Knowing the notes on the guitar is a foundational skill I recommend that all guitar players develop.
Learning the notes on the guitar fretboard will drastically expand your abilities on the guitar. You’ll be able to come up with any chord shape without needing to look up a chord chart. For example, if asked to play an Amaj7 chord, you’ll be able to come up with your own fingering by knowing the locations of the notes (A, C#, E, G#) on the guitar fretboard.
Using your knowledge of scales from the Circle of Fifths, and combining that with your knowledge of the notes on the guitar fretboard, you’ll be able to figure out how to play the scale on the guitar without needing to look up its shape online. And if you decide you want to get into soloing or improvisation, it’s an absolute necessity to know the notes of the guitar fretboard!
On all other instruments musicians play the “notes”, versus a fingering or method for playing the note. In other words you wouldn’t ask a trumpet player to play that note where none of the valves are pressed. Instead, you ask them to play a C note (which is played with none of the valves pressed on the instrument). The same thing applies to guitar, I shouldn’t need to tell you to play the 3rd fret on the 5th string. If I ask you to play a C note, you’ll know where it is!
Table of Contents
- Open Strings
- Chromatic Scale
- String 6: Low E String
- String 5: A String
- String 4: D String
- String 3: G String
- String 2: B String
- String 1: High E String
- Further reading
Open Strings
When learning the guitar notes, you’ll need to start by memorizing the names of the six open strings.
It will be the same guitar notes on six string electric guitars and six string acoustic guitars.
Here is a chart for reference:
The sixth string (thickest string) is the E string.
The fifth string is the A string.
The fourth string is the D string.
The third string is the G string.
The second string is the B string.
The first string (thinnest string) is another E string.
Come up with an acronym, or use whatever method works for you to memorize these open string names! You have to have these string names memorized before you can move on.
Chromatic Scale
Knowing the chromatic scale will be of tremendous help in learning the guitar notes.
The chromatic scale includes all 12 notes in music: C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B.
A note on the symbols:
- C# means C sharp.
- Db means D flat.
The notes on the guitar increment chromatically as you go from one fret to the next.
This is helpful to know because if for example you know that the 5th fret on the 6th string is an A note, but you forgot what note is on the 4th fret of the 6th string, using the chromatic scale and going back a half-step, you’ll know the 4th fret on the 6th string is a G#/Ab (G sharp or A flat) note.
String 6: Low E String
The sixth string on guitar is called the low E string. When playing the open string you are playing the E note.
Here is a chart for your reference:
The first fret on the sixth string is the note F.
The second fret is F# (F sharp) or Gb (G flat).
The third fret is G.
The fourth fret is G# (G sharp) or Ab (A flat).
The fifth fret is A.
The sixth fret is A# or Bb.
The seventh fret is B.
The eighth fret is C.
The ninth fret is C# or Db.
The tenth fret is D.
The eleventh fret is D# or Eb.
The twelfth fret is E. This is the octave, or the same note as the open string.
The thirteenth fret is F. This fret now repeats the notes beginning from the first fret.
String 5: A String
The fifth string on guitar is called the A string. When playing the open string you are playing an A note.
Here is a chart for your reference:
The first fret on the fifth string is A# or Bb.
The second fret is B.
The third fret is C.
The fourth fret is C# or Db.
The fifth fret is D.
The sixth fret is D# or Eb.
The seventh fret is E.
The eighth fret is the note F.
The ninth fret is F# or Gb.
The tenth fret is G.
The eleventh fret is G# or Ab.
The twelfth fret is A. This is the octave, or the same note as the open string.
String 4: D String
The fourth string on guitar is called the D string. When playing the open string you are playing a D note.
Here is a chart for your reference:
The first fret on the fourth string is D# or Eb.
The second fret is E.
The third fret is the note F.
The fourth fret is F# or Gb.
The fifth fret is G.
The sixth fret is G# or Ab.
The seventh fret is A.
The eighth fret is A# or Bb.
The ninth fret is B.
The tenth fret is C.
The eleventh fret is C# or Db.
The twelfth fret is D. This is the octave, or the same note as the open string.
String 3: G String
The third string on guitar is called the G string. When playing the open string you are playing a G note.
Here is a chart for your reference:
The first fret on the third string is G# or Ab.
The second fret is A.
The third fret is A# or Bb.
The fourth fret is B.
The fifth fret is C.
The sixth fret is C# or Db.
The seventh fret is D.
The eighth fret is D# or Eb.
The ninth fret is E.
The tenth fret is the note F.
The eleventh fret is F# or Gb.
The twelfth fret is G. This is the octave, or the same note as the open string.
String 2: B String
The second string on guitar is called the B string. When playing the open string you are playing a B note.
Here is a chart for your reference:
The first fret on the second string is C.
The second fret is C# or Db.
The third fret is D.
The fourth fret is D# or Eb.
The fifth fret is E.
The sixth fret is the note F.
The seventh fret is F# or Gb.
The eighth fret is G.
The ninth fret is G# or Ab.
The tenth fret is A.
The eleventh fret is A# or Bb.
The twelfth fret is B. This is the octave, or the same note as the open string.
String 1: High E String
The first string on guitar is called the high E string. When playing the open string you are playing the E note.
Here is a chart for your reference:
The first fret on the first string is the note F.
The second fret is F# (F sharp) or Gb (G flat).
The third fret is G.
The fourth fret is G# (G sharp) or Ab (A flat).
The fifth fret is A.
The sixth fret is A# or Bb.
The seventh fret is B.
The eighth fret is C.
The ninth fret is C# or Db.
The tenth fret is D.
The eleventh fret is D# or Eb.
The twelfth fret is E. This is the octave, or the same note as the open string.