How Do You Find Every Note on the Guitar?

It’s a useful skill.

Being able to find every note helps you to play chords, riffs, and melodies at various places on the fretboard.

But it’s challenging.

Many guitarists play for a long time without fully understanding the notes on the fretboard.

It doesn’t have to be like that.

Every guitarist can start with a simple approach and then add other approaches to increase their versatility and confidence.

1. The Simple Approach

Name the notes along each individual string.

Memorize that the open strings are EADGBE. Use a sentence like Eric And Duane Got Blues Early.

Know that E to F and B to C are 1 fret apart. Use a sentence like Every Funky Band (is) Crazy to remember this.

All other pairs of natural notes are 2 frets apart.

When natural notes are 2 frets apart, the note in between can be called the sharp of the lower note or the flat of the higher note.

You can use this information to start at any open string and find every note along that string.

2. Single Fret

You can say the notes across a single fret.

The 5^th fret is a good example.

Don’t just memorize these notes.

Notice that most pairs of adjacent strings are 4 letter names apart.

The different pair is the G to B strings, which are 3 letter names apart.

If we go across the 5^th fret, we start on the note A on the 5^th fret of the big thick E string. Then count 4 letter names: ABCD.

The note D is on the 5^th fret of the A string.

DEFG

The note G is on the 5^th fret of the D string.

GABC

The note C is on the 5^th fret of the G string

CDE (remember there are only 3 letter names from G to B string)

The note E is on the 5^th fret of the B string.

EFGA

The note A is on the 5^th fret of the thin E string.

I realize this can get tricky on some frets because there are sharps/flats involved, but knowing how many letter names are between each pair of strings helps you better understand the fretboard.

3. Scales

A great way to know the notes is to play the natural notes in a single position.

This is sometimes called the diatonic scale.

Play the natural notes in the 1^st position. Say the letter names out loud while you play.

Then play the natural notes in 2^nd position.

Then 5^th position.

Then 7^th position.

Then 10^th position.

Say the letter names each time.

That is a total of 5 patterns.

If you went above the 10^th position, you would be back to the pattern you started with, with the 12^th fret notes replacing the open strings.

This is sometimes called the CAGED system, with the 5 letters of the word CAGED representing the fact that you can play many scales or chords in 5 different patterns on the fretboard.

4. Find a Note on Every String

A great exercise in seeing patterns is finding the same note on every string.

For example, find the A on every string.

On the big thick E string, A is on the 5^th fret.

On the A string, A can be found 5 frets lower on the open string.

On the D string, A can be found 7 frets higher on the 7^th fret.

On the G string, A can be found 5 frets lower on the 2^nd fret.

On the B string (noticing the different relationship between G and B strings), the A can be found 8 frets higher on the 10^th fret.

Then on the thin E string, the A can be found 5 frets lower on the 5^th fret.

This same pattern can be used for any note. For most pairs of strings, you can find the same letter name 7 frets higher or 5 frets lower on the next string. For the G to B strings, you can find the same letter name 8 frets higher or 4 frets lower.

I realize this is a lot of information, but some people have recently asked me how to understand the fretboard better. So I wanted to go more in depth on this topic.

Do you want to find any note on the guitar without guessing?

Join the waiting list for my upcoming beginner-friendly fretboard program and get early access when it launches.

Keep making music!