), When we talk about the bottom string, we’re talking about the low E string. Try to make up your own – it’s a great way of learning the string names. but also timeless fundamentals that will deepen your understanding. So you've just got your first guitar or bass, or perhaps it's been sitting there for a while and you've decided it's about time you picked it up and had some fun with it. (It’s really not something a beginner needs to know or even think about.). Once you know the basic guitar string names, you will want to learn the notes of the frets. Once you know where all of the individual notes appear on the first few frets of the fretboard, you can start to read music and progress beyond TAB. Visit our YouTube channel for fun guitar videos. This is definitely not something a beginner guitarist needs to get involved in! The Best Rush Albums Ranked: What Are The Top 5 Rush Albums? This is where it can get a little tricky. Learning the names of the guitar strings in standard tuning is easy when you have something to tie the letters to.. This is called the A string. (The sillier the better!) It has the highest pitch of the open strings. Hear how they harmonise? It’s a bit of an odd one, but when we talk about the top string, we’re actually referring to the high E string. When holding a guitar, the thickest string, the E string, is at the top of the guitar. Every guitarist should aim to learn the notes they are playing, even if they mainly play chords or use TAB to read music. Even if you’re a solo guitarist who doesn’t play with other musicians, you’ll need to know the string notes for tuning with a guitar tuner. All the guitar string notes (on all of the frets) look like this: To learn more about this diagram (and to understand ‘sharps’ and ‘flats’), check out this article: Guitar Notes Explained: A Guide For Beginners. Because guitars can be tuned differently. The thickest string is called the 6 th string. If you're looking for how to remember the strings on a guitar, here are a couple of mnemonic acronyms you can use. Guitar Frets. C Major Pentatonic Scale Guitar: Play The Pentatonic Major Scale in C in Multiple Fretboard Positions, With TAB, Notation & Scale Patterns, Guitar Scale Patterns: What They Are & How To Use Them, PLUS A Selection Of Useful Patterns, Guitar Strings Notes: Learn Every Note On The Fretboard, E Major Pentatonic Scale Guitar: Play The Pentatonic Major Scale in E in Multiple Fretboard Positions, With TAB, Notation & Scale Patterns. Play this note using your middle finger. Learning the guitar string notes, names and order can be a bit tricky. For this reason, it’s good to learn both the guitar string notes AND the guitar string numbers. The 6th string will always be the 6th string. You may have noticed that the guitar to piano converter has three sets of guitar string notes. Know the fourth string, the third from the top, is a D. The fourth string, or the third from the top, is a … Share . The majority of the time guitars are tuned to standard tuning, as shown above. To play a fretted note, you need to push down on a fret with your fingers. They are so important. Don’t get too bogged down with notes. Quite often guitar strings are referred to by a number. For more information on how to tune a guitar, visit this page. Make sure to bookmark our Guitar Notes Chart, so you can easily access it when you need a memory jog! These are the answers to the guitar string notes quiz: How many did you get correct? (6th and 1st string.) Guitar String Numbers. In that case it is important to note that the 1st string is the high E string and then in order up from there. It’s far better to learn fretted chords as there’s loads more versatility with these. Grab a pen and paper, write down the numbers 1 – 9. Whether you want to tune your guitar or learn how to play guitar at all, you have to know the name of the strings. The E note is the deepest note. Guitar String Notes is the first in a series of basic tips and tutorials here on GuitarSite.com for beginner guitarists. The difference between ‘open’ strings and ‘fretted notes’. Traditional music notation for guitar is written an octave higher than it sounds. Guitar Basics: How To Get Started Playing Guitar, https://www.guitarcommand.com/guitar-strings-notes/, What Type Of Electric Guitar To Buy? Tunings are described by the particular pitches denoted by notes in Western music.By convention, the notes are ordered from lowest-pitched string (i.e., the deepest bass note) to highest-pitched (thickest string to thinnest). (The 1st string. Using the outside (little-finger side) of the right hand, we can … You’ll hear these two things (string name and string number) used interchangeably. The low E and high E strings together! Standard 6 String Guitar Tuning Notes. It lies in the middle of a standard keyboard. This is the deepest/lowest guitar note you can play. The following diagrams show every note on a guitar fretboard with its corresponding musical note in tab and notation. The online tuning fork contains notes for tuning the guitar. The Easiest Way to Begin Memorizing Guitar Notes and Strings with Acronyms. This is where knowing the guitar string notes becomes necessary, as you’ll be learning the separate notes in melodies and tunes. If you plan to play with other musicians, you’ll need to know the string notes for tuning to other instruments. The notes on a guitar are created by the strings of the guitar. If you play the low E string and then play the frets in order from 1 to 5, you will play E, F, F sharp, G, G sharp, and finally A. By learning music that you love, you’ll enjoy the playing the guitar so much more and you’ll learn faster. You can do this with one hand. It doesn’t matter which one of these mnemonics you use, just choose one which is memorable for you. The guitar notes are shown in green. Copyright © 2020 GuitarCommand.com. A great way to remember the string names is to test yourself. The six strings of a guitar can be thought of in