» Strings Of The Guitar the guesswork out of learning guitar! Click Here » Strings Of The Guitar Exercises And Fretboard Navigation In this lesson we are going to be learning about the names of the open strings on the guitar. First, we will present the names of the strings on the guitar, and then we will give you an acronym for them so that they will be easier for you to remember. Once you know the names of the strings on the guitar we will take a look at the exact intervals that make up the guitars tuning. Take a look at the diagram that we have provided for you. This should give you a great visual reference for remembering the names of the open strings of the guitar. Learn how to read chord digrams here! If we use the thickest string of the guitar as a starting point, the names of the strings on the guitar would be E, A, D, G, B, and E. The thickest string, or low E string, is also referred to as the 6th string. The A string is the 5th string and so on. You will probably notice that the first and last strings are both E strings.

The high E string, also called the 1st string, is just two octaves above the low E string. When I first started playing, I really had a hard time remembering the names of the open strings. I came up with a goofy acronym for the names of the open guitar strings so, hopefully, you won’t have as hard of a time as I did. The acronym is “Eat All Day Go to Bed Early”. That may seem silly but I bet that it will help you remember the names of the open guitar strings. Another way that you can remember the names of the strings on the guitar is to think about the intervals between each string. An interval is just the distance from one note to another. The guitar is tuned in 4ths. The only two strings that are not a 4th apart are the G and B strings. The distance from the G to B strings is a Major 3rd. If you start on the low E string and count up four notes ( E F G A ) you would land on an A. The distance from the 6th string to the fifth string is a 4th. Now start on your A string and count four notes away from there ( A B C D ).

You should have landed on a D note. The distance from the D to the G strings is also a 4th. Here is where our tuning changes a bit. If you count out the distance between the G and B strings ( G A B ), you would end up with a Major 3rd. To finish off our tuning let’s count from a B to an E. If you count ( B C D E ). Notice that the distance from B to E is another 4th. Hopefully giving you several different ways to think about the names of the open strings will help you to remember them. If you ever forget the names of the strings just remember “Eat All Day Go to Bed Early”. Enter your email address and click the green button to get 50 exclusive step-by-step videos! Enter your email address below and click the green button to be sent 50 exclusive step-by-step video lessons for FREE! Tempered Scale - How Acoustic Guitars Work | HowStuffWorks How Acoustic Guitars Work Prev Next Over time, most of the musical world came to agree on a scale called the tempered scale, with the A note set at 440 Hz and all of the other notes tuned off of that.

In the tempered scale, all of the notes are offset by the 12th root of 2 (roughly 1.0595) instead of the fractions we saw above. That is, if you take any note's frequency and multiply it by 1.0595, you get the frequency for the next note.

Here are three octaves of the tempered scale: 82.4 E - open 6th string 87.3 F 110.0 A - open 5th string 116.5 A# 146.8 D - open 4th string 155.6 D# 196.0 G - open 3rd string 207.6 G# 246.9 B - open 2nd string 261.6 C - "middle C" 329.6 E - open 1st string 349.2 F 440.0 A - 5th fret on 1st string 466.1 A# 622.2 D# 659.2 E - 12th fret on 1st string As you can see in this table, we have finally been able to get the discussion back to guitars! This is how a guitar is tuned. A guitar with 12 clear frets has a range of three octaves, as shown above.

The open sixth string is the lowest note, and the 12th fret on the first string is the highest. Here is the actual layout of all of the notes on a guitar. You can see in this diagram that there are 72 fret positions, but the table above shows only 37 unique notes. Therefore you have multiple ways to finger identical notes on a guitar. This fact is frequently used to get all of a guitar's strings tuned. For example, you can tune A on the first string (5th fret) to 440 Hz. Then you know that E at the 5th fret on the second string is the same as the open first string, so you match those two notes up by tuning the second string. Similarly: The 4th fret on the 3rd string (B) is the same as the B on the open 2nd string. The 5th fret on the 4th string (G) is the same as the G on the open 3rd string. The 5th fret on the 5th string (D) is the same as the D on the open 4th string.

