Introduction

The first question is why learn the notes on the fretboard? The answer simply put is it makes guitar playing a heck of a lot easier, it makes jamming or improvising with people a lot more fun, and it makes you an overall much better guitar player.

There are 12 notes in western music. Usually only a certain number of those notes are used in a scale. For example in a C major scale there are 7 notes. It is very important as a guitar player to know where each of those notes are on the guitar fretboard, so that you can play within a preset scale and create melody.

Example:
Lets say you are jamming with some people and someone says “lets play an easy Em-Dm-C-Dm progression”. You should already know those chords, but what if you are playing lead and need to come up with some melodies? How do you know what notes to use?

In this instance lets say you already know your basic major and minor scales, and you know that a number of scales could work over those chords, but in this example lets say an E minor Scale (or G major scale) would work best. The notes of that scale are E, F#,G ,A ,B ,C ,D and Back to E.

So now in order to properly play some melodies over these chords, you need to know where these notes are located on the guitar fretboard.

PLEASE NOTE: This lesson covers standard tuning. In other guitar tunings, such as drop D, Drop C, D standard, or C Standard, the notes change corresponding to the notes that the strings are tuned to.

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The Guitar Fretboard Notes

On the guitar fretboard you have 12 possible notes. The notes are arranged in alphabetical order going up in pitch. Each string has a name, or a note that it is tuned to, so that when you play it open, it plays that pitch. The strings in order from lowest to highest (in pitch) are E, A, D, G, B, and E. For example, the E string starts with an E note played open, and moves up by 12 half steps to the 12th fret, here the pattern repeats itself, but an Octave Higher. Most guitars have 22 to 24 Frets.

Here is a diagram of guitar notes on the fretboard:

Chromatic Guitar NOtes Chart Fretboard - LectureOwl infographic.jpg

The notes as you can see are C, C# (also known as Db), D, D# (also known as Eb), E, F, F# (also known as Gb), G, G# (also known as Ab), A , A# (also known as Bb) , B and back to C. In a standard major scale there are 7 notes.
For example, a C major scale consists of these notes: C,D,E,F,G,A,B, and back to C.

A “#” symbol is a sharp, and a “b” symbol is a flat. A “#” (sharp), means that that note is a half step or tone in pitch above the note that it is attached to. For example an A# is a half step above A. So therefore a A and a B is a Full step above A.

IMPORTANT: There is no technical E#, but an E# is an F and a B# is a C, conversely, a dCb is a B and a Fb is an E. So think of it as there not being an E# or B# and no Fb or Cb.

C major scale on the guitar fretboard

Now that we see what the chromatic notes (or all notes) on the guitar fretboard are, let’s see what all the notes of a scale would be. For this example we are using a C major scale. Remember that the C major scale consists diatonic notes. Diatonic means there are 7 notes in the scale. Again the notes of a C major scale are C, D, E , F, G, A, B, and back to C. Here are all the notes of the C major scale on the guitar fretboard:

C Major Scale Notes on the Guitar Fretboard - LectureOwl infographic.jpg

Learning the Notes on a Guitar Fretboard

The first question is why learn the notes on the fretboard? The answer simply put is it makes guitar playing a heck of a lot easier, it makes jamming or improvising with people a lot more fun, and it makes you an overall much better guitar player.

Learning the notes on a guitar fretboar.jpg

Methods for Learning

There are many methods to memorizing the notes on a guitar fretboard. The main goal is to get your brain to learn the information as quickly as possible while still not making it a dreadful bore.

One method is to learn each note string by string. You start on the low e string and then move up fret by fret, saying the name of each note as you move up. Another Method is to learn only the natural notes (not the sharps or flats which are also called accidentals), while another is to learn each note one at a time. We recommend a mix of many of these methods so as to learn as quickly as possible. In this lesson we are going to cover the combination of the one string at a time and one note at a time methods.

