This looks like a lot of text to take in, but trust me it’s all very simple…

Understanding all the names of the notes on the guitar fretboard is VERY important to your development as a guitarists and musician.

Not only will you have a greater knowledge of the musical alphabet, you’ll also start to unlock the theory behind barre chords, scales and music as a whole. Which, even if you don’t know what they are now, the more you learn about guitar the more prevalent they will become. This statement is true for most things related to music theory.

Even if you don’t have any desire to learn it at the beginning, the more you play guitar, the more it will keep cropping up.

Learn the open string names first: Starting from the thickets string the rhyme is: Eddie AteDynamite Good Bye Eddie

Next, on the E string the third, fifth and seventh fret spell out G A B

Finally, learn the musical alphabet off by heart. It’s only 12 notes. A – A# – B – C – C# – D – D# – E – F – F# – G – G#

If you keep going up though the alphabet when you get to G# you will go full circle and return to A again.

There are no sharps (#) between B – C and E – F.

To find any note on the fretboard, first of all work out what the name is of the open string. If you’re pressing down the third fret on the G string, you know the open string is called G. Then work your way up the musical alphabet by three steps (the same as the three frets) starting at G. So you’d go 1st fret = G# 2nd fret = A and third fret = A#.

There you have it, it’s very logical when you know the open string names and the musical alphabet.

If you have an ios (Apple) device then download Fret Tester. It’s a really fast and entertaining way of learning all the notes on the fretboard.