The 5th fret on the 6th string (A) is the same as the A on the open 5th string. Once you have all of the strings on a guitar perfectly tuned, using 440 Hz for A as the primary note, then the guitar will have notes with the frequencies shown in the table above, and it is said to be tuned to "concert pitch." Up Next Contrabass (contra) guitar tuning and strings Guitar FAQs Contra guitar tuning In a Niibori Guitar Orchestra, the contrabass is tuned an octave lower than the prime guitar. The contra is therefore 5 notes lower than the bass. The guitar is notated as if it were tuned conventionally, so that the instruction to play the open first string is written as an instruction to play (high) E. When played, an E comes out an octave lower - the same as the 2nd fret fourth string on a classical guitar. What this means... The contra guitar reads from the same notation as classical (prime) guitar, and is played with the same technique - nothing is different except that the notes come out lower in pitch than the notation suggests.

Because all the strings are overwound, more use is made of the thumb, to avoid the scratching that results when fingers with nails meet strings with attitude. Pluck this Contra guitar strings Because the contrabass guitar is not proportionately as large (compared to the prime) as the increase in depth of its open strings, the contra strings are substantially thicker than the corresponding prime strings. Click for comparison table . The contra strings require such a heavy over-winding (to bring the pitch down while keeping the tension high enough to avoid 'slap'), that the bottom two are too thick to tie at the pegbox and bridge. These strings are double wound (like piano bass strings), and taper to single windings at either end, meaning they are tailored to the exact length of the contra. hago use Hannabach 841 strings, the packets for which are considerably larger than the photo on this page! Chord | Guitar Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit A summary of common guitar chords in six-string standard tuning. Guitar chords can be represented in standard musical notation , tablature (frequently referred to as tab), or in chord diagrams, which are shown below.

There are several symbols used in the chord diagram format: Vertical lines represent the guitar strings . The line on the left represents the sixth (or thickest) string on the guitar. Horizontal lines represent frets on the guitar. Unless a different fret number is indicated on the right-hand side of the diagram, the top horizontal line represents the nut (or "zeroth" fret). An X above a vertical line indicates a string that is not played. An O above a vertical line indicates an open string (a string that is played without being fretted). A filled circle on a vertical line indicates the position in which a string is fretted to play a note. A filled circle and square on a vertical line also indicates the position in which a string is played, and that the note is the root note or an octave of it. A curved line is used to indicate a barre, which is a single finger used to hold multiple strings down at once. Numbers beneath certain string indicate the finger number that is usually used to play this note. (One represents the index finger, two is the middle finger, etc.). Note that the chord diagrams have to be reversed for left-handed guitars and guitarists.

Fret numbers Edit A shorthand for chord diagrams is to simply give the fret numbers of each chord. For example, this might be given as [X 3 2 0 1 0] in the case of the C major chord which is pictured below. The leftmost character gives the fret number of the sixth string (in this case X means it is not played) and the rightmost character gives the fret number of the first string (in this case open). Six-string guitars with standard tuning Edit Guitar chords take advantage of the intervals between the strings, which in each case are perfect fourths excepting the interval between the B (second) and G (third) strings, which is a major third. To go above standard tuning it is common in many forms of hard rock as well as metal to use drop D tuning. This requires the player to change the low E string tuning to that of a D note. CAGED major chords Major chords contain a root note , a note a major third above the root and a note a perfect fifth above the root. C Major In the case of C Major, these notes are C, E and G.

The graphical representation on the right shows how left-hand fingering produces: E on the first string C on the second string G on the third string E on the fourth string C on the fifth string No note is played on the sixth string. In a similar way, the chords A Major, G Major, E Major and D Major are often played as: A Major These five chords are fundamental to guitar for a variety of reasons including: they are all major triads, and as such they are all primary reference chords they all occur and are available in open position: the first three frets plus open strings each has its root on a different string their overall gross large shapes become the basis of the CAGED system they can be connected and linked together to create one large long contiguous 12-fret or one-octave greater resource pattern of major triad tones encompassing the entire fretboard. B major and F major shapes The two remaining whole tone major chords (to complete an octave) are those of B major and F major. These are commonly played as barre chords , with the first finger used to press down multiple strings across the guitar fingerboard.

The A major shape on the second fret becomes B major On examination, it becomes clear that these two chords are logical extensions of the A major and E major chords above. The B major chord is the same shape as the A major chord but it is located two frets further up the fretboard . The F major chord is the same shape as E major but it is one fret further from the headstock . In effect, barre chords act as if the whole guitar has been shortened, like a moveable nut or capo . The E major shape on the first fret becomes F major Barre chords in the shape of A and E major can be played anywhere on the fretboard. Wherever they are played, these chords are major because they have the same shape, and this determines the intervals between the notes. The root of the chord in any position can be worked out from the diagrams above. C major, G major and D major shapes Edit The other three shapes in the CAGED system are C major, G major and D major. These can be transformed into barre chords in a similar way to the A major and E major shapes.

