Guitar_Tabs

You MUST START by having a well tuned guitar! Tuning your guitar is the first thing that
you should do every time you pick up your guitar.

GUITAR FRET BOARD AND STRINGS
The image below is a picture of the guitar fretboard. To understand how thisdiagram
works, you need to hold the guitar out in front of you. The strings on the guitar should be
directed towards your face. This view should be the exact view that the image below
depicts. Look at the image below and visualize that the picture is your guitar facing you.

guitar_fretboard.jpg - 68067 Bytes

Each dot on the guitar fretboard represents the different frets on the guitar, look below. The
first dot is on the 3rd fret, the second dot is on the 5th fret, the third dot is on the 7th fret
and so on all the way up the fretboard. Most guitars will have these dots, but some may not.

guitar_fretboard1.jpg - 3864 Bytes

(E__A__D__G__B__E) These are the 6 strings that make up the guitar. Notice the colors,
each string has its own color. These colors will be illustrated on some images to help learn the
strings and with the placement of the notes to the particular string. Each string should be
memorized.

You may have noticed that there are two E strings? One is the Low E which is the Red
E and the largest string, look above. The other E string is the High E string which is the
thinnest string, check that string out. Each string is at times referenced by number in our
lessons. These numbers are standard throughout the industry and they are as follows:

E string - 1st string
B string - 2nd string
G string - 3rd string
D string - 4th string
A string - 5th string
E string - 6th string

E 1st string, the highest note. Played OPEN
A 2nd string, Played OPEN
D 3rd string, Played OPEN
G 4th string, Played OPEN
B 5th string, Played OPEN
E 6th string, Played OPEN

Here are all the notes and frets on a guitar

Looks confusing doesn't it? Well the fact is all you have to do is memorize the 5th string
notes and then you can go to any string and starting with the first note of each string you
will soon learn the notes of every string. So you will have to memorize the notes that can be
played on the guitar and here they are:

A; A#; B; C; C#; D; D#; E; F; F#; G; G#

You just have to remember these 12 notes after every 12th note they repeat down the frets.
So if you look at the 1st and 6th string which start out with the E note.

The 1st string the E note would look like this
( E; F; F#; G; G# A; A#; B; C; C#; D; D# )
Then at that 12th fret start with the E note again and continue

The 2nd string the B note would look like this
( B; C; C#; D; D#; E; F; F#; G; G#; A; A# )
Then at that 12th fret start with the B note again and continue

The 3rd string the G note would look like this
( G; G#; A; A#; B; C; C#; D; D#; E; F; F# )
Then at that 12th fret start with the G note again and continue

Get the picture? I'm not going to do the 4th, 5th or 6th string. You should get the picture of
how to do it now! but all you have to know is the 12 notes and the name of the open notes of
each string

Playing all the strings at the 12th fret they all start all over again just like playing from
the NUT, 0 fret, playing all the strings in the open position! So it really isn't all that
hard is it?

MIDDLE "C"

Reading music you must learn where the MIDDLE C is. A guitar has many of the
same notes. There are many octives in most string instruments. There is a
difference in reading music writen for a piano or key board and there is
written specifically for guitars. So you have to realize which middle C is for
both.

One of the keys to interpreting standard notation is to understand how the notes
on the staff translate to notes on your instrument. This requires, not only, a
thorough understanding of clefs and key signatures, but also an understanding
of CONCERT PITCH and TRANSPOSED PITCH. Concert pitch is the actual
pitch of an instrument, whereas, transposed pitch is the position within the staff
that notes for the instrument will be written in order to facilitate ease of reading.

Before we look at the concert pitch vs. the transposed pitch of the guitar,
We need to cover what is called MIDDLE C. The easiest way to visualize middle C
is by using the GRAND STAFF and the piano keyboard.

The Grand Staff is a bass clef staff and a treble clef staff grouped together with
a BRACE and the bar lines extended through both staves. It's primary function is
for notating piano music, and it looks like this:

So, where is middle C on the guitar?

Before we can answer that question, we need to take another look at how the
notes are arranged up, down and across the fingerboard:

Each color represents one octave. Any repeated notes within the same color
Each color represents one octave. Any repeated notes within the same color
are the same pitch. For example, every blue C is the same pitch, every red C
is the same pitch, and every green C is the same pitch. (Also, this diagram
only covers 17 frets. You need to figure out the rest of the neck for yourself.)

One look at the diagram should tell you that, except for the first few frets
of the low E-string and the last few frets of the high E-string, all other
pitches can be found at several locations. This can make the job of reading
standard notation a little difficult, but it also gives you the freedom to
play any musical idea in more than one location on the fingerboard. If you
find yourself struggling to play a given passage, always look for a different
location that might make the part easier to play. This is actually a luxury
that few other instruments share.

Now, it is within the red octave that we find middle C. That puts roughly half
of the available notes on the guitar below middle C and half of the notes
above middle C. are Each color represents one octave. Any repeated notes
within the same color are the same pitch. For example, every blue C is the
same pitch, every red C is the same pitch, and every green C is the same
pitch. (Also, this diagram only covers 17 frets. You need to figure out
the rest of the neck for yourself.)

One look at the diagram should tell you that, except for the first few frets
of the low E-string and thelast few frets of the high E-string, all other
pitches can be found at several locations. This can make the job of reading
standard notation a little difficult, but it also gives you the freedom to
play any musical idea in more than one location on the fingerboard. If you
find yourself struggling to play a given passage, always look for a different
location that might make the part easier to play. This is actually a luxury
that few other instruments share.

Now, it is within the red octave that we find middle C. That puts roughly half
of the available notes on the guitar below middle C and half of the notes above
middle C. the same pitch. For example, every blue C is the same pitch, every
red C is the same pitch, and every green C is the same pitch. (Also, this
diagram only covers 17 frets. You need to figure out the rest of the neck
for yourself.)

One look at the diagram should tell you that, except for the first few frets of
the low E-string and the last few frets of the high E-string, all other pitches
can be found at several locations. This can make the job of reading standard
notation a little difficult, but it also gives you the freedom to play any
musical idea in more than one location on the fingerboard. If you find yourself
struggling to play a given passage, always look for a different location that
might make the part easier to play. This is actually a luxury that few other
instruments share.

Now, it is within the red octave that we find middle C. That puts roughly
half of the available notes on the guitar below middle C and half of the
notes above middle C.

Questions & Comments? Email: ltb999@hotmail.com