How many notes are there on a guitar?

Twelve different notes, repeated in higher and lower octaves. A guitar with 20 frets covers about four octaves.

What are sharps and flats?

The notes between the letters. Sharp means one fret higher, flat means one fret lower. A# and Bb are the same note.

Do I need to read music to play guitar?

No. Most guitarists read chord diagrams and tab, which show you where to put your fingers.

Guide

Guitar notes

Music uses twelve notes, and every one of them is on your guitar many times over. The names run A, B, C, D, E, F, G, with sharps in between, and then start again. Learn how the twelve are laid out and the neck stops being a mystery.

The twelve notes

The letters run A, B, C, D, E, F, G, then back to A.
Between most of those letters sits a sharp, written with a #. A sharp is one fret up.
There is no note between B and C, and none between E and F. That is why there are twelve names, not fourteen.
A sharp can also be called a flat. A# and Bb are the same fret, the same sound, two names.

Step	Note
1	A
2	A# or Bb
3	B
4	C
5	C# or Db
6	D
7	D# or Eb
8	E
9	F
10	F# or Gb
11	G
12	G# or Ab

One fret apart, all the way to the octave.

Where the notes are on the guitar

Every note on the first five frets, sharps included. Thin e on top, the same order as tab.

One fret is one step in that list, called a half step.
Twelve frets bring you back to the same note, one octave higher.
The open strings are E, A, D, G, B and E.
The same note appears in several places. The A at fret 5 of the thick E string is the same pitch as the open A string.

How notes become chords

A chord is three or more notes sounding together. Take the first, third and fifth note of a scale and you have the basic chord of that key.

Chord	Notes in it
C major	C, E, G
G major	G, B, D
A minor	A, C, E
E minor	E, G, B

C major is C, E and G. A minor is A, C and E. They share two notes, which is why they sound good next to each other. Tap a chord to open its page.

In words: C major is x 3 2 0 1 0. A minor is x 0 2 2 1 0. Numbers are frets, thick string to thin, and x means do not play that string.

The fastest way to learn note names

1
Learn the open strings first
E A D G B E, thick to thin. Everything is counted from them.
2
Then the natural notes on the thick E and A strings
These two strings name most chords, so they pay off first.
3
Use the dots as landmarks
Fret 5 on the thick E is A. Fret 7 is B. Fret 12 is E again, one octave up.
4
Name the notes out loud while you play a scale
Two minutes a day. It sticks faster than staring at a chart.

Tip

You do not need all of them at once

Songs use a handful of notes near the first five frets. Learn those, and the rest of the neck fills itself in as you play.

Hear the notes

Try it now

Ode to Joy, melody mode

Ode to Joy uses only five notes: C, D, E, F and G. Melody mode names each one as it lights up.

Open the song

Questions people ask

How many notes are there on a guitar?: Twelve different notes, repeated in higher and lower octaves. A guitar with 20 frets covers about four octaves.
What are sharps and flats?: The notes between the letters. Sharp means one fret higher, flat means one fret lower. A# and Bb are the same note.
Do I need to read music to play guitar?: No. Most guitarists read chord diagrams and tab, which show you where to put your fingers.