The CAGED system therefore creates five major barre chords which can be used to play all the major chords in more than one position on the fretboard. The C major shape on the fourth fret becomes E major The G major shape on the second fret becomes A major The D major shape on the third fret becomes F major Edit The CAGED system can be modified to produce many other chords , only some of which can be covered here. These require the basic shape of the chord to be modified so that it has slightly different intervals between each note. Once this is done, the shape can be played anywhere on the fretboard, as above. Minor, Augmented and Diminished Edit The E minor shape on the first fret becomes F minor Minor chords (commonly notated as C-, Cm, Cmi or Cmin) are the same as major chords except that they have a minor third instead of a major third . This is a difference of one semitone . To create F minor from the F major chord (in E major shape), the second finger should be lifted so that the third string plays onto the barre.

The other shapes can be modified as well: Chord name [X 0 2 2 1 0] D minor [X X 0 2 3 1] The C major and G major shapes cannot be modified in this way because the major third in those shapes falls on the bar (or nut). It is therefore impossible to lower that note by one semitone (to produce the minor third ) and retain the barre. C minor and G minor therefore have to be played using one of the other CAGED shapes. Augmented chords ( major third and augmented fifth ) and diminished chords ( minor third and diminished fifth ) can be created in much the same way. Slash (Inverted) Edit A chord is inverted when the bass note isn't the root note . For example, if the note E (the open sixth string) were to be played over the A minor chord (as in the table above), the chord would be [0 0 2 2 1 0]. This has the note E as its lowest tone instead of A. It is often written as Am/E, where the letter following the slash indicates the new bass note.

Seventh and extended Edit Seventh chords (notated by 7 or "maj7") are constructed by adding a fourth note to the major triad , which is a minor or major 7th above (i.e., a whole or half step below) the tonic. There are various types of seventh chords depending on the quality of the original chord and the quality of the seventh added. Other extended chords , such as ninths (9), elevenths (11) and thirteenths (13) can also be constructed. These can all be played with the CAGED shapes. Power chords Edit F power chord Power chords (sometimes notated as 5) consist solely of a root note and a fifth . Sometimes an octave is included as well. Since power chords do not have a third, they cannot be defined as true chords, either major or minor , but rather as simple intervals or dyads . On a guitar with six strings, it is possible to play any of five power chord shapes. Each can be played anywhere along the neck. The basic shapes are Chord name [X X X X 0 2] See power chord for more variations and information.

Six-string guitars with alternate tuning Edit There are many alternate tunings (like drop D tuning , for example). These change the way chords are played, making some chords easier to play while others may be more difficult. Also, guitars may be tuned to a chord so that a slide may be used to play the chord at a multitude of pitches. This page uses content from Wikipedia . The original article was at Chord . The list of authors can be seen in the page history . As with Guitar Wiki , the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License . How high can guitar strings tune above standard - Guitar Noise Forums Guitar Noise Forums Post by Guitar34 » November 1st, 2012, 10:51 pm On a standard acoustic guitar how far can light guage strings tune above their intended pitch? Joined: August 9th, 2003, 8:48 pm Location: SW of Chicago Post by NoteBoat » November 2nd, 2012, 2:43 am It depends. Vibrating strings sound best when they're TAUT - if they're floppy you get all sorts of intonation problems.

So strings are engineered to be in proper pitch at approximately 70% of their breaking strength. Going from 70% to 100% is roughly a 50% increase in tension; raising the pitch by an octave requires a 300% increase in tension (frequency is related to the square of the tension). But string manufacturers don't know how long your instrument is. Strings are made to be long enough to fit any guitar, so engineers are probably using a 26" theoretical scale length - that would accommodate Fenders at 25.5" plus a bit more for any oddball instruments. And pitch is directly related to the length of the string - cut the string length in half by playing at that 12th fret and you raise the pitch an octave. So let's put some numbers to that. Let's say you're using a 10 gauge E string on a 25.5" scale length. The string is under roughly 16.21 pounds of tension. If it was on a 26" scale length, the tension would be under about 17 pounds of tension; that means its breaking point is about 24 pounds.

