So as you have come to study "guitar music theory" with "guitar lessons for beginners" & to learn to play guitar; you will greatly benefit from this new language... the language of music.

So how do we begin to learn the language of guitar music theory?

Well it all starts with "musical notes"... lots of them. A guitar has over 40 different sounding notes, that spread over the entire fretboard.

On the guitar a musical note is sounded when a string is plucked. Each string vibrates at a certain pitch & if you tighten the string it will vibrate faster & sound higher in pitch, (this is said to be higher in frequency). If you tune the string down it will vibrate slower & sound deeper (deeper in frequency). We therefore have to tune our guitar strings to a certain pitch or frequency.

So next let's think about the notes!

Notes are assigned names; that is, they are assigned letters of the english alphabet. Western music uses the first 7 letters of the english alphabet but the guitar has 12 different note names.

So how can this be?

Well, first we must use the first 7 letters of the english alphabet as follows:

A, B, C, D, E, F, & G

Now along with these 7 notes we add another 5 notes to make up 12 altogether.

We do this by using what is known as a sharp note or a flat note.

A sharp note uses the following symbol: #
A flat note uses the following symbol: b

So here are all 12 available notes in western music:

A (A# Bb) B C (C# Db) D (D# Eb) E F (F# Gb) G (G# Ab)

Notice how these 12 notes use 7 letters of the english alphabet!

Notice also that only 5 of the 7 notes have a sharp (#) or a flat (b)

What's the difference between a sharp of a flat note?

A sharp note means that the note say an A note is raised up one fret, which means the A now becomes an A#.

The flat note means that a note is lowered one fret, so an A note lowered one fret becomes an Ab.

Now let's think of notes with regard to Scales...

A Musical Scale is a group of notes drawn from the 12 notes available in western music (the chromatic scale). There are many many scales available all offering different notes, chords melodies & moods.

Click on the links below to continue your study...

music notes for guitar from guitar lessons for beginners

chromatic scale for guitar from guitar lessons for beginners

guitar fretboard diagram from guitar lessons for beginners

print blank guitar fretboard diagram from guitar lessons for beginners

music notation from guitar lessons for beginners

guitar tab from guitar lessons for beginners

return to music theory from guitar lessons for beginners

return to guitar lessons for beginners home page