descending or ascending order. Contemporary Jazz Guitarists: A List Of Exciting Young Jazz Guitarists. The high E string, is the thinnest string . Dan GC Admin, You can now find tabs and musical notation for all of the notes on the guitar here: https://www.guitarcommand.com/guitar-strings-notes/. *Middle C is often used as a reference pitch. The fourth fret is the B natural note, which is the same as the second string, so just move there as you ascend the notes on the guitar. Join us on Facebook for daily guitar tips. The thickest string is called the 6th string. Guitar String Notes (Standard Tuning) There are six strings on a guitar. (E.g., for folk guitar, or heavy metal, or just for the fun of it!) The strings simply proceed higher on the guitar as they do in the tab staff. To play this chord all we need to do is, play the following strings together: At first, it seems like just plucking open strings is a no brainer, as it’s the easiest thing you can do on the guitar… However, as you can probably tell, they’re not the most exciting chords in the world. 1 string - E 4 (the thinnest) 2 string - B 3; 3 string - G 3; 4 string - D 3; 5 string - A 2; 6 string - E 2; This page is like the tuning fork. © National Guitar Academy Ltd | All Rights Reserved, How To Tune A Guitar The Right Way: A Guide For Beginners, How To Play Guitar Chords: A Beginner’s Guide, How To Read Guitar Chordboxes In 60 Seconds, https://nationalguitaracademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/G-open.mp3, https://nationalguitaracademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Em.mp3, https://nationalguitaracademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/G-Chord-.mp3. There are 6 strings on a standard guitar. A guitar has 6 strings. The 6th string is the THICKEST string and is often called the Low E string. The 3rd string is also called the G string. (It's free.). Just learn songs that you love. How tuning your guitar differently can take your guitar playing to a new level. Once you’ve mastered a few basic guitar chords you’ll probably want to start playing some melodies and riffs. All of the guitar notes have been illustrated on the fretboard below. This can be confusing for beginners, as when you look at the guitar from your perspective, it’s actually the opposite the way round! (It requires two hands. The lowest note you can play on the guitar is the low E string (the thickest string). (No fretting is required. Over 100,000 guitar-learners get our world-class guitar tips & tutorials sent straight to their inbox: Click here to join them. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. ‘The A string’ is also ‘the 5th string’. It’s very beneficial to improve your knowledge not just of the guitar, but also of music in general. If you’re new to the guitar, the diagram above probably looks a bit scary. This is one of our most popular lessons and it might be perfect for you, check it out: How To Learn Guitar: An 11-Step Programme For Beginners, Take our 60-second quiz & get your results: Take The Quiz, How To Learn Guitar: An 11-Step Programme For Beginners, How To Choose The Perfect Beginner Guitar, Guitar Notes Explained: A Guide For Beginners, Learn about the National Guitar Academy: About Us. Here are a couple of our favourites going from the thickest (6th) string to the thinnest (1st) string. To find what note you are playing on the guitar, it is important to consider the note of the string you are playing, as each note is relative to that string. The sixth string sounds much lower than the first string. Save the above piano notes to guitar image for future reference by right clicking (long press on mobile) then save as. GuitarCommand.com also participates in various other affiliate programs, and we may get a commission from purchases made via links from our site. Hence why it’s called the ‘top’ string. Join over 100,000 other guitar learners and subscribe to our guitar-tips-by-email service. Examples: When you see the first note of ‘Stand By Me’ is a 2 on the middle line, you will know to play the 2nd fret on the G string for one eighth note. If this is the case, you can’t really refer to it as ‘the E string’ if it’s not tuned to E! Don’t worry, when you’re first learning guitar, it’s not essential that you learn EVERY single note on the guitar. Sometimes it’s better to refer to the guitar strings by their numbers because they will never change. Let’s quickly recap the numbering system for the strings of the guitar. For the next lessons on playing the bass guitar notes, it is best to be well-equipped. The 6th string will always be the 6th string. From low to high, the guitar string notes are: E, A, D, G, B, E. These notes are also used as guitar string names, for example ‘Your D string may be a little sharp!’. If you know other ones, than leave it as a comment at the … Below you’ll find diagrams showing the guitar string notes on a stave and also on a piano keyboard. Move up the neck two frets to the fourth fret. See more beginner guitar articles here: Guitar Basics. They are so many great rhymes to help us remember the names of the guitar string notes. For many beginners, the notes on the E and A strings will be the most important notes to memorize. But don't worry, this lesson will help you by giving you easy to remember phrases that correspond to the strings. Check out this lesson Mike wrote for loads of cool & EASY chords: This is another fun lesson that will help you out: ‘. This is exactly why people started making up memory aids: to remember the string names (EADGBE). The open strings of the guitar in standard tuning are from low to high E A D G B E. The low E, the lowest note of the guitar is the one closest to the guitarist's body. The key of C major is unique, because it does not contain any sharp or flat notes, which are called accidentals. B String (Second String) The first sharp note we encounter is C# (C Sharp) on the second fret of the B string. Step Two: Equip yourself with a Notation