(Note: the exact breaking point is going to depend on a lot of things - this would be the point at which the average string is expected to fail). That will get you to about G before it snaps. But if you put that same string on a small travel guitar with a 20" scale length you might get all the way to C before it goes. Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL Quote Post by KKayser » March 14th, 2013, 3:00 am I am a firm believer that Guitar Companies design their product to work best when the strings are tuned to standard ( or some where close), so I would not advise tuning much above 440. That said, I do often play in open G, and occasionally open E, but I do not think that excessivly tuning an acoustic to a higher pitch will be good for the guitar or is even practical at all. I agree totally with the other advise already mentioned in the thread.....use a Capo. on a side note, when tuning to open E, the 4th and 5th strings are tuned up by one step (two frets), I would never tune a guitar any tighter than that.

Post by Starbrick » July 12th, 2013, 5:24 pm Diceman wrote: Guitar34 wrote: On a standard acoustic guitar how far can light guage strings tune above their intended pitch? I'm just curious , why would you want to do such a thing ? If you need it strung higher , buy a capo . If you're singing at the same time you sometimes need a different key. I'm learning Big Love by Fleetwood Mac and the key I want to sing it in is up 7/8 with the capo - which leaves very little room when you need to play the 8th fret (relative to the capo). I could tune down by 5 semitones so it's all an octave lower, but then it wouldn't sound very good as the strings would be really slack. and it would be much harder to play (as if it isn't hard enough already!) just one example - i'm sure there are many others Acoustic Masters - Tuning Scale length, fret positioning, tuning and intonation. In my previous article I focused on the structure and materials used in building guitar necks.

This time we’ll take a look at scale length, fret spacing, tuning, intonation and how the neck dimensions relate to tuning. Scale length Scale length is one of the basic measurements that determines the size or scale of a stringed instrument and therefore the length of the neck. On fretted instruments this is a design value, used as the starting point for calculating fret positions. Although it is often described as being the vibrating length of the strings this isn’t really true, since string lengths are always slightly longer than the scale length to allow for intonation compensation (see the section on intonation compensation). The most accurate way to determine the scale length of a (conventionally fretted) guitar is to measure from the inside face of the nut (or the middle of the zero fret if the instrument has one) to the middle of the twelfth fret and then double this measurement. As we will see later, even this isn’t accurate for those very few instruments that have nut compensation. Scale length, instrument pitch, tone and string construction are closely related and early instrument design was constrained by the relatively crude string technology of the time.

There is still no fixed standard scale length for steel strung acoustic guitar and it’s not unknown for manufacturers to make the same model of guitar in a choice of scale lengths. Typical scale lengths used today for the steel strung acoustic guitar range from 24.9 to 26.44 inches. Martin commonly uses 25.4 inches and Taylor 25.5 inches (approx. 645mm and 648mm, see Issue 04 for Doyle Dykes comments about his new Taylor 24 and 7/8 inch – 632mm approx., short scale guitar). Classical guitar scale length has today settled on an almost standard scale of 650mm although classical guitars are made with scale lengths ranging from 640mm up to 665mm. The ancestors of the modern guitar, the early four course guitar and the Vihuela, had a scale length of around 540mm for the guitar and somewhere around 720mm to 798mm for the Vihuela, so the modern guitar has wound up between the two. The scale length of an instrument has a number of implications for the guitarist.

Given the same strings, a guitar with a shorter scale length has noticeably less string tension than a guitar with a longer scale length, tuned to the same pitch. As scale length changes so does the fret spacing and this affects playability. Scale lengths may vary by perhaps as much as an inch (25.4mm) and this has a surprisingly large effect on tone. Longer, higher tensioned strings are louder with a well defined bass, while shorter slacker strings are quieter and not as strong in the bass, but can produce a warm attractive tone. However an experienced luthier, having chosen for example, a short scale length, can tune the soundboard and bracing to get the best from the shorter scale. A player may feel a shorter scale length extends their technique by allowing a wider spread of intervals under the hand and may try compensating for tonal difference by using heavier strings. Guitars with longer scale lengths are a better choice for use in dropped tunings since their operating tension is higher. To recap - Scale length, playability versus tone Short scale guitars with their lower string tension and closer fret spacing are easier to play, but longer scale lengths provide richer tone and may sound more in tune.

