THEORY

NOTATION
There are four methods commonly used to notate guitar information.

1. GRIDS
Grids represent a portion of the fretboard. They are used to show chords and scales. The horizontal lines represent the frets and the vertical lines represent the strings. The black dots indicate where to place your fingers. The number/s next to the grid are fret numbers and tell you where on the fretboard to play.

2. CHORD SYMBOLS
Chord symbols are used as abbreviations for the full name of a chord and are used in chord progressions, like this one:

|| C | Fmaj7 | G7 | Am9 ||
For further information click HERE

3. TABLATURE (Tab)
Each horizontal line represents a guitar string. The bottom line is the thickest string. The top line is the thinnest.

The numbers indicate which fret to play on the string.

4. STAVE / STAFF
The stave has five lines. Each line and space represents a different PITCH. The symbols on the stave represent a particular pitch and the duration of time it should be played for.

STANDARD TUNING
When a guitar is in standard tuning the open strings are tuned from the first string (thinnest) to the sixth (thickest) to:

EBGDAE Even Bad Goats Don't Always Eat

There are various methods used to tune the guitar.

Relative tuning.

For this method assume that the sixth string (thickest) is in tune.

The note at the 5th. fret on this string is A. This is the note that the fifth string should be tuned to. The note at the at the 5th. fret on this string is D. This is the note that the fourth string should be tuned to. Once the fourth string is in tune the note at its fifth fret is G. This is the note that the third string should be tuned to. When the third string is in tune the note at its fourth fret is B. The second string should be adjusted to match this note. Finally, the first string should be tuned to the E found at the fifth fret on the second string.

Other tuning methods are,,,

Refer to another instrument.

Ensure the other instrument in tune and that you know where to find the correct notes / pitch on that instrument.

Use a digital / electronic guitar tuner.

Digital tuners are very useful and accurate. However, they are not always easy to use. They are particularly useful when plugged into an electric guitar because they cut-out superfluous sounds. Noises that may otherwise interfere with tuning are not picked-up by the tuner. Also, the tuning process cannot be heard by others.

After using a digital tuner it is always a good idea to check that the guitar is in tune with itself by using relative tuning.

PITCH is the height or depth of sound.

A low pitch is produced from the sixth (thickest) string of the guitar when it is played open. A higher pitch is produced from the open first (thinnest) string.

OPEN STRINGS are those that are allowed to sound when not fretted.
When you pluck any string without pressing down on a note it is being played open.

The thinnest string played open produces a higher pitched note than the thickest string when it is played open. There is an extremely broad spectrum of pitch.

At each level of pitch there is a note. Each note takes its name from one of the first seven letters of the alphabet.

ABCDEFG
As you progress through the alphabet you are going up in pitch. The strings of the guitar are numbered, one to six, from the thinnest to thickest.

The height of depth of a note is its pitch. The notes on each string get higher in pitch the further up the fretboard, towards the body of the guitar, they are played. The frets are numbered going up towards the body of the guitar.

Between some of these notes there is another note which has two names. These names are taken from the notes either side of it. For example, the note between A and B is called either A# (A sharp)...

# = SHARP

...or Bb (B flat)

Notes with two names are no more or less important than those with only one name.

# = SHARP b = FLAT

TONES & SEMITONES INTERVAL.

The distance between notes is called an

The smallest division of pitch is called a SEMITONE. In the diagram above, the notes progressively go up in pitch by one semitone. The distance up from B to C is a semitone, or down from E to D# is a semitone and so on. The distance of two semitones, for example from C to D or from E to F# is called a

TONE.
There are of course more than twelve notes. Following G# / Ab the whole series of notes repeats from A. This A is an OCTAVE higher than the previous one.

MAJOR SCALE
The major scale is the foundation of most music theory. It is referred to quite frequently, so its a good idea to have an understanding of it. Most pieces of music are usually in a key. This means a particular selection of notes has been chosen from the twelve available notes to be used in a piece of music. The selected notes are usually those of a MAJOR SCALE. (There are other scales and we shall look at these later.)

All elements of a piece of music, from the bass line and chords to the melody and guitar solo, will use only the notes of this scale. If any other notes are introduced they will sound off key.

(Sometimes its good to break the rules. Notes not naturally found in the major scale can add interest to your music, but at the moment we shall just deal with the notes that naturally occur in this scale. These are called DIATONIC notes.)

You can build a major scale by starting on any note and then following this series of intervals to find the seven other notes that make up this scale:

Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone.

For example, to find out which notes make up the G' major scale. Start with the key or tonic note G.

Go up a tone from G. This gives you the second note in the scale A.

Next go up a tone from A. This gives you the third note in the scale B.

Now go up a semitone from B. This gives you the fourth note in the scale C.

Go up a tone from C. This gives you the fifth note in the scale D'.

Next go up a tone from D. This gives you the sixth note in the scale E.

Go up a tone from E. This gives you the seventh note in the scale F#.

Finally go up a semitone from F#. This takes you to G. This 'G' is one octave higher than the tonic note.

You may have noticed that when we went up a tone from E the note we arrived at had two names, either F# or Gb. When this happens use the one that follows on alphabetically from the previous note. F follows alphabetically after E, so the seventh note in the key of G major is F# not Gb.

So, the notes of the 'G' major scale are: G,

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

This is a major scale pattern going up two octaves.

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

The numbers indicate the order of notes going up the scale.

This scale pattern can be moved to different positions on the fretboard. Wherever it is played the quality of the scale, in this case major, remains the same. The first note of the major scale is its

TONIC, or KEY NOTE.

This determines which major scale you are playing.

So, if this pattern is played with the tonic note at the third fret ('G') it is the G Major scale.

When the pattern is played with the tonic note at the eight fret

it is the C Major scale.

Below is a list of all major scales.