The common western music scale consists of 12 notes. These notes are A, B, C etc and they run all the way to G. There are also half notes, and they’re called “sharps” or ” flats”. For example A#.
Not all musical notes have a half step however, E & F are only a half step apart and so is B and C.
When you pluck a string, the guitar strings vibrate at a certain frequency to produce a certain note. The musical notes do not end at G as they begin all over again but at a higher pitch – We call this an ” octave “.
It might sound confusing but just try and remember that, there are 12 notes and they get repeated over and over again.
Guitar Strings
On a standard guitar, there are 6 strings. From the thickest to the thinnest strings, their names are E, A, D, G, B and E ( again ). In this case, the top and bottom E strings produce the same notes, but are in different octaves.
A Guitar Tutorial On Tuning
On the guitar, the same notes can be played on different strings for a different type of sound, and you can find many of the same notes all over the guitar fretboard – all in different octaves.
To tune a guitar, you can either use an electronic tuner ( see guitar accessories ), or you can use a tuning fork to get the base E string in tune. Once you’ve got that down, you can proceed to tune the rest of the guitar strings by ear.
To tune the A string, first fret the bottom E string on the fifth fret as shown on in the diagram below. Pluck the string and compare this to the A string ( next one down ). Do they sound the same? If not use the guitar tuners and tighten or loosen the strings till it sounds exactly the same.
Rinse and repeat for the rest of the strings. The B string is slightly different in this case. You will need to press down on the guitar fretboard on the 4th fret of the G string to get the B note.
Tutorials For Guitar - Fretboard Tunings