Notes on the guitar. Arrangement of notes on the guitar

Almost all beginning guitarists are faced with the problem of understanding how exactly the notes on the guitar are located. In fact, it will not be difficult to understand this even for those who do not know the musical notation in perfection .

Sheet Music for Guitar

Knowing the location of the notes will help the beginning musician to quickly understand the principle of building chords and teach him to build any necessary harmonies. In this case, the guitarist does not need to memorize dozens or even hundreds of existing chords, which, undoubtedly, will significantly accelerate the learning process.

About notes and frets

On each guitar there are about twenty frets. Their number varies depending on the type of guitar. For example, on a classical guitar - nineteen frets, on an electric guitar - twenty two or more. The main thing is to remember that one mode is equal to one semitone. As for the notes themselves, it is important to know that between me and the fa, as well as between before and the semitone, that is one fret. Between all the other notes - a whole tone, that is, two fret. Remembering this principle, you can find all the notes on the fretboard of the guitar, knowing at least one. After every twelve frets the notes are repeated, for example, on the fifteenth fret there will be the same note as on the third, only one octave higher. Octave - before, re, mi, fa, salt, la, si, that is, all the notes you know. For a six-string guitar , it is characteristic that each open string sounds the same as the previous one on the fifth fret. The exception is the second string, it has the same tone as the third string on the fourth fret. All this is necessary to know in order to be able to tune the guitar without the help of a tuner or various programs, and also, in order to bind the strings among themselves on notes.

Location:

First, let's look at the arrangement of the whole notation scale of the small octave. Note before (Latin C) you can find on the third fret of the fifth string or on the eighth fret of the sixth. The note re (or D) in two fret - on the fifth fret of the fifth string and the open fourth, for, as already mentioned above, the open string is equal to the previous one on the fifth fret. Mi (it's E) - the second harmony, the fourth string. Fa (or F, the easiest to remember) will be on the third fret of the fourth string (remember, between me and fa only a semitone or one fret). So, let's go further, the note of salt (its Latin designation G) will be on the fifth fret of the fourth, it's an open third string. If you have found the note la (or A) yourself, and if you found it on the second harmony of the third string, then you did everything right. Well, si (B) will be on the fourth fret of a third or an open second string. The note until the next first octave is located on the first fret of the second string, since between si and before is also just a semitone. Having dealt with this principle, you can easily find notes on the guitar, as well as semitones of all other octaves. Latin notation of the notes in parentheses is also useful to know, because with their help the chords are indicated. For example, the chord in A minor is denoted as Am. A small letter m means a minor chord, but with a major chord the letter is not written at all. For example, E-major will be written as simply E.

Halftone

If you do not understand the music theory at all, then after reading the previous paragraph, you may have a question: "So, on the third fret - before, on the fifth - re. And what then on the fourth? "And on the fourth fret there is a so-called before sharp (it's flat). As already mentioned above, between some (but not all) notes there are semitones, and each semitone has two names at once. The sharp (#) and flat (b) mean a rise and fall, respectively, by one semitone. A semitone is called with respect to one of the notes between which it is located. For example, take the semitone between a and c. It is higher than la, therefore it has the name la sharp. And he's lower than blue, hence - B flat. And of course, it is necessary to remember that there is no half-tone between me and fa, as between s and to; Knowing this and making simple calculations, you can understand why on one octave string is equal to twelve frets.

Recommendations

Beginners are encouraged to memorize all notes on the guitar with open strings, as well as on the fifth and tenth fret. Here all the notes are whole, without half-tones, knowing them, you can easily find the neighboring ones. Beginning guitarists are not recommended to memorize all notes and frets, it's a hard, useless work. It is easy enough to understand the basic principles by which all the notes on the guitar are located. The rest will come with game experience. Knowing the notes, among other things, will help you in such a process as tuning the guitar. The notes will also help you to write your own songs.

Location on the frets

First of all, let's consider what notes on the guitar are placed with open strings. Here a special place is played by notes. To adjust the guitar, you first need to find this note, since it is located immediately on two strings in the open position, namely - on the first and sixth strings. On the first string, it sounds in the first octave, on the sixth - in the big one. Then from the bottom up: the fifth string is for the big octave, the fourth string is the small octave, the third string is the salt of the small octave, the second string is the note of the small octave.

Already knowing these notes, you can easily find all the others and build different chords. We pass to the fifth fret. Here we have two notes A on the sixth and first string of the large and first octaves, respectively. The fifth string is a small octave. The fourth is the salt of the same octave. On the third string of the fifth fret is up to the next first octave. And the second string is that of the same first octave. Of all the above, the sequence is very easy to add. Well, let's move on to the tenth fret, here we have: the sixth string, like the first - re, but already a small and a second octave. On the second string there is a small salt. The note to the first octave will be on the third string of the tenth fret. Next, on the fourth - the fa of the same first octave, as well as la, which will be on the second string. And one more thing to keep in mind: notes for a guitar are usually written an octave higher, that is, a large octave will be equal to small, small - the first and so on.

Alternative construction

In addition to the standard guitar structure that was laid out above, there are other alternative constructions, in which there will be already other notes for the guitar. For beginners, it is enough to know at least the standard system, but it is also necessary to remember the existence of others. For example, the so-called Drop D. Drop from English translates as a drop. In all constructions with such a prefix, the lower sixth string falls or "falls" one tone relative to the other. That is, to put the guitar in Drop D, one sixth string needs to be lowered to the tone, to the note re, hence the name of the system. Such a system is usually used on electric guitars; firstly, it adds one more tone to the available range, and secondly - it makes it easier to take quints and so-called "power chords". Take the Drop D, drop all the strings to tone and get Drop C - an even lower order. In such a system, there are usually different metal bands playing heavy music, since the system makes the guitar sound quite low. In total, there are a lot of different alternative structures, each musician chooses a system for himself, depending on the genre, vocal range of the singer and many other factors.

The most important thing

For someone who really wants to understand all the subtleties of the arrangement of notes, there is nothing complicated. The main thing is to have patience and not try to learn everything at once. All the necessary knowledge will come with experience, you only need to spend more time with the instrument. In addition, knowing notes is not the most important thing in the learning process. Understanding the process of playing the guitar and quickly searching for the right chords, consonances and intervals is what will bring you notes. Songs for guitar written a huge variety, but many authors did not even know the musical notation. Take at least the most striking example - the group The Beatles. No member of the band knew the notes, all the songs were written by ear. And this did not prevent the collective from reaching the world level. So it's necessary to set priorities in your learning process, and most importantly - really want to learn how to play.