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Douglas Showalter
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 09/15/08
Posts: 817
Douglas Showalter
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 09/15/08
Posts: 817
09/11/2009 7:05 pm
Whenever I am teaching this concept, I rarely give a chart that has all the names of the notes on it. It is important you first know the order and names of all 12 notes in music in general. Those notes are as follows.

A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab

Memorize this order, and know which notes have sharps and flats between them. Once you have a good grasp of this, than apply it to the guitar.

This can be done by simply taking each open string, and moving up one fret at a time saying each note a-loud. I would also recommend singing each note and it's name if you are able. This really, really helps put the idea into motion. You will notice that the note names start over once you get to the 12th fret, and if they don't you turned a wrong corner somewhere. For example, here is how you would approach the low E string. Each note is a half step from each other, and a half step on the guitar can be looked at as one fret (a whole step being two frets.) You simply take the above list and start from wherever the open string is, in this case you say the order starting from E.

Low E String:
E - Open String
F - 1st Fret
F#/Gb - 2nd Fret
G - 3rd Fret
G#/Ab - 4th fret
A - 5th Fret
A#/Bb - 6th Fret
B - 7th Fret
C - 8th Fret
C#/Db - 9th Fret
D - 10th Fret
D#/Eb - 11th Fret
E - 12th fret

You can apply this same idea to all 6 strings and than you are on your way. Again, I would not recommend having a chart, as you become reliant on that and this concept forces you to know the note names and teaches you to apply to them to the guitar on your own.

Let me know if this makes any sense.
Douglas Showalter