Learning the notes
on the neck
notes on the fretboard
There are 12 notes in Western music, 7 natural notes from A-G, and 5 sharps(#)/flats (b) between these notes:
A - A#/Bb - B - C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab
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Each of these notes are 1 fret apart on the guitar neck.
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Notice that there are no sharps/flats between B and C, and E and F.
octaves and duplicate notes
Once you cycle through the 12 notes of the musical alphabet - going either up or down in pitch - you end up back at the same letter an octave higher or lower. On a guitar octaves are found by moving up or down 12 frets on the same string or in a diagonal line from the low E string head end of the guitar towards the top E string body end as shown above.
Unlike instruments such as a piano the guitar also enables notes to be played in several places. These are not octaves but the same note with the same pitch. This time you move diagonally from the top string head end to the lower string body end as shown below:
Notice that some bars contain more than one chord such as the verse where the first bar has both an A and F# minor.
