Notes at the top of the neck

Download the PDF: guitar notes top of neck.

. It’s useful to have an understanding o the notes at the top of the neck, in what is called the “first position”. And we already know the names of all of the notes played on the open strings in standard tuning.

The “open” strings can be played with no finger on any fret, and when the E string for instance is played that way, the sound we hear is an E (provided the guitar is tuned properly in standard tuning). The same goes for the other strings; an A string played with no finger on any fret makes the note A.

Try playing the first four notes on each string like this: Play the first fret with your first finger, second fret with your second finger, 3rd with your third finger and 4th with your pinkie. This is the beginning of what is called “finger discipline” and it is useful for a guitarist to know about this.

Notice that the 5th fret is the same note as the next adjacent string (except for that pesky B string)