The Notes
There’s 12 notes in our Western System. Its the same on an Electric Guitar as it is on a Trombone or a Piano – or any instrument from the Western hemisphere.
And It almost makes sense, lol! 🙂
‘#’ means ‘sharp’. ‘b’ means ‘flat’. A# and Bb are ‘enharmonic equivalents’ — which is a fancy term that means they’re the same note.
To memorize the notes, just remember that there’s no sharp or flat between B and C — and also E and F.
Ok, let’s say you’re pressing the 3rd fret on the D string of your instrument. Count 3 up (clockwise) from D. 1st fret is D#/Eb, 2nd fret is E, 3rd fret F. So you’re playing an F!
So now you’re playing the 11th fret of the G string. You could count up 11 frets — but here’s the shortcut: The octave is at the 12th fret – so that’s a G. Count down 1 fret (counter-clockwise) – either way you figure it out, you get F#/Gb.
Now you can name EVERY note on your instrument, if we give you a sec to count. This will help you greatly communicating with other musicians (who can be hard to communicate with lol), and also learning theory…
Quiz Yourself to find random notes on your instrument – Have Fun!