~Fretboard Note Identification ~

Before we begin talking about the notes on the fretboard, I want to address a question that I am often asked, and
that is: How will knowing the notes on the fretboard help me as an improviser/soloist/songwriter? A common
argument is that famous players such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and J immy Hendricks never studied theory or knew
the notes on their guitar.

My response to such statements is something like this:

Knowing the notes on the fretboard will enable you to avoid playing wrong notes (out of key) and will prevent
you from making embarrassing mistakes when improvising. Even if you have a great ear for melody, know
what notes are in what keys and know what scales to use over a given chord progression, these skills are totally
useless if you dont know WHERE to find the notes that you hear in your head. Also, guitarists such as Stevie
Ray Vaughn, J immy Hendricks, Eric Clapton and others, may not have studied theory formally, but I am
confident 100% that they DID (do) know their way around the fretboard very, very well. This is what enables
them to never play out of key when improvising.

Knowing the notes of the fretboard will also enable you to learn songs faster, come up with more creative ways
to play chords, transpose songs to different keys and much, much more!

So with this out of the way, let us get started!




This chart covers the strings through the first 12 frets. Notice that the notes on the 12th fret are exactly
the same as the notes of the open strings, but the notes on the 12th fret sound higher (by one octave). The notes
higher than the 12th fret are the same (but again sound one octave higher) as the notes of the first 12 frets. In
other words, the notes of each string on the 13th fret are the same as the notes of each string on the 1st fret (only
one octave higher). The notes of the 14th fret are the same as the 2nd fret (only one octave higher). The notes
of the 15th fret are the same as the 3rd fret (one octave higher) and so on.

It looks like this:







Sharps and Flats:

Look at the 2nd fret of the 6th string (the low E string). This note is higher than F (the first fret) but lower than
G (the 3rd fret). So we must use some symbol to indicate that this pitch is in between F and G. This is where
sharps and flats come in. A sharpened note is written by using this symbol " #" A flatted note is written with
this symbol " b " So we can say that the note on the 2nd fret of the 6th string is F#(pronounced F sharp) to
signify that this pitch is a half step higher than note F. We can also say that this exact same note is called Gb
(pronounced G flat) to signify that this pitch is a half step lower than note G.

This principle applies to each note that is in between the natural pitches of the musical alphabet (A B C D E F
G). For example, the note on the 8
th
fret of the G string is a half step higher than note D (7
th
) and yet a half step
lower than E (9
th
fret). We can call it either a D#(pronounced D sharp) or Eb (pronounced E flat).
Because of this, we can also label all of the notes in between the natural pitches, with flats just like we did
above with sharps. It would look like this:



And for frets 12-24, it would look like this:


The sharp and flat symbols are simply 2 names for the same note. So the F#pitch sounds EXACTLY the same
note as Gb. Eb sounds EXACTLY the same as D#. Ab sounds EXACTLY the same as G#and so on.

At this point in your learning, it is not important for you to know when to use which name (#or b) for notes.
You will learn this when the time is right. For now just be aware that many notes can have two different
names.
In order to understand how music works and how it can be applied to your guitar, you need to memorize
the notes on the fretboard. If this is totally new to you, then it will probably take a while to memorize all the
notes. Try starting with the low E string first, then the A string and then the D string and so on, don't try to
memorize it all at once.

As important as it is to know where the notes are, you DO NOT NEED TO have them all
memorized before continuing your lessons and the learning process. This is an ongoing assignment that
you need to be working on throughout your learning, playing and practicing. Overtime, you will get better and
better at recalling the names for the notes on each fret on the guitar, and the time will come when you will have
it completely memorized. But this will happen gradually over the course of months and perhaps years, so do
not expect to memorize the entire fretboard before your next lesson! I will be showing you more specific
strategies for learning the notes on your guitar in future lessons. They help you to greatly speed up this learning
process.
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