Basic Music Theory for Guitar - Part 2

Notes and Scales, Part 2 – Applying Part 1 on a guitar

Now, since we’ve got a little understanding on the basic notes in music, let’s apply it to the guitar frets. In this lesson, I assume you’ve already know how to press the strings of the guitar and pluck a note. Figure 3 below depicts a standard tuned guitar and the notes which it represents. The thickest string is at the bottom while the thinnest string is above.

Referring to the diagram above, you will notice that the notes on the guitar runs ascending in a chromatic manner. You will also notice that on the open strings (not pressing any frets or ‘0’), the lowest string is E¹, while the highest string is E³. This means that the two ‘E’ notes are 2-octaves apart. When you incrementally depress a fret, the pitch will increase 1-step based on the chromatic scale (Figure 2). You will also notice that the underlined RED notes on the 5 fret will be the same pitch as the open note on the next-higher-string. I won’t go above the 5^th fret. Once you’ve got an understanding the chromatic scale in Figure 2 and how it links to the first five frets in Figure 3, you should be able to decipher the notes on the other frets of the guitar.

Now, to play a C Major Scale in Figure 1 as of Part 1, you’ll need to depress the circled notes in figure 3. ‘C’ being the root (first/last note) of the scale, you can play around with these notes to make melody. For now, start with the root note (i.e. ‘C’) and end with the root note, as doing otherwise will not sound pleasing to your ears at this stage.

In conclusion for Part 2, you should be able to apply the chromatic scale and the C Major Scale to your guitar. It is essential that you understand the basic mechanics of notes on the guitar. Do move further up from the given first-five frets to get more notes from your guitar.