Notes On The Guitar (Chromatics)

In this lesson, we will look at the notes on the guitar.

So what is a note? In case you don't know, a note is a sound at a certain pitch. There are a total number of 12 notes in western music. Their names are as follows (# is pronounced 'sharp'):

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

A, B, C, D, E, F and G are called natural notes, while A#, C#, D#, F# and G# are called non-natural notes. Notice, there is no 'B#' or 'E#'.

These notes are also called 'chromatics'. Every fret, on any string, produces one of these 12 notes, as we will see.

After G#, the next note will again be A, i.e. the whole thing would start all over again. The notes we saw above were the 'chromatics in A'. Chromatics in C would look like this:

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

The Notes on the Guitar

Now do this:

• Play the sixth string. The note it produces is E.
• Play the same string on fret 1. This would produce the F note. On fret 2, it would produce the F# note. On fret 3, the G note. On fret 4, the G# note. On fret 5, the A note.
• Now play the fifth string, it should sound the same as the A note on fret 5 of sixth string, as they are both the same note.
• Name the notes on the A string until you encounter the D note. When you do, move to the fourth string. Continue this process till you reach the first string.

Below is an image showing the natural notes on the guitar up to the 12th fret: