The fretboard
#music/fretboard · Note 1 of 9 · part of Guitar
Six strings
In standard tuning, from the thickest string to the thinnest:
| String | Note | Also called |
|---|---|---|
| 6th | E | low E |
| 5th | A | |
| 4th | D | |
| 3rd | G | |
| 2nd | B | |
| 1st | E | high E |
The 6th string is the one nearest your face when playing; the 1st is nearest the floor. Confusingly, "up" in pitch means "down" toward the floor.
E A D G B E. Say it until it is automatic — every diagram in every note after this assumes it.
One fret is one semitone
Every fret is a half step. Twelve frets is a full octave — the same note again, at double the frequency.
So the 12th fret of any string is that string's open note, an octave up. The fretboard then repeats: fret 13 is the same as fret 1, an octave higher.
The twelve notes, ascending:
C C♯/D♭ D D♯/E♭ E F
F♯/G♭ G G♯/A♭ A A♯/B♭ B → C
There is no black key between E–F and B–C. They are a semitone apart naturally. This single fact explains most of the awkwardness in music theory, and it is why the major scale is not evenly spaced.
The tuning is nearly regular
Count the frets between adjacent strings:
| From → to | Frets | Interval |
|---|---|---|
| E → A | 5 | perfect 4th |
| A → D | 5 | perfect 4th |
| D → G | 5 | perfect 4th |
| G → B | 4 | major 3rd |
| B → E | 5 | perfect 4th |
Five of the six are a fourth apart, and then G to B breaks the pattern.
This is the reason chord shapes look irregular, why a shape moved across the strings does not sound the same, and why the 2nd string always needs a mental adjustment. It is not you. It is the tuning, and it is a deliberate compromise that makes open chords easier at the cost of symmetry.
Finding any note
Two anchors are enough to never be lost:
- 6th string: fret 3 = G, fret 5 = A, fret 7 = B, fret 8 = C, fret 12 = E
- 5th string: fret 3 = C, fret 5 = D, fret 7 = E, fret 10 = G, fret 12 = A
Then two shortcuts:
- Same note, two strings across, two frets up — except when the 2nd string is involved, where it is three frets. (That G–B third again.)
- Octave up: two strings toward the floor, two frets up.
Practise this, not scales
Set a timer for two minutes. Name a note, find it on all six strings. That exercise is worth more than a month of scale patterns, because everything in Sargam and the scale and Chords assumes you can.
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