With just a few notes you can already play real tunes. This lesson teaches all the essential notes on the first three strings and puts them together in simple melodies you can actually recognise.
You have already learned three notes on the 1st (thinnest) string. To recap:
Practise playing these three notes slowly, one at a time, counting the beats as you play. Always use the correct finger — 1st finger for fret 1, 3rd finger for fret 3. Keep your left thumb straight against the back of the neck.
The 2nd string gives you three new notes — b, c, and d:
To play the note c, you need to press the 1st finger flat across both the 1st and 2nd strings simultaneously — this is because both the f note (on the 1st string) and the c note (on the 2nd string) use the 1st finger at the 1st fret position. When you press the 1st finger for c, make sure it is not touching the 3rd string at all, or that string will be muted.
Always keep your fingers on each note until the next finger is ready to move. This is called "walking" your fingers — professional guitarists do this naturally. It helps your playing sound smooth and avoids any gaps between notes.
The 3rd string adds two more notes:
Play the notes on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings one after the other in sequence — you already know most of them: g, a, b, c, d, e, f, g. This runs from the open 3rd string all the way up to the 3rd fret of the 1st string, covering one complete octave of the musical alphabet.
With these notes you can now play real recognisable tunes. Before you start any tune, sing or hum the first few notes to yourself so you know how it sounds and can start counting at the right speed. Always tap your foot in time with the beat as you play.
Some notes last longer than others — this is shown in the notation by the spacing between them. When you see a note that lasts two or more beats, hold it down and let it ring while you count those beats before moving on.
Count evenly through bar lines as if they were not there. Count 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 continuously. Never slow down at a bar line — this is one of the most common beginner mistakes. Keep the beat rock steady throughout.
In this course, note names are shown in small lower-case letters (e, f, g) so they are not confused with chord names (which use capital letters: C, G, Am). This is standard practice in guitar teaching. The musical alphabet uses only seven letters — A B C D E F G — and then repeats. After G, the next note is A again, but it sounds an octave higher.
Everything guitarists ask about this topic
The first notes most beginners learn are on the 1st and 2nd strings: e (1st string open), f (1st finger, 1st fret), g (3rd finger, 3rd fret), b (2nd string open), c (1st finger, 1st fret of 2nd string), and d (3rd finger, 3rd fret of 2nd string). These six notes are enough to play many simple tunes.
An open string note is played by plucking a string without pressing any left-hand finger on the fingerboard. The string vibrates its full length, producing its lowest possible pitch. On the 1st string this is e, on the 2nd string it is b, on the 3rd string it is g, and so on.
Notes repeat at higher or lower octaves. The g on the 3rd string open and the g at fret 3 on the 1st string are both called g, but the 3rd string g sounds one octave lower. They are the same note in different registers — very similar but one sounds deeper than the other.
Guitar note diagrams (called boxes or windows) show the fingerboard. Vertical lines are the strings — thinnest on the right, thickest on the left. Horizontal lines are frets. A dot shows where to press your finger, and a number inside the dot tells you which finger to use. An arrow below the diagram marks which string to pluck.
In guitar notation, the length of a note is shown by its shape. A filled notehead with a stem (quarter note) lasts 1 beat. An open notehead with a stem (half note) lasts 2 beats. An open notehead without a stem (whole note) lasts 4 beats. When a note lasts more than one beat, you keep it ringing while you count those extra beats.