Hello my guitar friends, Darrin Goodman here with another mini guitar lesson for you. I often get asked about how to learn guitar notes, so I want to show you an easy way to learn them. New guitarists seem to be under the impression that you have to learn where every note is on every string and every fret right away in order to be able to play guitar.
Now if you did learn where every note was right away it certainly would not be a hindrance, but it’s not necessary to do so. Over time you will memorize where they all are just by playing. However knowing where all of the notes are on the fifth and sixth strings is very helpful in the beginning and I have an easy way for you to do just that. The reason these two strings are important at first is because this will give you the root notes for barre chords and scales. This diagram shows all the notes up the 12th fret on all six strings. The note of any open string is the same on the 12th fret and the first fret is the same as the 13th fret and the 2nd fret is the same as the 14th fret and so on for each string.
So if we look at the sixth string, say the 3rd fret, G, the 15thfret is also a G. This note on the 3rd fret lands on the first fret marker and the 15th fret is the first fret marker above the 12th fret. You can use this as a reference mark. All of the natural notes land on fret markers except C, which lands between markers. The 5th string also has the naturals on fret markers except for F which is also between markers and is also the same fret as the C on the 6th string. So if you memorize these notes by the fret markers below the 12th fret you will also know them above the 12th fret. By learning these two strings you will actually have 50% of the fretboard memorized since the first string is the same as the 6th string.
Now if you look you will see that if know where a note is on the 6th string and you skip a string and a fret you have the same note again. For example, the first fret isF and the 3rd fret of the 4th string is also an F. This will help you to quickly find any note on any string.
I recommend start with the 6thstring and work up and down the fretboard alphabetically; E, F, G, A, B, C, D and E again and then do it backwards, so E, D, C, B, A, G, F and E. Once you have the 6th string down you can do the same process on the 5th string. If you simply spend a few minutes everyday working on this you will have them all down in no time at all.
A great place to start is with the course Killer Lead Guitar Made Simple
I hope this was helpful for you on this matter.