Chart. Many learners choose to keep a notation chart handy for reference. ), Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the A string. This is why it’s called the ‘bottom’ string. We hope that this page has helped you to learn the guitar string names. Focus on chords. The Guitar String Order . ), With open strings, all you need to do is pluck them with your picking hand. For some people the layout simply ‘clicks’ better in their mind if they approach it starting from the thinnest (1st) string. Shown below are the guitar string notes on a piano keyboard. But that’s not always the case. Posted March 21, 2016, 4:45 am in: Piano. But most important, they sound SO much better. I’ll try to come up with a graphic that shows this. The 1st string is the THINNEST string. The 5th string is tuned to A, so it’s usually referred to as the A string. Associating a note on the staff with a string and fret location (even if the fret is zero — meaning an open string) is the first step to reading music on the guitar. (It’s two whole octaves lower.). It’s really not. Each string has a name AND a number. All Rights Reserved. For those that are visual learners, take a look at Drue James' video "Easy Way to Learn the Notes on the Guitar Fretboard." ), Place your 4th finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string. One way to figure out what the notes on the guitar are is to think about … Middle C* is also shown. Learn how everything fits together quickly, easily and effectively. If you got less than 7 go back and re-read the beginning of this lesson! By Play Guitar Notes On Oct 19, 2016 Last updated Oct 31, 2020. That is because one shows you the guitar fretboard with only naturalnotes, one with sharps and the other with flats. The highest note you can play on the guitar is the high E string (the thinnest string). Play the low E string, then play the high E string, can you tell that the thicker one has a mch lower tone than the thinner one? Forget boring exercises. Open string notes, which are played by simply strumming any string on the guitar without holding down or "fretting" a note on that string, and the notes produced by holding down a note anywhere on the fret board. So for example, if you played the E string on its own, you’d be playing the open E string. It’s quite straightforward, though there are a number of things that might catch you out, and even make your life much easier. Differences in Guitar String Notes If you are working with the acoustic or classical guitar the notes will be the same as those of an electric guitar. You don’t have to start from the thickest (6th) string. It looks confusing at first, but if you think about your guitar strings, the meaning becomes clear. Each of these strings has a name and a number. GuitarCommand.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. It's a very useful thing to know the note names of the open strings on your guitar. To help with singing (some guitarists will tune their guitar down to suit their vocal range better). To get a different type of sound… Using weird tunings is a great way to sound different to other people. Even if you tune by ear, you’ll still need to know the notes of the strings when you start learning chords and melodies. Listen to our Learn Guitar Podcast for rapid guitar progress. The guitar’s notes go in ascending order beginning with this string. The notes and each color, have been illustrated below. Strings are named after the notes they play, and you may notice the strings begin and end on an E. The thickest E string, or the low E string, plays two octaves lower than the thinnest E string, or the high E string. Can you see how each string has both a name and a number? In other words, as you are seated with the guitar in your lap the 1st string would be the one that is farthest away from you or closest to the floor – and the 6th string is the one closest to you, or the low E string. Understanding guitar string notes is fundamental knowledge for a guitarist. (1st string.). 3 ninja tricks that will help you work out any note on the guitar quickly. It would be nice if you could show where all the notes are on the staff that are shown on your image “Guitar-String-Notes-Open-Position.jpg”, Hi Greg, Thank you for the suggestion. The notes on 6 String Basses are slightly different, so check out this article from 114Notes for those details. Muting Method #5 The Karate Chop. The 5th string is the next one down. It will make everything clear!). The guitar is made up of six strings, with the thickest, heaviest string on top and the thinnest on the bottom. ), If you’re not too sure how to play guitar chords, this lesson will help you: How To Play Guitar Chords: A Beginner’s Guide, To play this chord, we only need to pluck a couple of strings…, (If you don't understand the above image please read our article "How To Read Guitar Chordboxes In 60 Seconds". This helps to embed the knowledge in your memory. There are several mnemonics to help you learn the open string notes. Many people skip this part, but it's important in order to be able to tune your guitar and start learning notes to play. This is because these notes are the root notes for the most common movable chord shapes. A good way to begin associating notes on the staff as they relate to the guitar is to consider just the pitches of the open strings. The number on the line corresponds to the fret (note) to be played. Thankfully, it’s easy and fast to understand. Guitar tunings assign pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. This works for the rest of the strings on the guitar! Enter your email address to learn our best guitar tips and tricks today! We share ninja tips (for instant fun!) Just make sure you remember which way you’re counting. This quiz is multiple choice, so weigh up the options before writing down your answer. Guitar string notes tuning diagrams & information; part of our Guitar Basics series. 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