Guitar Today

It has pretty much been string week at Guitar Today ,  if you check out the ‘recent posts’ section on the site it is all guitar string related titles. In an effort to continue as if this were intentional, I am pleased to present you with the second installment of the Fretboard series: The notes on the 2nd (b) guitar string

Assuming that your first, open note for this string is an A, the first fret on your guitar will be A sharp (Ab). The second fret is B and the  third fret is C. There is no Bb. Maybe they kept it that way to avoid confusion when using a lowercase letter b to indicate a sharp?

Moving right along. Cb is safely where we expect it be on the fourth fret and the fifth fret is a D.

In the lesson on the 1st and 6th E strings I noted the fifth fret as the ‘tuning fret.  This is true with the A string as well. What I mean by this is that you can continue up the neck on this string longer, but the notes you are playing are all available on the next guitar string. So, once you hit a D note on the Db can come from the sixth fret of the A string or the 1st fret of the D string.

Exercise for string notes: Use a different finger to play each of the frets in order from the first, using your index, to the fourth using your pinky. Play it forwards and backwards and say the notes aloud when you play them (A,Ab,B,C,Cb,D, - D,Cb,C,ect.)

This builds your coordination as well as your finger dexterity and strength. Saying the notes helps you to memorize the fretboard and always know what note you are playing.

As always feel free to post any comments, questions, suggestions and/or corrections. If you enjoyed this post please take a minute to sign-up for free guitar tips  or make use of the ShareThis widget to Stumble Me.

The Gibson Robot Self-Tuning electric guitar 

It has been just over a year since Gibson announced the first ever robot guitar and they have just announced a more refined, second generation version of the self-tuning guitar. The Dark Fire is already being hailed as the most technologically advanced guitar on the market with the improved robot tuning functionality and the introduction of Chameleon Tone Technology.

The groundbreaking robot guitar was introduced first to the Les Paul guitar then later appeared as an SG Special after tremendous success and buzz was generated.  They introduced us a self-tuning guitar system that could be activated by pulling out the volume knob and playing a string. The powerhead tuners buzz into action and find the appropriate note for the tuning you have selected. With the Dark Fire, Gibson has shown us that this is merely the tip of the iceberg.

The redesigned powerhead tuners on the Dark Fire are significantly smaller and lighter, and more in line with the size and weight of conventional tuners. They’re also radically faster. You can now access any preset tuning in less than one second, which means you can realistically change tunings in the middle of a song. The tuners are now automatically engaged to operate both electronically or individually by hand.

As we can see in the teaser video for the Dark Fire, the ‘blue-eyes’ incidcator and black tuning machine keys make this a much sleeker, sexier version of the robot guitar.

On sale Friday, Nov. 28, 2008, The Fender® Yngwie Malmsteen Tribute Series Stratocaster “Play Loud” guitar. Take your chances at the giveaway (see site for details

The key to mastering and memorizing the fretboard is knowing the individual notes on each guitar string. Once you have memorized the first five notes on the fretboard for a given string, it is a matter of simple mathematics to determine what notes are next as they repeat throughout the neck.

When a guitar is tuned to the C STANDARD tuning, The notes on the first e string coincide with the notes on the 6th E string. Making this something of a double lesson. In our lessons on chords, we had a look at major and minor chords. There are no major and minor notes. There are only sharp and flat notes. A flat is usually just referred to by its’ letter name (i.e. - E flat would just be called E)

We already know the first note on the open E string is an E. So that is taken care of. Place your finger on the first fret and pluck the (1st or 6th) string. If your guitar is in tune and you have your fingers positioned properly, you have just played an F note. You may notice that in the alphabet, F comes after E. Same goes for a guitar fretboard.

The note on the second fret is F sharp. This is the first sharp you will have encountered on your journey up the fretboard. The same applies to G on the third and fourth frets. Third fret - G, fourth fret G - sharp.

The fifth fret is your tuning fret. When you reach this fret you are at the end of the line and will be starting over. The fifth fret is your A note. You have now covered the notes on the first and sixth string. The next notes all appear on other strings. Although it also continues down the fretboard of the E strings in the sequence: 6th fret - A sharp, 7th fret - B, 8th fret - C (there is no B sharp), 9th fret - C sharp, 10th fret- D, 11th fret - D sharp, 12th fret - E , 13th fret - refer back to first fret for this note

This sequence is the same for all of the guitar strings and remains constant from one end of the fretboard to the other.

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The gauge of a guitar string determines not only the tension it will be under when tuned to a given note, but also the width of the tone they will generate. Blues guitar players will often use a larger gauge of strings to get a ‘fatter’ sound, as light gauge guitar strings tend to produce tinnier, thin tones (also favourable among certain musicians). Lighter gauge string (a .009 for the E string) will have less sustain than a heavy gauged one (i.e. .011 for e string). This is due to the string having less diameter and mass causing it to vibrate for shorter periods of time.

A novice guitar player may want to use light strings because they are typically less difficult to play as less pressure is required. Although learning to play on heavier guitar strings will increase finger dexterity and strength.

Style also comes into play when choosing the gauge of strings for an electric guitar. If you are looking to play crunchy, distorted music on a high gain setting, it doesn’t matter if you are using light gauge strings because the overdriven signal will provide plenty of extra sustain. If you were looking to play raw, bluesy guitar in the style of some one like Stevie Ray Vaughn, you would want to use a heavy gauge.

When choosing a brand of thing it all comes down to personal preference. Most strings sound great brand new. Higher end ones tend to keep that nice metallic, ringy sound for weeks or even months. Cheaper strings will start to sound dead more quickly but can be useful when you’re in a bind and need extra strings fast. My personal favorite brand of guitar strings for the electric guitar are Ernie Ball, they have excellent playability. But I also like GHS Boomers for their tone and the price is also righton most occasions. When I need a cheap set of strings fast I usually ask the music store owners to point me to their ‘budget strings’ or I ask for Alice guitar strings.

TIP: Change your guitar strings as often as once per month. Keep your old sets and use them as spares in case you run into any emergencies where you need a replacement guitar string and can’t afford a new one.

12 string guitars may seem like a mammoth of responsibility when it comes to keeping your strings tuned but its’ not as complicated as you may think. No deviations from standard tuning are required and alternate tunings become a snap once you have the basics down. You don’t need to learn new chords or fingerings to pick up a 12 string guitar. In fact, it is no different than playing a 6 string.

The key to understanding the 12 string guitar is to think of two strings as one. While the E, A and D strings are octaved, the G,B and high E strings are ‘chorused’ meaning they are identical notes. If you look at the strings on a 12 string guitar you may notice the strings go big, small, big, small. In this sequence the larger string is the lower form of a note and the smaller string is the higher (until you get to the doubled notes).

12 String Video Example

On many western style 12 strings, the common problem is that the high G string tends to break easily. This is because it is under an usual amount of tension. On a 6 string guitar, the highest amount of tension is on the high E string, since a high G is almost a full step above this note, breakage problems can result. To remedy this, consider using the lightest gauge of strings (.009) or tuning your 12 string a step down from standard tuning and using a capo to bring it up to standard.

Heres another 12 string guitar tuning lesson with photos and examples.