Guitar Fretboard Guide
Every beginner needs to become familiar with the guitar fretboard. Knowing about the layout, string names, note names, intervals, and other characteristics prepares you for growth.
Here are a few ways you'll benefit by understanding your guitar fretboard:
- TAB will make sense!
- You can find notes written in music notation.
- You'll understand how to move chords and play barre chords.
- You can move scales around.
- Riffs and improvisation open up for you.
- You can more easily communicate with other musicians.
- More...
Let's get started.
What's a Fret?
The fretboard (sometimes called a fingerboard) is divided into a number of segments, called frets. Each fret is carefully placed to allow you to create a specific pitch. The difference in pitch from one fret to the next is one semi-tone (or one-half step).
Notes of The Guitar Fretboard
Each note is based on a mathematic formula. The formula defines the length of string needed to produce a specific pitch. When you depress the string at a particular fret, it's the same as if you'd cut the string to that length. That's why it's important that you place your finger just behind the fret marker, and not apply too much pressure. If you put your finger in the wrong place, or bend the string out of position, you're changing the pitch. Soloists often do this on purpose. It's called "bending the note."
In a perfect world the correct pitch could be produced at each fret, on each string. In reality guitar designers work with a set of compromises that produce the closest set of pitches across all six strings at each fret location. If you've ever worked hard to tune your guitar, only to discover that a particular note or chord still sounds a little off, you've stumbled onto one of these compromises.
To learn more about pitch, read the Basic Music Theory page.
How many frets are enough?
The number of frets varies from one guitar to another, but all should have at least twelve. Most electric and acoustic guitars have twenty-two frets, which is plenty.
Why "at least twelve"? With twelve frets you can produce one full octave on each string (an octave contains 12 distinct notes).
More frets means a wider range of notes on a given string. However, past a point additional frets become hard to play, and the fretboard would interfere with the acoustic guitar sound hole or electric guitar pickups.
Nearly all electric guitars, and many acoustic guitars, have a "cutaway" or "cutout" on the body, next to the fretboard. This allows the guitarist to reach upper frets without contorting their arm and wrist to play them.
Guitar Fretboard Construction
The fretboard must be smooth and durable.
A smooth surface prevents damage to your fingertips as you constantly press down with your fingertips.
The hard finish and tough woods used prevent damage from the strings of the guitar as you play.
Most guitar fretboards are made of rosewood, maple, or ebony. Some experienced guitarists can hear the slightly different tones produced by these woods, but most beginners can't. As a beginner, you're better off choosing the fretboard wood for it's look, if that's what will motivate you to play more often.
Fret wire must also withstand lots of use, so either steel or a nickel/silver composite are frequently used.
Fret wire is not round, though it appears to be on your guitar: it's shaped like a mushroom. The portion similar to the cap of a mushroom is called the crown. The equivalent of the stem of a mushroom is called the tang. There are slight barbs on the sides of the tang to help hold the fret wire in place. Fret wires are also held in place with glue, and sometimes with lacquer on the fretboard.
The crown, or cap, of a fret wire is available in several different widths and heights. Some players prefer fret wire that is wider, taller, lower, or thinner than others.
Guitar Fretboard Layout
As you learn guitar, you'll hear references to fret positions, such as first-fret, third-fret, and so on. Frets are counted from 1, beginning at the space adjacent to the Nut. Fret markers are a visual reference point to find frets quickly. They are traditionally placed on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets. The twelfth fret usually has a double-dot marker. Fret markers then repeat, beginning at the 15th.
It does matter where and how you press your fingertips on the guitar strings. It's better to place your fingertip as close to the fret wire as possible (without putting your finger on top of the wire) and to use as little pressure as possible.
String Layout & Names
The strings are identified by number and by open pitch.
Strings are numbered from one to six, beginning with the thinnest string (the top string in the photo above). This may seem upside down to you when holding the guitar, because string six is the one closest to your head.
String names always refer to traditional open tuning, even if you tune differently. Beginning with string one (the thinnest string) the string names are e, B, G, D, A, E. The first string (sometimes called high-e) often uses a lower-case e to distinguish it from the sixth string, the low-E.
An Important Oddity Of The Guitar Fretboard
The standard open tuning for guitar strings make it easy to play many chord forms, and with one exception, scale patterns.
The exception you need to remember is the B string. The tonal distance from every other string to it's neighbor is a perfect fourth. The tonal distance from the G string to the B string is a third, specifically a major third. This means that you need to adjust any pattern, such as scales, by one fret when you reach the B string.
The following diagram illustrates the point. Note that the diagram shows the intervals from string 6 to string 1. This is the typical way they are taught.
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