7. IDENTIFYING THE FRETBOARD

Now that we have understood the basics of playing the guitar, let’s get started with the first steps to playing guitar …
Well the FUNDAMENTALS is what I focus on …

So we will be studying how to identify the fret board so that later on we can easily know the note we are playing …

To identify the fret board we must know the STANDARD TUNING or THE A440 TUNING…
The STANDARD or the A440 TUNING is the notation assigned to each string when played open (meaning no fret is pressed on the fret board)...
In this tuning the strings when played open have the respective tone:

e string (1st) - e (i.e. the first string should be tuned to an e note)
B string (2nd) - b (i.e. the first string should be tuned to an b note)
G string (3rd) - g (i.e. the first string should be tuned to an g note)
D string (4th) - d (i.e. the first string should be tuned to an d note)
A string (5th) - a (i.e. the first string should be tuned to an a note)
E string (6th) - e (i.e. the first string should be tuned to an e note)
So if we plot the fret board now it will be

You mite be amazed by the grid arrangement of all the notes , however this is really simple as we just follow the sequence starting from the first note on each string….

START WITH THE C NOTE (IN BLUE) SO THAT WE CAN REMEMBER EACH NOTE ONE BY ONE AND THEREFORE REMEMBER ALL OF THE FRETBOARD, THE SEQUENCE OF NOTES WHICH I FOLLOW IS TO REMEMBER
C , G ,D , A , E , B , F # , C# , G# , D# , A# ,F……
It means u should know all the positions where each of these notes are placed on each string. and should practice playing them each…

The above sequence is helpful when we do the CIRCLE OF FIFTHS...and we would thus see the position of each note and their interrelationship….

THINGS TO REMEMBER:
1."Sharp" is notated as #
2."Flat" is notated as b
3.If a letter name is followed by a sharp(#), the note is one fret higher than the fret you'd normally play that letter name on. Example: you'd play G on the third fret, sixth string. You'd play G# on the fourth fret sixth string.
4.If a letter name is followed by a flat(b), the note is one fret lower than the fret you'd normally play that letter name on. Example: you'd play D on the tenth fret, sixth string. You'd play Db on the ninth fret sixth string.
5.F# = Gb, G# = Ab, A# = Bb, C# = Db, D# = Eb
6.The note name on the 12th fret of any string is always the same as the open string.
7.Memorize the open string name, and several more note names and locations on both the sixth and fifth string. This will make finding all other notes much quicker.