Part One: Notes

        On the guitar, and all western music in general, there are only twelve possible notes that can be played.  All scales, chords, and keys are derived from these twelve notes:

A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab

The extensions "#" = sharp, and "b" = flat.  Do not be confused by the slash marks between the sharps and the flats.  I have done this to illustrate an important point: they are the same note.  So... A# is the same note as Bb, and D# is the same note as Eb, and so on.  Why two names for a single note?  Well, it has to do with the context in which they are played, and that is based entirely upon having the notes make sense in the classical, music reading context.   Since we do not care about reading music, it is not relevant to us.  You can think of only sharps, or only flats, or sharps/flats, as I prefer to do.  It does not really matter, as long as you are aware of all twelve.

Notice that there are no sharps or flats between B and C, and E and F.  That's just the way it is.

The next thing to know about these twelve notes is that they are a cyclical pattern, in the exact order shown above.  Question: "What comes after G#/Ab ?"  Answer: "A"  The entire twelve note pattern repeats to infinity, in either direction.  To illustrate this, pick up your guitar.  Play the open "A" string (5th  string).  The open note is "A" and as you ascend upward, fret by fret, the names of the notes follow the above pattern exactly.  Each fret moves you to the next note name.  For example, the 1st fret would be A#/Bb, the second fret would be B, the third fret would be C, and so on.   Eventually, you get to the 11th fret, which the note would be G#/Ab. Then proceeding to the twelfth fret, you are back at A.  Simple, right?

Given that the names of the notes for all six strings are, from lowest to highest: E,A,D,G,B,E ; Using the 12 note pattern above, it is a good idea to construct a chart to show the names of the notes at every possible fret and string position on the guitar.  It not only helps you learn where the notes are, it really helps get the pattern stuck in your head.

You now know absolutely everything you need to know about notes