One String at a Time

The first method is learning one string at a time or string by string. This is in our opinion the easiest way to start memorizing the notes, all that you have to know to start is the string names, and the two spots where there aren’t accidentals. The basic idea idea is to look at one string at a time and master the notes on that string before moving onto the next string.

Notes on the E string

The first string we will look at is the low e string. So starting on the low e string, play the string open, this is the E note. Play the note and say it to yourself, “E”, next fret the 1st fret and say the note to yourself, “F”. Next fret the 2nd fret and say the note to yourself, “F#”. Continue all the way up the fretboard to the 12th fret. Then as mentioned above, the notes repeat themselves from the 12 to the 22nd or 24th frets (depending on how many frets your guitar has). So continue up the neck with the 13th fret being “F”, the 14th is “F#”, and the 15th fret is “G”. You then will work all the way up to the 22nd fret which is “D” or the 24th fret which is back to “E” (if you have a 24 fret guitar). Once you have played every note all the way up to the 22nd or 24th fret, work your way down, but this time say the flats.

Remember: (#=”sharp” and b=”flat”) F# is Gb, G# is Ab, A# is Bb, C# is Db, and D# is Eb.

So again, once you have played each note up to the 22nd or 24th frets saying all the notes and sharps on the way up, then play and say all the notes from the 24th fret downward all the way back to the open string saying all the notes and the flats. Once you have mastered this (maybe after a couple of weeks of practicing this once a day) then change it up saying the natural notes and the flats all the way up and the natural notes and the sharps all the way down.

A diagram of all the notes on the low E string from the open string to the 12th fret

Now depending on how quickly you want to learn the guitar and how much time you have, you can wait a day, or even a week, or even jump right into learning the next string. Now when you start, you will only have to work on the first string during your first practise session, but as you go on, and keep adding in strings, you will have to go over more strings. So by your 6th practice session, or 6th week of practice sessions (Depending on how quickly you are learning - We recommend learning one string per week, and everyday taking a half hour to practice scales, guitar fretboard notes, finger exercises etc.), you should be practicing the notes on every string. You should do this until you can point at any single note and know what it is by memory!

Notes on the A string

The next string is the A string. We are going to follow the same method of learning above to learn all of the notes on the A string. So start by playing and saying the notes starting on the open string, then fretting the first fret, then the second, etc, all the way up to the 24th fret and all the way back down. You should have played and said the name of every natural note on the A string twice, and said every sharp and flat at least once. Here is a diagram to help you:

Continue Your way down the strings following the same method. Below are the D, G, B and E strings. Again, you may want to start a new string once a week, or everyday, it all depends on how quickly you want to learn.

Notes on the D string

Again with the D string, start with the open string and work your way all the way up and back down.

A diagram of all the notes on the D string to the 12th fret in standard tuning

Notes on the G string

Now that we’ve covered the low E, A, and D strings, we get to the most problematic string. This isn’t because it is any harder to learn, but because it doesn’t like to stay in tune. If you are using a guitar that doesn’t have a locking nut, you will find that this is often the string to go out of tune first, or the string to be the most out of tune. If you are using a guitar without a locking nut (often found on guitars with floating bridges like the Floyd Rose locking tremolo) you may have to tune them fairly often, sometimes before every use.

Back to the G string, again, you will use the same method as before to learn all of the notes on the G string. Playing and saying each note, with sharps on the way up and flats on the way down. Here is a diagram to make things easier:

Notes on the B string

Now that you’ve covered all of the notes on the E, A, D, and G strings, you’ve got one more string to cover. Again use the same method as above on the B string.

High E string notes

Now that you have done all of the hard work learning all of the notes on all of the other strings, you have one final and easy string to learn. The high E string has the exact same notes as the low E string, it’s just tuned 2 octaves higher. So the 24th fret on the Low E string and the open high E string are the same pitch. So all of the notes are in the same place as the low E string. It’s still a good idea to go through and do the same exercise on this string as on the others just to ensure it is anchored in your mind.

