The Chromatic Scale
There are only 12 different notes that you can play on the guitar. They are labelled as:
| A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# |
|---|
Or...
| A | Bb | B | C | Db | D | Eb | E | F | Gb | G | Ab |
|---|
These 12 notes are referred to as the chromatic scale. Notice how there are two ways of labelling the 12 notes. The '#' is a sharp symbol and means 'raised by a semitone'. The 'b' is a flat symbol and means 'lowered by a semitone'. For example, if we were descending in pitch we may say 'Bb' instead of 'A#'.
Your guitar has a chromatic layout. Each open string on a guitar is tuned to a certain note, as shown below:
E --------------------------------1ST
B --------------------------------2ND
G --------------------------------3RD
D --------------------------------4TH
A --------------------------------5TH
E --------------------------------6TH
Each string is then divided by frets. Each fret produces the next note in the chromatic scale. For example the notes on the E string are shown below:
