Guitar fretboard basics

Strings and tuning

A standard guitar has six strings. From thickest (lowest) to thinnest (highest) they are tuned E A D G B E.

Most neighbouring strings are a perfect fourth apart. The exception is G to B, which is a major third.

Frets

Pressing a string against a fret shortens the part that vibrates, so the pitch goes up. Each fret is one semitone. The 12th fret gives the same note as the open string, one octave higher.

Finding notes

Count semitones up from the open string. On the low E string:

• fret 1 = F, fret 3 = G, fret 5 = A, fret 7 = B, fret 8 = C, fret 10 = D, fret 12 = E.

Useful shortcut: the 5th fret of a string gives the note of the next open string (except between G and B, where it is the 4th fret).

Capo

A capo clamps across the neck and shortens all strings at once, raising every open string by the same amount.