Hey Gang! Do you know the names of the strings on your guitar yet? Have you wondered about how to find all of the notes?
Well, I'm hear to tell ya!
But foist... Let's talk about notes in general.
Music is logical -- it has to make sense. Music is mathematical, that is basic arithmetic. Music is also the alphabet -- that is the alphabet from A to G -- repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and... well... you know...
There is no such thing as an "H" note, or a "Q" note. Just A through G. Period.
Also, even though our English alphabet starts with the letter "A", the musical alphabet can start from ANY letter.
Uh huh.
What I mean is that I could say the alphabet is:
A B C D E F G A B C D E F G ... OR
B C D E F G A B C D E F G A ... OR
C D E F G A B C D E F G A B ... OR
I could start from any letter as long as I only use the letters A - G. Keep this little tidbit in mind.
Okay! Now, as promised, (drum roll, please) THE STRINGS ON YOUR GUITAR (cymbal crash)!
The first string on the guitar is the high "E" string. That's the thinnest string on your guitar.
The second string is the "B" string. The third string is the "G", the fourth is the "D", the fifth is the "A", and the sixth, the thickest string, is the low "E".
E B G D A E
1 2 3 4 5 6
Do yourself a REALLY big favor and memorize this. It is your starting point on the guitar as far as the notes are concerned.
Now for the rest of 'em. Take a look at the first picture below. This shows you all of the notes on the first "E" string.
Now wait just a dog-gone minute! What's that other stuff? Did I lie to you?
Not exactly.
I'm sure you noticed a few things about that picture.
1. There's note names with pound signs (#) after them, and lower case "b"s after them, and there's those slash "/" thingies.
2. Sometimes those pound sign--slashes--lower case "b"s are between notes and sometimes they're not.
3. On the 12th fret, it starts repeating.
I'm gonna fully explain all of that later, but for now I'll explain some of it.
Those pound sign "#" thingamabobs are called sharps and those lower case "b"s are called flats. What do they do, and what are they doing there?
Ehhhhhh.... I'll tell ya later. It's, um... a long story. But for now, know that some notes have two names, and that these notes sometimes exist between other notes.
A#/Bb means A sharp OR B flat
C#/Db means C sharp OR D flat
D#/Eb means D sharp OR E flat
F#/Gb means F sharp OR G flat
G#/Ab means G sharp OR A flat
Now look at the second picture. This tells ya all of the notes on your guitar up through the 12th fret on your guitar. After the 12th fret, it starts repeating. For now, simply try and memorize the notes.
Are ya done yet? Get crackin'!
Professor Bruno Noteworthy
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Contributor's Note
Professor Bruno Noteworthy is a toon music professor who loves to teach the guitar to kids.
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