Music Note Names - The Musical Alphabet

How do you figure out what note you're playing? And what fret is XXX note at? If you’ve ever wondered that then this lesson attempts to explain all. The Guitar has fret markers across the fret board that produce a different note according to the string and fret you play.

In western music there are 12 notes

Firstly, you will have come across the notes of your guitar strings referred to as letters.

E|A|D|G|B|E

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All notes are referred to by a letter. The first group of notes (Letters) to remember are:

You may notice that there are two A notes shown. When you get to the end of the musical alphabet you repeat the sequence again. The second A is the next octave. (12 notes higher or lower)

Each note (fret position) increments alphabetically, once you have exhausted all these notes the cycle continues:

....F|G|A|B|C........

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Between these main notes (natural notes) are sharps & flats. These are represented with little symbols following the note name:

• #=sharp (looks like a blank noughts and crosses game)
• b=flat (looks like a small B)

Sharps move up in pitch, flats move down. I.e. A# appears in between the A & B notes, Eb appears between the D & E notes and so on.

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The biggest area of confusion with the musical alphabet is the concept of sharps and flats being the same note with two names. For example A# & Bb are the same note in the note cycle. This echoes through out the note cycle. An A# can also be referred to as a Bb.

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The second point that can also cause confusion is that some notes do not have sharps or flats between them. The easiest way to remember this is by remembering:

Beer & Chips Every Friday
Beer &
Chips
Every
Friday

B & C-E & F have no sharp or flat note between them.

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So the twelve notes available in western music are:

So how does this relate to the fret board? The above notes increment in what is known as Semi-Tone Steps, some times called a half step. Fortunately the guitar fret board increments in semi-tone steps also, so using the musical alphabet we can figure out what notes are where on the fret board.

By looking at what string and fret you are playing, you can now determine what note you are playing by counting along the musical alphabet diagram. For example:

• Playing the E string, holding fret 3 is a G note. Three semi-tone steps up from an E is a G.
• Playing the E string, holding fret 6 is an A#/Bb. Six semi-tone steps up from an E is a A#/Bb.

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Move on to Fretboard Notes?