Your first guitar lessons – Part 2


<—— See Part 1
 
In lesson 2 you’ll learn the notes on the guitar for every fret

When the strings on the guitar are played from top to bottom, we’ve previously learned the notes are E, A, D, G, B and E.

But what about all the other frets?

Generally speaking, the C Major scale on a piano is made up from all the white keys in this order:

C, D, E, F, G, A, B.


(In that kooky musical called “The Sound of Music”, these notes are sung by Julie Andrews as “Do-Re-Me-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do”, in painful cinematic glory.)
 
Since we all have the alphabet memorized, let’s use it as a tool, by looking at the same C Major scale, only this time, starting on the Note A:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

Free guitar Lessons - Learning all the notes on each fret

The space between the notes B|C, and E|F are always a Half Step apart.
The space Between the rest of the notes are always a Whole Step apart.

Now we’ll create a full 12 note Chromatic scale, by filling in the blanks with the addition of Sharps.

The cool part is, when you get to G#, the whole sequence of notes starts all over again at A. So, no matter what note you are on, the alphabetic order of notes stay the same in either direction.
 

The Chromatic Scale

  1. The Chromatic scale is  A|A#|B|C|C#|D|D#|E|F|F#|G|G#
  2. It is divided by Half Steps, and Whole Steps.
  3. On a guitar neck, a Half Step is the next fret above or below the fret you are on.
  4. A Whole Step is equal to 2 Half Steps (it skips a fret).
Chromatic Scale on Low E String
Example 4: Chromatic Scale on Low E String

 
Examples of Half Steps:
A to A# is a Half Step.
D to D# is a Half Step.
B to C is also a Half Step

Examples of Whole Steps:
F to G is a Whole Step
C to D is a Whole Step
G to A is also a Whole Step too, because the scale starts over after G#.

This is what a Sharp looks like

 

 

This is what a Flat looks like

 

 

SEE NEXT LESSON Pt3 — >