Learning the String Names: Tones & Semitones
Learning the string names on your guitar is an absolute must; there’s no two ways about it. Understanding tones and semitones allows you to figure out what any note on your guitar is. This video hopefully will help clarify these things for you.
Download the Empty Fretboard PDF
The string names on your guitar are E-A-D-G-B-E.
Some fun acronyms you can use to remember this are:
Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie
Eat All Day Get Big Easy
Eat A Dog, Get Big Ears
Personally I just remember the letter names as is, there aren’t really that many of them.
As I said in the video, download the empty fretboard diagram above, and fill it out completely. Practice doing this once per day until you know it. I’m sure it won’t take you more than a few days before you start getting the hang of it!
As you become more familiar with the fretboard, start looking for patterns. For example, circle all the times ‘A’ appears, and see if you can see the pattern. Starting on the sixth string, you simply go up two strings and two frets, and you’ll see the octave. That pattern holds true all across the fretboard, except on the B string. What other patterns can you find?
Comments or questions are welcome -- just leave one below!
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I LIKE THE EDDIE ATE DYNAMITE GOOD BY EDDIE;BETTER THAN WHAT I CAME UP WITH,I GOING TO HAVE TO USE THAT ONE. ABOUT THE FRET BOARD I AM NOT SURE WHAT NOTES GO WHERE.I NEED A CHEAT SHEET OR SOMETHING, THANKS, DON
today is the 1st time I picked up a guitar. I need some easy basic lessons to start with
I like this simple stuff to learn from the beginning thanks
Thanks J.
You share your knowledge at the basic level, it is very needed by those of us that need ALL things discussed. Your a GEM!!
Thanks guys! Yeah, understanding things at the basic level is so important and crucial to going further..
Eddie ate dynamite? Yeah, and then he blew the doors off with blues!!!
Thank you for your fretboard John, it will be really useful.
Thanks for the Tones & Semitones practice sheet. Its easier to
remember & retain when you write it down.
donation on the way dude … you seem to enjoy helping others and i would like to see you continue doing so . so come on people help me out and lets keep the j man doing his thing by helping us out !!!! keep it up brother..!!!!!!!!!!!
I have finally one guit since only 4 days!!! Now I can practice all of this stuff, it’s great
hi Johnatan my nmae is kirk your videl are very help full i know my strings name and my major hords and my e-a barr chords i just cant seam to put it all together and do licks and riffs and stuff i just hasnt clicked yet lolo maybe you can help me put it togeher thanks your friend kirk
Hey Kirk, I hear you… stay tuned though, I think you’ll find it does start coming together more.
Thank you Johnathan , awsome to have a guitar , and enjoy learning , truely a helper in these further along steps ..rifs fun to play on the whole neck, other than penatonic .I am haveing fun learning.Thank you for the help.