Mapping Out The Fretboard
The 12 Notes In Music
The key learning the notes on the entire fretboard is first memorizing
the 12 notes and their appropriate order.
Watch the video:
There are 12 different notes in music. Imagine them as blocks:
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
7 of these are primary notes called A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. If we assign
them a number in our 12 blocks this is what it would look like:
| A |
|
B |
C |
|
D |
|
E |
F |
|
G |
|
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
The remaining 5 notes are secondary notes. They have dual names, meaning
they can be called sharp or flat. Sharps are represented by a "#"
and flats are represented by a "b". Think of a sharp as meaning
"go up one" and a flat as "go down one".
The 5 secondary notes are called G#/Ab, A#/Bb, C#/Db, D#/Eb, and F#/Gb.
| |
A#/Bb |
|
|
C#/Db |
|
D#/Eb |
|
|
F#/Gb |
|
G#/Ab |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
With all 12 blocks filled you can see a sharp always follows a primary
note and a flat always precedes a primary note:
| A |
A#/Bb |
B |
C |
C#/Db |
D |
D#/Eb |
E |
F |
F#/GB |
G |
G#/Ab |
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
The notes will always follow each other in this order.
Note order: A,A#/Bb,B,C,C#/Db,D,D#/Eb,E,F,F#/Gb,G,G#/Ab
The Language Of Music
You'll notice that there is no B#/Cb or E#/Fb notes. The reasons
for arranging the notes this way can be explained by looking at a picture
of a keyboard. The white keys are the primary notes and the black keys
are the secondary notes. The language of music was created with the piano's
keyboard in mind instead of the guitar's fretboard.
Notes On The Guitar
Each fret on a guitar is a note. You can locate any note on a given string
if you know the name of the open string, because the notes always follow
each other in the same order.
For example, the notes on the A string are as follows:
A(string played open)-A#/Bb-B-C-C#/Db-D-D#/Eb-E-F-F#/Gb-G-G#/AB
The 12th fret always starts the pattern all over again. It's the same
note as the string played open.
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