Why You Should Learn The Notes

If you have a guitar with 24 frets and six strings, that’s a total of 144 spots you’d have to learn note names for. That seems super difficult, most drummers can’t even count that high. Some good news for you, you’re a guitarist, and it is much easier to learn the notes on the fretboard than it sounds. Now, you might be asking, ‘What’s the point of learning the notes anyways?” There are many benefits to knowing the notes on the fretboard. It is one the best places to start when learning music theory on guitar. Once you know where all the notes are, you can use that knowledge to aid you in learning scales, modes, and creating cords. Learning the fretboard is a fundamental step in understanding music theory as a guitarist and it can be done easily.

How To Learn The Fretboard’s Notes

Out of those 144 locations on the fretboard, (126 if you have a guitar with 21 frets) the top and bottom string’s notes are all the same, when in standard tuning. So that’s 24 fewer spots to learn because the high e and low e strings are obviously the same. Also, because there are only 12 notes in music, letters A-G and only B and E do not have sharps, we then know that the notes on the fretboard repeat at the 12th fret. That cuts the amount of memorization down in half and leaves you with 60 spots to learn. That still may seem like an overwhelming amount, but there a bunch of keys to learning these 60.

Let’s start with explaining how the notes work in music and on the fretboard;

Every one fret you move up is a half step or semitone.

Every two frets you move up is a whole step or whole tone.

B and E notes have no sharps and therefore, the musical alphabet looks like this:

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

Those are the twelve notes in music. This repeats in a loop, after G# the following note is an A.

Each string is named based on its open note. Whenever you play a string, without pressing on a fret, the name of the string is also the note you just played. If you are in standard tuning, then you know 6 notes already. E A D G B E (Which, by the way, you can remember with the acronym Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie.)

A half step is equivalent to moving up or down one spot on the fretboard. So if you take the open A string and put your finger on the first fret, you have an A#, the second fret is then a B, third a C, and so on throughout the music alphabet. Once you get to the 12th fret, you will be back at an A and then it repeats.

While it may seem tedious, you can now learn all of the notes on the fretboard if you used that process for every string. That’s a lot of work though, and this is where those “keys” come into play.

Keys

12th Fret:

As stated before, the note at the 12th fret is the same as the open string’s note. This can be used to find what the notes are closer to the 12th fret faster. Instead of “counting” from the open note, use the 12th fret either backward or forward.

Example: The 10th fret on the E string (high or low) is D. Because the 12th is E, D# comes before E and would be the 11th, before that is D on the 10th.

5th fret:

The “5th fret method” is often used when tuning your guitar by ear. Essentially, the 5th fret of every string shares the note of the open string below it. However there is one exception, from the G to B string, the 4th fret is a B on the G string. This is because standard tuning is not tuned completely to fourths. (More advanced interval theory). This key also works at the 17th fret. (16th for the G string).

Example:

The 5th fret of the E strings is the note A. EADGBE

The 5th fret of the A string is the note D. EADGBE

The 5th fret of the D string is the note G. EADGBE

The 4th fret of the G string is the note B. EADGBE

The 5th fret of the B string is the note E. EADGBE

7th Fret:

The 7th fret key works like the reverse of the 5th fret key. The 7th fret of every string shares the note of the open string above it. Again, with the exception from the B to G string. This key also works at the 19th fret. (20th for the B string).

The 7th fret of the E strings is the note B. EADGBE

The 7th fret of the A string is the note E. EADGBE

The 7th fret of the D string is the note A. EADGBE

The 7th fret of the G string is the note D. EADGBE

The 8th fret of the B string is the note G. EADGBE

Conclusion

Now you can identify any note on the fretboard fairly quickly. However, it will take time to truly memorize them. Use these methods often, and you will be on your way. Also, try printing out a blank fretboard image and writing all the notes down a few times. Another way you could go about memorizing these is to repeat in your head, the first fret of the E string would be an F. Then explain, “Because E has no sharp and therefore the following note in the music alphabet is F.” This method of repeating the notes can be done anywhere at anytime.

Good luck learning the fretboard! Stay tuned for the next blog. Thanks for reading!