. Repetition is the key to ensuring these guitar notes stick in your mind. Practice them daily. You just might be surprised how quickly you master them. You can continue learning the natural notes on the guitar one string at a time, following along with the diagram below. Note that this diagram shows sharp notes i.

So, what is the difference between a sharp and flat note on the guitar? A sharp note is a half step higher than the natural note. A flat note is a half step lower. Depending on what key you are playing in, the same note may be referred to as F or Gb.

The layout of notes on a guitar may seem random, but these simple scale and chord shapes will help you to remember them. Method 1. Learn the open strings, or the notes for each string if you aren't holding down a fret. The guitar is made up of six strings, with the thickest, heaviest string on top and the thinnest on the bottom. Guitar strings count from the bottom up -- so the thin string is the 1st and the thick string is the 6th.

Know that notes count alphabetically from A to G. In western music, notes are written as the letters A - G. After G, the notes cycle back to A, but a higher-pitched version of A.

As you move down the fret board towards the body of the guitar , you cycle down the notes. An E, therefore is higher up the fret board than a F, and a G, and then the next A. The note before is considered lower. So a B is lower than the next C. A note that occurs later on is a higher note. An E is a higher note than the earlier D. Identify the sharp and flat notes in between the letters.

Sharps and flats are interchangeable, depending on the song. If you remember this small exception to the rule, memorizing the guitar will be easy. Move down one fret to raise the note up a half-step.

The frets of a guitar are numbered, with 0 being an open string, 1 being the fret closest to the head, and so on. Each fret represents a half step up from the one before it. So: On the top string, the first note an open string is E. The first fret on the top string is an F remember, there is no such thing as E. The second fret on the top string is an F. The third fret on the top string is a G. This continues all the way down.

Try naming each note on one string. If you got it all right, you'll be back to E by the 12th fret. Find all of the natural notes on the first string. The best place to begin learning is on the top or 6th string, the E. On this string, the first few major notes are marked by dots on the fretboard. F is on the 1st fret.

G is on the 3d fret. A is on the 5th fret. B is on the 7th fret. C is on the 8th fret. D is on the 10th fret. E is on the 12th fret, and the pattern repeats. Think of the guitar as having only 12 frets. Frets are the small metal bars on the neck. When you press a string down on a fret, it gives you a different note, moving down the scale.

But at the 12th fret usually noted by 2 dots on the guitar , the whole guitar resets. The 12th fret of any string is the identical note as the open string, and then everything repeats. This means you only need to learn the notes from frets, then know that they are identical after the 12th fret.

After the 12th note you are back where you started. Method 2. Learn each note individually, instead of trying to learn the whole guitar at once. Get the first string memorized, then focus on one letter completely. Start by finding all of the Es between the head and the 12th fret and then move on to another letter. Before you go any further, you need to familiarize yourself with guitar string notes.

Notice that the strings are arranged from thickest lowest note to thinnest highest note. The best way to remember the guitar string notes and their names is to create a mnemonic device. Think of it as a way to help you remember which letters go where. There are tons of different mnemonic devices you can use. Shoot, you can even try creating one yourself!

Try to make it silly , memorable , and cogent. The guitar notes for the strings are the same whether you play electric, acoustic, rock, bluegrass, or metal — rock on! Just as a single letter on its own sounds different from a word, notes sound different from chords. Guitar notes are individual pitches. This is an example of single guitar notes.

Like we said earlier, chords are like words: when you take notes and play many of them at once, you create a chord. If you want a quick rundown of chord diagrams, check out my lesson here! When you play the D chord, you strum all of the strings at once. Every note is played at the same time to create the chord.

Chords have a richer, fuller sound than guitar notes. I think you should follow your creative impulses. It can be incredibly overwhelming when you first start playing guitar. I have a few suggestions to help process the barrage of information out there, but one thing is for sure….