Guitar Today

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.