This effect of longer scale length on tone is quite evident when you examine a baritone guitar. These instruments usually have a huge, rich, sonorous sound and great sustain, compared to many standard guitars. Longer scale instruments tend to have a longer sustain because the higher mass and higher tension of the strings stores more energy, while the shorter scale instruments can have a faster note attack with less sustain, so different scale instruments suite different styles of music. Novax Fanned Fretting One solution that attempts to provide the best of both worlds as far as scale length is concerned, is the Novax fanned fretboard pioneered by Ralph Novak who holds patents on the idea. Other stringed instruments like the piano and the harp, with individual strings for each note, are forced to address the inharmonicity problem (see the section on String Stiffness & Inharmonicity) by using both a mixture of heavy wound strings plus plain strings and a wide range of string lengths or scales. Novak has applied this principle to the guitar and makes his strings gradually longer from the treble to the bass. This means the fret spacing needs to get wider as the strings get longer.

Although stepped frets could be used, fanned or slanted frets are more convenient and easier to play on. With the Novax fanned fretboard, inharmonicity of the lower, thicker (therefore stiffer) strings is reduced and the whole instrument sounds harmonically rich and more in tune. Novak himself currently uses fanned fretting only on electric instruments and perhaps to greatest effect on the eight string instrument he developed for jazz player, Charlie Hunter. Other luthiers such as Ervin Somogyi have used it for acoustic instruments, for example on guitars he has built for the California Guitar Trio. Novak also believes that using a variable scale length sounds better because it takes into account another mode of string vibration he refers to as the ‘clang tone’. It seems that piano designers may know things about strings and string vibration that guitar makers have forgotten. Clang tones have the peculiar property of being unaffected by string tension. Every particular string gauge and length has its respective clang tone and piano designers take these tones into account when choosing the length of each string in a piano. This is the reason for the sinuous curved shape of the string frame of the piano and harp. Novax electric guitar with fanned fretboard.

The Evolution of the Guitar While there have been numerous opinions about the origins of the guitar, with some authorities claiming antecedents back to the ancient Greeks and before, the evidence amassed today indicates that the first guitar-like instruments actually called guitars appeared in Malaga during the 15th century. These instruments had four courses of two strings each, often tuned in a fourth, a third and a fourth to DD, GG, BB and EE, although other tunings were used. This was a high tuning with often a re-entrant tuning for the DD strings so they were in the same octave as the EE strings. Since it was a high pitched instrument it had a small body and short scale length. Another similar, but much larger instrument of the time, the Vihuela, had six courses of double strings and looks to the modern eye more like a guitar (a 12 string) than the four course guitar of the same period. Vihuela were made in different types intended to be picked with a quill, plucked with the fingers and even to be bowed. Today the term ‘Vihuela’ is used to refer to the bass-like guitar played in mariachi bands.

All these early instruments had short necks with the bridge fitted, as it is on the lute, near the bottom edge of the soundboard, a rose filling the soundhole and long narrow bodies, with only a slight waist. There was little point in long necks with more frets, since the strings of the time were so poor that true notes couldn’t be obtained much past a twelfth fret. Also the bridge position dictates a short neck. This bridge position was probably used on lutes and other early instruments because it puts less strain on the soundboard. String doubling or even tripling was a common technique used to try and obtain more volume, particularly with small bodied high pitched instruments. The mandolin is perhaps the most well known modern instrument still using this technique. From the 15th to the 18th centuries there was a lot of experimentation with the forms of instruments in general, driven by gradual improvements in the technology of, for example - strings and developments in compositional style and taste.

Due to pressure from composers wanting to extend the range of the guitar, the guitar became larger, a fifth bass string was added and finally all the strings became single strings, along with the addition of the sixth string, towards the end of the 18th century, resulting in the E, A, D, G, B, E tuning we use today. Some experiments even extended beyond this with eight and ten string designs. Another commonly held belief about the guitar is that it developed out of the Lute family, which in turn is based on the ancient Arabic Oud (the name ‘Lute’ being derived from al’Oud). The Oud is still extant with a large repertoire and many really excellent players. Modern Oud’s may have as many as six, double-string, courses but the early Oud had four, tuned in fourths to E, A, D and G. Like the Oud, the first Lutes had only four courses, but unlike the Oud, were fretted with gut frets. Over time the Lute gradually acquired more strings, becoming technically difficult to play. This also led to the rather peculiar situation of different types of lute being required to play different parts of the lute repertoire.

