The ABC's of Music

The musical alphabet has only seven letters. These are known as the Natural Notes.

A,B,C,D,E,F,andG.

Pretty simple so far, right?

Each of those letters (notes) are separated by either a 'Half-step' (one fret) or a 'Whole-step'(two frets)

Using the diagram below, you can easily see which letters are separated by Whole-steps (w) and which are separated by Half-steps (h):

w h w w h w w

A ^ B ^ C ^ D ^ E ^ F ^ G ^ A

So, all of the letters (notes) are separated by Whole-steps (2frets) EXCEPT the notes

B to C, which are a half-step apart, as well as E to F, which are also a half-step apart.

w h w w h w w

A ^ B ^ C ^ D ^ E ^ F ^ G ^ A

Just remember, B to C is a half-step (one fret.)

E to F is a half-step (one fret.)

All of the other natural notes are a whole-step (two frets) apart.

Here is a great exercise to help you to master and naturalize this concept, while simultaneously learning the locations of the notes all over the guitar neck:

- Begin on the open E string (either one.) Pick the open E string.

- The next letter in the alphabet after E is F, right?

- E to F are a half-step (one fret) apart, so F is located on the E string at the FIRST FRET. Play the F note.

- The next letter in the alphabet after F is G, right?

- F to G are a whole-step (two frets) apart, so G is located on the E string at the 3rd FRET. Play the G note.

- The next letter, after G, in the musical alphabet is A (remember, there is no H, The alphabet simply starts over.)

- G to A are a Whole-step (two frets) apart, so A is located on the E string at the 5th Fret. Play the A note.

- The next letter after A is B.

- A to B are a whole-step apart, so B is located at the seventh fret. Play the B note.

- The next letter after B is C.

- B to C are a Half-step (one fret) apart, so C is located at the 8th fret. Play the C note.

- The next letter after C is D.

- C to D are a whole-step (2 frets) apart, so D is located at the 10th fret. Play the D note.

- Finally, D to E are a whole-step apart, so E is located at the 12th fret. Play the E note.

No matter which string you are playing this exercise on (which should, eventually be all of them,) when you reach the 12th fret, you will be on the note with the same letter name as the open string.