Quickest Way to Learn the Notes on a Guitar Fretboard

Step by step process for learning the fretboard notes

First, we need to understand what notes are and how they are written.

In their most basic form, notes are the pitch of a sound. For example, play any string on your guitar at any fret and it will sound a note.

The three note types

There are three types of note - natural, flat and sharp.

For example, an A natural note would simply be written as A.

An A flat note would typically be written as A♭ or Ab.

An A sharp note would typically be written as A♯ or A#.

If we were to visualise the flat and sharp notes in relation to the natural note, we would see the natural in the middle with the flat on the left and sharp on the right...

A♭      A      A♯

So think of "flat" as one pitch/note "down" and sharp as one note "up" from a natural note.

On the fretboard, each fret represents a note, so the above relationship would appear as follows, with N being the natural note (on any string)...

 

 

The musical alphabet

Just like on piano, there are 12 notes in total on guitar, which make up what is known as the chromatic scale. This means for every 12 frets on the guitar, starting at any fret on any string, you are covering the entire range of notes. Starting on the note A...

A

A♯ B♭

B

C

C♯ D♭

D

D♯ E♭

E

F

F♯ G♭

G

G♯ A♭

The note after A♭/G♯ will be the note A - the sequence repeats every 12 notes. This 12 note sequence is known as the chromatic or 12 tone scale.

The pitches which have sharp and flat notes are known as enharmonic. A♯ and Bb are the same pitch (they are enharmonic), as are C♯ and D♭ etc. Which one we use depends on a few factors and you will learn what these are as you progress.

Now, you'll notice that some notes are not separated by sharps or flats - namely, B and C, E and F. This means that a B♯ would in fact be C. C♭ would be B. E♯ would in fact be F.

Contrary to common knowledge, there are instances where you would write the notes C and F as B♯ and E♯ respectively, but we'll come to all that later. All you need to know now is that the above is the natural sequence of notes to memorize when we apply it to the guitar fretboard.

On the guitar fretboard

Starting with the low E string, let's first learn the natural notes...

• The open E string gives us a low E note. The 12th fret E is the same note, but an octave higher in pitch.
• F note at the 1st fret
• G note at the 3rd fret
• A note at the 5th fret
• B note at the 7th fret
• C note at the 8th fret
• D note at the 10th fret

Remember, the note cycle repeats beyond the 12th fret octave, so the 13th fret will be the octave of (same note as) the 1st fret F. The 17th fret will be the octave of the 5th fret A. See if you can find these note octaves beyond the 12th fret.




All we need to do is fill in the gaps with the sharps/flats from the table earlier. Again, don't worry about whether to use a sharp or flat at this stage, just memorise the positions of these enharmonic notes...

• F sharp / G flat at the 2nd fret
• G sharp / A flat at the 4th fret
• A sharp / B flat at the 6th fret
• C sharp / D flat at the 9th fret
• D sharp / E flat at the 11th fret

Now the A string. Again, memorise the natural notes first, starting from the open A string...

• A note on the open string. The 12th fret A is an octave higher.
• B note at the 2nd fret
• C note at the 3rd fret
• D note at the 5th fret
• E note at the 7th fret
• F note at the 8th fret
• G note at the 10th fret

I think you get the idea now! Fill in the flat/sharp gaps.

• A sharp / B flat at the 1st fret
• C sharp / D flat at the 4th fret
• D sharp / E flat at the 6th fret
• F sharp / G flat at the 9th fret
• G sharp / A flat at the 11th fret

If you want, you can apply exactly the same method for memorising the notes on the other strings. Remember, the same sequence of notes exist on the high E string as on the low E, just in a higher octave pitch (the high E string notes are 2 octaves higher than the low E string notes).

So that just leaves the D, G and B strings.

The below diagram shows the completed fretboard with the fret numbers beneath (O is for open string).

Help with fretboard note memorisation

To test your knowledge, try the following exercise. Pick any note in your head and see if you can locate it on all 6 strings. At first, you'll be slow, but the more you test yourself like this, the quicker and more "automatic" your note identification will become.

Source article: http://www.fretjam.com