Lutes today are available with six, seven, eight, nine, ten or even thirteen courses. Even the six course Lute requires a wide neck and with ten courses the neck gets very broad and difficult to finger. This is probably why the guitar wound up with six single strings as a good compromise between musical range and a comfortable neck width. Rather than being a direct development of the Lute, the Guitar, which would have been made in the same workshops and by the same craftsmen, simply supplanted the more complex instrument. If you are interested in the early Vihuela and Baroque Guitar take a look at the website of Stephen Barber and Sandi Harris who make exquisite reproduction instruments based on their own meticulous research - Just intonation and equal temperament The complaint ‘but I can never get this guitar in tune’ is often heard. What a lot of guitarists perhaps don’t realise is that this is a fundamental truth. You cannot get a guitar, or indeed most other fretted instruments, to be perfectly in tune. This is because the guitar is a fretted, stepped-pitch instrument and the fret positions on most guitars are spaced to conform to equal temperament. To understand what this means you have to examine the history of musical theory, scales and tuning.

Pythagoras and the monochord The theory and structure of western music is supposedly based on the ideas of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. However no original writings of Pythagoras have survived. Pythagoras was the leader of a mystical cult now referred to by the imaginative title of ‘the Pythagoreans’ who were extremely secretive about their knowledge and beliefs. Any information we now have about them is from later commentators. Pythagoras is credited with developing a system of simple ratios to describe the notes in a musical scale (now called Just Intonation) from his observations of the vibration of a single stretched string, with its length divided by a moveable bridge. This device is called a monochord, because it has only a single string, but can play two notes at once, one on either side of the moveable bridge, to form a chord. Pythagoras is also supposed to have shown that the entire scale can be derived from only one interval or ratio, the major fifth or the ratio 3/2. This tuning is now known as Pythagorean tuning and like all tuning systems produces errors when compared to natural harmonics.

Just Intonation Just intonation is a tuning system based on natural harmonics, where the relationships between the notes in a scale are all ‘simple’ ratios. The harmonies produced by Just intonation are perfect, but unfortunately only in the key of the root note, so Just intonation does not allow music in different keys to be played on the same instrument without extensive re-tuning. Most other tuning systems are based on, or at least use, Just Intonation as a reference because, for any specific key, it is harmonically perfect. The problem with JI is that it does not follow a regular mathematical progression. This makes key changes impossible because the note spacings are not equal. Other systems, such as Equal temperament are attempts to solve the key modulation problem by ‘tempering’ – by altering the tuning of the note intervals, while sacrificing some harmonic accuracy. Equal temperament While there are documents from the late 16th century that describe Equal temperament and there is an existing guitar that was made around 1800 and shortly afterwards converted from moveable gut frets to Equal tempered metal frets, Equal temperament only came into general use for European music around the middle of the 19th century.

Although Equal temperament can be described as ‘Well tempered’, the term is more accurately used when referring to a number of different tuning schemes that allow instruments to be played in a variety of keys without re-tuning and without sounding too far out of tune. Before the adoption of Equal temperament, lutes, early guitars and other fretted stringed instruments of the time used tied on frets, made of gut. This allowed the frets to be moved along the neck and the instrument could be re-tuned, or intonated, for any specific key or tuning system. Perhaps more importantly, the frets could be adjusted to make up for the tuning irregularity (see inharmonicity) of the crude gut strings of the time. Keyboard instruments of the time were either re-tuned or maintained in sets, with each instrument tuned for different keys. Some even had extra keys and strings fitted to allow some key modulations. Equal temperament uses a simple mathematical formula to calculate the tuning intervals used and for fretted instruments, the fret positions. The formula is based on the twelfth root of two (since there are twelve intervals in the common western scale and the ratio of two notes an octave apart is 2 to 1).

The ratio in frequency between any successive pair of notes in the equal tempered scale is equal to the twelfth root of 2 or 1.059463275. So it follows that, with all fretted instruments tuned to the tempered scale, because the pitch of a vibrating string is directly proportional to length, the ratio between the length of a string from the bridge to a fret, and the length of the string from the bridge to the next fret, is exactly the twelfth root of 2 (ignoring intonation compensation for the moment). Mathematically speaking Equal temperament is a geometric series and it is known as Equal temperament because it makes the interval between each semitone in the scale the same. Although equal temperament allows for reasonably accurate tuning in all keys, all the notes in an Equal tempered scale, except for the octave, are slightly out of tune when compared to Just intonation for the same key or root. The biggest errors are for the major seventh, minor seventh and minor second. It is this discrepancy between the ‘perfect’ sounding harmonic intervals and the equal temperament spacing of the frets that contributes to guitarists sometimes having tuning problems. Other contributing factors are string inharmonicity and inaccurate intonation compensation.

