Discover The Fretboard
3.) Mapping Out The Fretboard
The 12 Notes In Music
The key learning the notes on the entire
fretboard is first memorizing the 12 notes and their appropriate
order.
There are 12 different notes in music. Imagine
them as blocks:
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
7 of these are primary notes called A, B,
C, D, E, F, and G. If we assign them a number in our 12
blocks this is what it would look like:
| A |
|
B |
C |
|
D |
|
E |
F |
|
G |
|
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
The remaining 5 notes are secondary notes.
They have dual names, meaning they can be called sharp
or flat. Sharps are represented by a "#" and
flats are represented by a "b". Think of a sharp
as meaning "go up one" and a flat as "go
down one".
The 5 secondary notes are called G#/Ab,
A#/Bb, C#/Db, D#/Eb, and F#/Gb.
| |
A#/Bb |
|
|
C#/Db |
|
D#/Eb |
|
|
F#/Gb |
|
G#/Ab |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
With all 12 blocks filled you can see a
sharp always follows a primary note and a flat always
precedes a primary note:
| A |
A#/Bb |
B |
C |
C#/Db |
D |
D#/Eb |
E |
F |
F#/GB |
G |
G#/Ab |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
The notes will always follow each other
in this order.
Note order: A,A#/Bb,B,C,C#/Db,D,D#/Eb,E,F,F#/Gb,G,G#/Ab
The Language Of Music
You'll notice that there is no B#/Cb
or E#/Fb notes. The reasons for arranging the notes this
way can be explained by looking at a picture of a keyboard.
The white keys are the primary notes and the black keys
are the secondary notes. The language of music was created
with the piano's keyboard in mind instead of the guitar's
fretboard.
Notes On The Guitar
Each fret on a guitar is a note. You can
locate any note on a given string if you know the name
of the open string, because the notes always follow each
other in the same order.
For example, the notes on the A string are
as follows:
A(string played open)-A#/Bb,B,C,C#/Db,D,D#/Eb,E,F,F#/Gb,G,G#/Ab
The 12th fret always starts the pattern
all over again. It's the same note as the string played
open.
Go Back To The Discover
The Fretboard Main Page
