The metal vertical strips on the neck are known as the frets. A note is played by pressing your finger in the position between the frets and striking the string with a guitar pick or finger(s).

Now, lets learn the notes. Here is a map of the fretboard with the notes labelled.

Guitar Natural Notes

The labelled notes in the above diagram are known as Natural notes. The unlabeled notes are known as sharps(#) or flats(b). For example, the note on the E string between the F and G note is known as either an F sharp (F#) or a G flat (Gb). A sharp indicates the Natural notes pitch is raised a semi-tone, a flat note is the natural pitch lowered a semi-tone.

Guitar Notes

As you can see from the A string above for example, the guitar has 12 notes:

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

Notice that there is no B# (or Cb) nor E# (or Fb) – this is a universal rule in music.

You will notice that there are many places on the guitar neck to play an A note. Some of these are the same pitch and sound exactly alike. Others may sound different. They are still A notes, but in a different pitch.

Also note that on your guitar neck, you probably see round dots on the guitar neck which mark the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 17th frets and so on. These are used as a guide when playing, so you do not need to count frets all the time.

This is your guitar neck and its notes. Get to know it, and try to memorize where the notes are located. This will help you greatly in your guitar playing.

Anatomy of an Acoustic Guitar

Overview of basics

• The strings are numbered from the lightest (thinnest) to the heaviest (thickest).
• Thinnest string is the first string, and the thickest is the 6th string.
• A guitar in usually in standard tuning: E-A-D-G-B-E, where 6th string = Low E, 5th string = A , 4th = D, 3rd = G, 2nd = B, 1st = High E. Note: The 0 fret is used to refer to the open note on each string.