Open Guitar Notes

Each string on the guitar is named by the note that string makes. They are E,A,D,G,B,e. The diagram below shows the names of the Open Strings.

e|----------------------------------------------------------------¦
B|----------------------------------------------------------------¦
G|--------------------------------------------------¦
D|--------------------------------------------------¦
A|-----------------------------------------¦
E|------------------------------¦

Ledger of terms

• Pitch: The factor which makes a guitar note high or low. The sound of nails screeching across a chalk board is a high pitch while the engine of a big truck is often low pitched.

• Fret: The space between the metal ridges on the neck of the guitar.

• Fretboard: The “face” of the neck of the guitar. You control the pitch by pressing on frets on the fretboard.

• Open String: An open string is a string that is played without pressing down on the fretboard.
  

• Half-step: The distance between two frets beside each other on the same string. For example; play the open A string (without pressing down any of the frets) then play the A string with the first fret pressed down. This is known as a half step

• Whole-step: The distance between the open A string (no frets pressed down) and the second fret pressed down. This is known as a whole step

Learning Guitar Notes

Learning guitar notes is just like learning the alphabet. Once you have, you can start to make your own “words” by putting the guitar notes together in certain ways. The whole guitar is divided into frets. The interval in pitch between the frets is a half step. Most modern music is made up of scales that use either whole steps or half steps.

There are 8 notes in a scale.  Theses are A, B, C, D, E, F, G.  A scale is just a series of intervals.  A Major Scale in steps looks like this: Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half

e|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
A|---0--2--4--5--7--9--11--12------------------------------------------|
E|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|