Another way to look at the differences between Just intonation and Equal temperament is to plot the note frequencies against their intervallic relation, or scale position, on a graph. The Equal temperament values can be plotted as a smooth continuous line, as they are shown here, because no matter where the starting pitch, all related intervals fall on the same curve. The Just intonation intervals for two starting pitches; middle C and for the Major Second (D) are shown as points because they don’t form a continuous progression. The differences between the Just scale values and the Equal temperament curve and between a C scale and a D scale in Just intonation are obvious (the scale interval labels on the horizontal axis are for the C scale). The eighteen rule for calculating fret positions There is another well known method of calculating fret positions called the 18 rule or the rule of 18. This method was in use in the 16th century and was probably arrived at by trial and error.

Although it isn’t as precise as calculating fret positions using the pure form of equal temperament based on the twelfth root of two, in practice, the error it produces results in some degree of intonation compensation, because the higher frets wind up further away from the saddle than they do using the twelfth root of two. It’s possible to replace the 18 value with a constant derived from the twelfth root of two (17.81715375, usually rounded down to 17.817) which simply converts this method into Equal tempered fret spacing. The simplest, although not very elegant method of using the 18 rule is to first find the distance of the first fret from the nut by dividing the Scale Length by 18 (or 17.817). Then, to find the spacing of the next fret from the first, the previously calculated value is subtracted from the Scale Length and the result is again divided by 18. This process is repeated to find the rest of the fret positions.

Other practical methods for fret positioning Many builders don’t bother with the calculations and either use tables that have been calculated for different scale lengths, buy in pre-slotted fingerboards, use layout templates or fretting boxes. String stiffness and inharmonicity It is a common scientific approach to use simple models to explain the behaviour of physical systems, because it’s easier to understand basic behaviour when using simplified components. Factors that give rise to very complex behaviour, or only have a small effect, are often just ignored. For example vibrating strings are often assumed to be uniform, to be under constant tension and to have length and mass, but no stiffness. In diagrams, strings are often shown as vibrating freely, all the way up to the fixing points at either end and it’s the distance between these two points (in the case of the guitar the distance between the nut and the saddle) that is taken as the vibrating length and used to calculate the strings vibrating pitch. Stiffness is quite a major factor that’s missing from the simplistic approach and is one of the major problems that string technology has had to minimise. If strings had no stiffness they would sustain for far longer than they actually do.

Real vibrating strings have significant stiffness and don’t flex freely at the nut and saddle, but behave as though their vibrating length is slightly shorter than their physical length. To complicate things further, stiffness has a gradually increasing effect on the higher harmonic modes of a vibrating string. Also, as the higher notes are played and the vibrating length of a string is shortened, because the stiffness is a constant, it becomes gradually more significant. This effect is known as inharmonicity. A short and very thick string will sound discordant because even low order harmonics won’t be correctly related to the fundamental, but will be slightly sharp. All vibrating strings suffer from some degree of inharmonicity, instrument designers just have to choose a long enough scale for gauge of the strings they are using so that the inharmonicity is minimised. This also explains why it can be more difficult to tune a guitar with new strings. New strings sound brighter – the upper harmonics are more prominent. Because of inharmonicity, these harmonics are not perfect multiples of the fundamental note and the overall pitch is perceived as sharp. Low quality, stiff and non-uniform strings will sound even more out of tune.

A string can be tuned to a lower note by reducing its tension, but at some point a string may be so slack that it produces a note that audibly falls in pitch as it decays. All vibrating strings do this, since the tension is raised when the string is plucked and then gradually reduces as the string sounds and the note decays. At normal tensions the pitch change is small enough not to matter. Although this slight pitch drop is one factor that may distinguish real instrument sounds from synthesised sounds. Pitch in general (this is true for all non-synthesised instruments) also rises slightly as you play louder. The other ways to get lower notes are to use longer or thicker/heavier strings. Unfortunately just making strings thicker tends to make them stiffer and their inharmonicity gets worse. This was a real problem for the early string makers in their attempts to make bass strings. Shortcomings in string manufacture had a big effect on the design of early instruments and on instruments like the Arch Lute, long auxiliary necks were added for extra bass strings. String makers first had to develop the multi-strand twisted gut string and then the metal wire-wound string, to produce bass strings that had relatively high mass or weight, but remained reasonably flexible.