And there you have it, the first method for learning all of the notes on the guitar fretboard with the string by one string at a time method.

The string by string method is useful because it is teaching you to think about the strings linearly and enables you to quickly figure out a note by knowing what notes are before or after it.

To enable you learn as quickly as possible we also recommend including these other methods into your practice routine as well. The next method is the one note at a time method.

One Note at a time

With this method, you will be memorizing individual notes wherever they are on the fretboard. This method is a little bit more challenging than the string by string method as you don’t have the crutch of going off of the note before.

We recommend learning this method after adding all the of the strings into your practice using the one string at a time method. That way you can use the string by string method to find any notes you don’t know. You should practice this method in conjunction with the one string at a time method until you know every note by heart.

This method is pretty simple and can be done in a few repeatable steps. First pick the note you are going to work on, then find that note on the low E string before the 12th fret, then find it above the 12th fret. Move on to the next string, and repeat the exercise until you have gone through all the strings. Pick the next note and continue on until you have covered all the notes. We recommend as with the previous exercise, starting with one note, and adding in another note each week, or with each practice session, depending on how quickly you want to learn.

Note: for each open string that is the same note as the note you are learning, for example the positions of the E note, the E strings will have the E note on the open string, 12th fret, and 24th fret.

C note positions on the Guitar Fretboard

We will begin with the C note as it is the root of the C major scale. Here as there are no C strings on the guitar in standard tuning, C only occurs twice per string.

We see that:

On the E string, the C note is at the 8th fret and the 20th frets.
On the A string, the C note is found at the 3rd and 15th frets.
On the D string, C is found at the 10th and 22nd frets.
On the G string, C is found at the 5th and 17th frets
On the B string, C is found at the 1st and 13th frets
And on the High E string again at the 8th and 20th frets

All of the C note locations on the fretboard to the 12th fret in standard tuning

D Note positions on the Guitar Fretboard

Now with this next example we can see that the D string when played open is a D note. This means as stated above on the D string, the D note is going to occur when the string is played open, at the 12th fret and at the 24th fret.

So on the diagram below we can see that:

On the E string, the D note is at the 10th fret and the 22nd frets.
On the A string, the D note is found at the 5th and 17th frets.
On the D string, D is found when the string is played open, and at the 12th and 24th frets.
On the G string, D is found at the 7th and 19th frets
On the B string, D is found at the 3rd and 15th frets
And on the High E string again at the 10th and 22nd frets

All of the D notes up to the 12th fret in standard tuning on the guitar fretboard

E note positions on the Guitar Fretboard

As there are two E strings in standard guitar tuning, we will find that the open, 12th and 24th fret positions are important with the E note. This also means that on a 24 fret guitar, the lowest and highest note that you can play is an E.

Here is a diagram to help you find the notes:

All of the E note locations up to the 12th fret in standard tuning

F note positions on the Guitar Fretboard

As with the C note, because there are no F strings in standard tuning you will only find two notes per string.

F note locations:

G Note Locations on the Guitar Fretboard

As with the previous notes, you can use the remaining images below to help you find the remaining note locations on the guitar.

All of the G notes on the guitar fretboard in standard tuning up to the 12th fret

A Note locations on the Guitar Fretboard

We are nearly there. Only A and B left to go after this until you have mastered all of the natural notes.

B Note locations on the Guitar Fretboard

This is the final note to learn before you can star learning the accidentals!

Now that we’ve gone over all of the natural notes, you can find all of the accidentals pretty easily (sharps or flats).

Test out and see if you do know all of the locations by picking a note and finding all of the locations and see how well you did. You can use the first diagram in this lesson to compare. If you missed anything, it’s a good idea to practise that note.

Conclusion

All of these exercises when combined with the learning scales by note will make the fretboard your playground, and you will find a vast field of possibilities when playing lead and harmony lines, or experimenting with chord shapes and note additions.