Notes on the low strings

Every barre chord, scale and root note you meet from here on is found on the two lowest strings. This lesson gives you a map of them, built on two ideas: the musical alphabet and the semitone.

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Name the natural notes on the 6th and 5th strings from fret 0 to fret 12.
• Explain a semitone and a whole tone, and say where E–F and B–C sit.
• Find the same note an octave higher using the octave shape.

Western music uses seven note names, repeated: A B C D E F G. Between most neighbours there is one more note (a sharp or flat), but between E and F and between B and C there is none.

On the guitar:

• A semitone (half step) is one fret.
• A whole tone (whole step) is two frets.

So on the low E string, going up from the open string: E, F (one fret, a semitone), F♯, G, G♯, A, A♯, B, C (one fret after B, another semitone), C♯, D, D♯, E at fret 12. The fret-12 note is the same as the open string, one octave higher.

Learn the natural notes first. The sharps and flats are just the frets in between.

Octave shape. The same note appears again two strings higher and two frets up. G on the 6th string, fret 3, is also on the 4th string, fret 5. This lets you find a note in two places at once.

Finding a note without a chart. Suppose you want C on the 6th string.

1. Start from a note you know: open E.
2. Count natural notes up: F, G, A, B, C. That is five steps, but E–F and B–C are only one fret each, and the rest are two, so the frets are 1, 3, 5, 7, 8.
3. C is at fret 8.

Check it with the 5th string: C is at fret 3. Both are C. They are an octave apart, and the octave shape connects them: 6th string fret 8, then two strings up and two frets up is the 4th string, fret 10 (C again).

Do these in order. Each one is small. Tick the ones you have practised.

• 1.Say it as you play

  4 min · 50 → 70 BPM

  1. Play the open low E string and say 'E'.
  2. Move up one fret at a time, naming only the natural notes (skip sharps and flats): F, G, A, B, C, D, E.
  3. At fret 12, come back down.
  4. Repeat on the 5th string.

  You have it when

  • You name every natural note on both strings, up and down, without a wrong name.
  I practised this one

• 2.Note hunt

  4 min

  1. Pick a note name at random: C, G, E, A, D, F or B.
  2. Find it on the 6th string, then on the 5th string, without looking at a diagram.
  3. Play it and say its name.
  4. Do ten notes.

  You have it when

  • You find each note in under three seconds on both strings.
  I practised this one

• 3.Octave shape

  4 min

  1. Play G on the 6th string, fret 3.
  2. Find the same note two strings higher (the 4th string) and two frets higher: fret 5.
  3. Play both notes one after the other. They are the same note, one octave apart.
  4. Repeat from A (6th string, fret 5) and from C (5th string, fret 3).

  You have it when

  • You can find the octave of any natural note on the 6th or 5th string without hesitation.
  I practised this one

Do this at the speed of speech. Name each note out loud at a steady 50 BPM with the metronome, one note per click. Increase only when you are accurate.

• Counting every note, including sharps. Learn the natural notes first. Sharps and flats are the notes in between and can be filled in afterwards.
• Forgetting that E–F and B–C have no note between them. These pairs are a semitone apart (one fret). All other neighbours in the alphabet are a whole tone (two frets).
• Memorising the notes as pictures only. Say each note aloud. The brain stores names better when you say them.

Barre chords are named from these strings: an E-shape chord takes its name from the 6th-string note, an A-shape from the 5th-string note. After this lesson you can name any barre chord you play.

Try it in: Stand By Me.

Short version (10 minutes)

Do 'Say it as you play' on the 6th string only, at 50 BPM, for four minutes.

Standard version (about 30 minutes)

Do all three exercises, then play a barre chord at three different frets and say its name each time.

• The musical alphabet is A B C D E F G, then repeat.
• A semitone is one fret; a whole tone is two.
• E–F and B–C are semitones: no sharp or flat between them.
• Octave shape: two strings higher, two frets higher.

You are ready to move on when you can honestly say:

• I can name all natural notes on the 6th and 5th strings up to fret 12.
• I can explain where the semitone gaps are in the musical alphabet.
• I can find the octave of a note using the octave shape.