Winding metal wire around a core makes a string heavier, while leaving the flexibility almost the same as the inner core. Fret marker positions Most guitarists probably just take fret markers for granted as a handy visual reference that helps them check where their fretting hand is on the neck. The early guitars usually had either plain or intricately inlaid fretboards, with no markers. This is probably because, with moveable frets, markers might have looked a bit strange and in any case they only had twelve frets to worry about. The most straightforward and scientific way to explain why fret markers are where they are is to say that up to the twelfth fret they mark the first five harmonics of the natural harmonic series of the open strings (none of the higher harmonics occur over a fret position). As follows – Harmonic BC-133 • Names Of Open Strings | free guitar lesson from justinguitar.com BC-133 • Names Of Open Strings Previous Lesson It's a very useful thing to know the note names of the open strings on your guitar.

They are often used to describe finger placement (e.g., “put your 1st finger in the 2nd fret of the A string”), and are also useful for tuning your guitar to another instrument (like a piano). You need to know this when you buy a replacement string for your guitar (e.g., “can I please have a D string”) and it will help you learn the names of the notes that you are playing. Knowing the names of the strings will also help you use a guitar tuner. So well worth learning this one, and we will be developing this more in a latter stage when we learn all the notes in the open position and the notes that make up our chords! Watch The Video Lesson So what are the notes? 1st string - E (the thinnest) 2nd string - B Eddy Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddy Easter Angels Don't Give Broken Eggs Or just make up your own - you don't have to use one of mine! Just make sure that you remember this!

Next up we'll be changing our chords again in BC-134 • 1 minute Changes Beginner products you may like from justinguitar.com I have five great beginners products that will help you make the most of this course and you'll find them all at The Official JustinGuitar Store . If you want to really support the site then please buy direct from us. :) PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS SITE RUNS ON PRODUCT SALES AND DONATIONS. If you like what I do then PLEASE CONSIDER BUYING SOMETHING or making a DONATION . Guitar String Notes & Their Names (Guitarsite) Guitar String Notes & Their Names Submitted by Jason on Fri, 09/16/2011 - 00:14. Guitar String Notes is the first in a series of basic tips and tutorials here on GuitarSite.com for beginner guitarists. So you've just got your first guitar or bass, or perhaps it's been sitting there for a while and you've decided it's about time you picked it up and had some fun with it. Congratulations on your new pass-time that will bring about a lifetime of enjoyment - playing guitar!

And now you would like to know each of the guitar string names - or as some guitarists call them: guitar string notes. Experienced players usually refer to each string by it's open note in Standard Tuning: E.G. 'G string' or 'A string'. Firstly, lets take a look at where these names come from on the good old 6 string guitar. Bottom E String or 6th String This is the thickest string and the one closest to the top when you are holding your guitar - it's the E string on the left in the picture above. The frequency of this note is 82.41 Hz. A String or 5th String The next thickest string is tuned to A at 110.00 Hz. D String or 4th String The D string is again slightly thinner than the A string. It is tuned to 146.83 Hz. G String or 3rd String This is where a change in thickness can occur.

If you have a steel string guitar then this string will be thinner than the D string, however if you have an acoustic guitar with nylon strings , then this will usually be the first nylon string and it will often be thicker than the D string above it. Regardless of what type of guitar you have, the standard tuning is 196.00 Hz. B String or 2nd String Again this will be thinner than the string above, and it's standard tuning is 246.94 Hz. High E String or 1st String This string is highest open note on the guitar and is tuned to 329.63 Hz. Bass Guitar String Names The 4 strings on a standard bass guitar are E, A, D, and G. As you can see the names of the strings are the same as the lowest 4 strings on a 6 string guitar - they are however an octave lower on the bass guitar. Guitar String Notes in Standard Tuning When reading the notes below you'll need to know that '#' means 'sharp' and 'b' means 'flat'.

The numbers represent the frets starting from 0 with no finger on the string (an open string) and 1 being the first fret closest to the tuning pegs. 0

Question: The open fourth string (4th highest) note of a conventionally tuned guitar is?
Answer: D