The six strings of a guitar in standard tuning sound E2, A2, D3, G3, B3 and E4, from low to high. Every fret raises the pitch by one semitone, so the note at any position is the open string’s name counted up that many steps through the chromatic sequence: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, and back to C. Learn that sequence and the fretboard is a grid of note names you can work out in seconds.
\nGuitar books usually number the strings from the lowest (sixth) to the highest (first), and this article does the same. Frets are counted from the nut, which is fret 0. Fret 12 sounds the same note name as its open string, one octave higher.
\n| String | Number | Open note | Note at fret 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low E | 6 | E2 | E3 |
| A | 5 | A2 | A3 |
| D | 4 | D3 | D4 |
| G | 3 | G3 | G4 |
| B | 2 | B3 | B4 |
| High E | 1 | E4 | E5 |
Play the open strings in order and listen to the intervals between them. The gaps are a fourth, a fourth, a fourth, a major third and a fourth. The G to B gap is the irregular one, and it is why the fifth-fret rule below has an exception.
\nThe low E and A strings are the two to learn first, because every other string is found from them. The table gives the note at each fret from 0 to 12. The table uses one spelling for each black key, with Bb and Eb where a flat is the more usual name.
\n| Fret | Low E string (E2) | A string (A2) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | E | A |
| 1 | F | Bb |
| 2 | F# | B |
| 3 | G | C |
| 4 | G# | C# |
| 5 | A | D |
| 6 | Bb | Eb |
| 7 | B | E |
| 8 | C | F |
| 9 | C# | F# |
| 10 | D | G |
| 11 | Eb | G# |
| 12 | E | A |
The only gaps in the sequence are between E and F and between B and C, because those pairs have no black key between them. On the low E string, that means the first fret is F and the second is F#. Frets 0 to 12 contain each note name once, and fret 12 repeats fret 0 an octave higher.
\nTo check your memory, play the natural notes of the low E string. They fall on frets 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 12, the same keys that are white on a piano:
\nOnce you know the low E and A strings, the other four strings follow from one rule. Play the 5th fret of any string, and you reach the open note of the string below it, with one exception. The 5th fret of the low E string is A, the open A string. The 5th fret of the A string is D, the open D string. The 5th fret of the D string is G, the open G string. The G string is the exception: its 4th fret is B, the open B string, because G to B is a major third rather than a fourth.
\nThis rule gives you the open note of each string from the one above it. Checked on the G string, frets 0 to 5 read G, G#, A, Bb, B and C, so the 4th fret of the G string reaches the open B string. The B string at fret 5 reaches the open high E string, which completes the set.
\nFor the octave, use the octave shape. Two strings up and two frets over gives the same note name one octave higher. The low E string at fret 3 is G2, and the D string at fret 5 is G3:
\nMany fretboards have single dots at frets 3, 5, 7 and 9, and a double dot at fret 12. The dots are not a tuning reference, but they make counting faster, because you can check the fret you are on against the nearest dot.
\nThe 12th fret is the octave of the open string. Any string at fret 12 sounds the same note name as its open string, one octave higher, which makes it the quickest check on a string. If the 12th fret sounds clearly out of tune with the open string, check the tuning first and then the instrument’s setup.
\nReading across the strings at one fret is another landmark. The 7th fret sits a perfect fifth above each open string, so it gives B, E, A, D, F# and B from the low E string to the high E string. Learn that row once and the fifth of any open string is at fret 7.
\nThe 5th-fret pairs come next: the low E string at fret 5 is A, the A string at fret 5 is D, and the D string at fret 5 is G. They link each string to the next, so they are worth learning before the rest of the neck.
\nEach black key on a piano has two names. C# and Db are the same pitch, as are F# and Gb, and G# and Ab. The table writes some black keys with sharps and others with flats, following common usage, and the choice is a matter of convention rather than pitch. What matters on the page is the key signature. In a piece in B flat major, the flats in the signature tell you to read the black notes as flats.
\nThe spelling is more than a label. Eb and D# sound the same on the guitar, but they name different scale degrees. In C minor, Eb is the third of the chord, and a chord chart or score will write it that way. Use the spelling of the key on the page, and your note names will agree with the staff.
\nMany fretboard charts show note names without octave numbers, which is why a learner can know that the low E string at fret 5 is A and still not know whether a passage is A2 or A3. The octave matters in notation and in tuning, so the table above gives both the open string and the 12th-fret note with their octave numbers. For the scientific pitch system, see scientific pitch notation.
\nA second error is memorising the table without learning the sequence. Someone who knows that the low E string at fret 8 is C has a fact. Someone who knows the chromatic sequence can get C from E plus eight steps without looking anything up, and can apply the same method to any string.
\nA third error is assuming the strings are tuned the same way on every guitar. Standard tuning is the convention this article uses. Other tunings, including drop D and open tunings, move the open notes, and the fret arithmetic changes with them.
\nSpend five minutes a day, and keep each session to one task.
\nFor the first four days, work on the low E string only. Say each note aloud as you play it from fret 0 to fret 12, then play it again without saying it, then check against the table. Repeat the run once slowly and once at the pace of a metronome.
\nFor the next four days, work on the A string in the same way, then play the first two strings together and say the names of both notes at each fret. The octave shape is a good check here.
\nFor the next three days, add the D and G strings, using the 5th-fret rule to find the open notes. On the last day, call out a random string and fret, play it, and say the name before checking it with a chromatic tuner. A correct name in five seconds is the goal. Saying the name aloud keeps the semitone sequence in use, rather than letting the eye guess from the shape of the fretboard.
\nOnce the names are automatic, the same counts explain chord shapes. The CAGED system uses them to place each chord in several positions, and the tab article uses them to turn a number on a line into a note name.
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