Introducing the Guitar Fretboard

"Learn the entire neck of the guitar, play any chord and any scale!"

Introducing..

The guitar fretboard, or neck, is divided by metal strips called frets. The NUT, is the white plastic strip found at the base of the headstock. The metal strip that is located on the neck just above the NUT, is the FIRST FRET, next is the SECOND FRET, then THIRD, etc... as seen below:

NUT>|-1st-fret->|-2nd-fret->|-3rd-fret->|-4th-fret->|etc...

This pattern continues as you move UP the neck toward the BODY of the guitar. The distance from one fret to the next is a HALF-STEP. When you start on an open note of any string and move UP the neck one fret at a time you will notice the sound of the string getting higher. Likewise, when you move DOWN the neck toward the HEAD of the guitar the sound gets lower. It is important for you to realize that you are moving FORWARD on the guitar fretboard both numerically and alphabetically as the sound gets higher and BACKWARD in the same manner as the sound gets lower.

Let's look at the fifth string (open A) as an example:

FRET -----0-|-1-|-2-|-3-|-4-|-5-|-6-|-7-|-8-|-9-|-10|-
STRING---A-|---|-B-|-C-|---|-D-|---|-E-|-F-|---|-G--|-

As you can also see from the example above, when you move from the open A on the 5th string to B on the 2nd fret, you must SKIP ONE FRET. This distance is referred to as a WHOLE STEP. If you continue up the 5th string you will notice the distance between each letter of the MUSICAL ALPHABET is a whole step EXCEPT:

B|C and E|F

In music these tones, B|C and E|F, are always a HALF-STEP apart. All the other letters are a WHOLE STEP apart.

In the previous lesson you learned that the letters of the MUSICAL ALPHABET are:

A B C D E F G

These letters represent NATURAL tones and correspond to the WHITE keys on a piano.

The frets in between the NATURAL tones relate to the BLACK keys on the piano and are known as SHARPS (#) or FLATS (b).

Whenever a NATURAL tone is raised a half-step it becomes a SHARP tone.

Whenver a NATURAL tone is lowered a half-step it becomes a FLAT tone.

If you begin with the open A on the 5th string for example, and move up the guitar fretboard to the 1st fret you have raised the A NATURAL to an A Sharp.

If you begin with B on the 2nd fret and move down to the 1st fret you have lowered the B NATURAL to Bb.

--0-|--1st--|2nd|
--A-|A#-Bb|-B-|

Now you may be wondering what on earth all this has to do with playing the guitar. Well, NATURALS, SHARPS, and FLATS, are a fundamental part of all music. Knowing how they apply to the guitar fretboard will enhance your understanding of scales, chord structure, reading standard notation, & playing lead guitar.

Choww..