Lesson 1: *This is a guitar.
STRINGS & FRETS
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This is where all the music theory happens. *I'm not going to address the difference between alder and ash, that's for Kevan or Glen to clarify better, I'm going to attempt to make some sense of all these dots and note on the neck of your guitar
The thickest String when tuned to correct pitch has a pitch of E.
The next thickest has a pitch of A.
Next D.
Then G.
Then B.
Finally another E.
These notes are called E, A, D, G, B, and E because of the pitch they produce when you hit them without fretting a note on the fretboard. *The fretboard divides the scale into half steps. *So if you fret the A string on the first fret, the resulting note will be one half-step higher than A, so it will be A#. *NOTE: *This is not an absolute. *There are two cases where there is no note between to natural notes. *For Instance: *There is no pitch a half-step between E & F or B & C. *These are the only two exceptions. *So another half step up from A# would be a B. *So then the note on the 2nd fret of the A string is a B. *Practice this with all the strings. *Start on E. *Count E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E. *This pattern repeats at the 12 fret. *The letters are the same for all strings. *They just start at a different place. *On the A string, the notes will be A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. *Now is the time to start learning the note value for each fret on the strings. *It will help you tremendously in the coming lessons.
Class dismissed, practice practice practice. *Next time, the major scale.
(Edited by jem7vwh at 11:36 pm on April 5, 2001)
(Edited by jem7vwh at 11:37 pm on April 5, 2001)