Learning Notes

This is only my second day of ever picking up a guitar. I was going through the "notes" video and wanted to know if there is an easy way to understand why we skip frets when learning notes on the different strings. I am learning that the E string has the "f" note on fret one, but then you skip a fret for the G note (4th fret if I am remembering correctly). Each string is different and I am just trying to understand this so I can easily remember.

Originally Posted by: PamelaMThis is only my second day of ever picking up a guitar. I was going through the "notes" video and wanted to know if there is an easy way to understand why we skip frets when learning notes on the different strings. I am learning that the E string has the "f" note on fret one, but then you skip a fret for the G note (4th fret if I am remembering correctly). Each string is different and I am just trying to understand this so I can easily remember.

The musical alphabet only has seven letters, which keep repeating:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B ... and so on.

Two sets of letters B-C and E-F are right next to one another with no space in between. All other letters have a space (on the guitar a fret) in between them for accidentals (sharps & flats).

The reason for this is in order to create the sound of the major scale; the solfege "Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do" on the notes:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C.

It helps some people to refer to a piano & notice that there are white keys (the musical letters A-G) & black keys (the sharps & flats in between the letters). The pattern on the piano is easier to directly see:

2 places have white keys right next to each other (B-C & E-F), and there are black keys in between all the other notes.

If all this is too much info right now, don't worry about it. Just keep going through Guitar Fundamentals 1 & all will be eventually clearer. If not, please ask again!

Good Morning Chris, not sure if this helped the original poster but I must say that it made everything click for me. I know the notes on the first 5 frets but didn't know how to relate them to the rest of the neck. Now I know how to find them.

I have the first 5 memorized but I didn't think I could memorize the whole neck so knowing how the notes are in order and which notes do not have spaces between them makes everything simple.

Thanks for great explanation.
Jaime

Here are all 12 notes in music, from A to A. These are the same 12 notes shared by all instruments in western music.

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

Remember that the #/b notes are the same notes, and there name changes based on the key you are playing in. As it relates to the guitar, typically we refer to things moving in whole steps, or half steps.

Whole Step - 2 frets on the guitar
Half Step - 1 fret on the guitar

In relation to music, a half step moves from one note to another. A whole step moves 2 notes. For example, A to B is a whole step while B to C is a half step. You will notice that there are 12 notes, and that on the 12th fret of most guitars there are two dots. At the 12th fret you have moved up a whole octave and the notes start over. Here are all 6 strings and the notes located from the open string to the 12th fret. Notice how it always starts over at the 12th fret.

Moving in half steps (one fret at a time.)
E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E
A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A
D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D
G - G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G
B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B
E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E

To clarify this point, simply go up each string and say the note names a loud. Read from left to right, one string at a time. Once you feel comfortable, trying singing the notes out loud or finding where all the A's are, etc. I can not stress enough how important it is to know the notes on the neck of the guitar and hopefully this all makes sense in how I explained it. Let me know if not.
:D

Originally Posted by: LilbikerGood Morning Chris, not sure if this helped the original poster but I must say that it made everything click for me.

Good deal! You are quite welcome. Glad it helped.

Bear everything that CS and Douglas said in mind but also . . .
. . . your basic scale when you're starting out is C Major.

It's got no sharps and flats and is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (doh-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-doh) or tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone.

Start on the third fret of the A string.