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Guitar String Notes & Their Names

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.

Guitar string names

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 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
E F F# or Gb G G# or Ab A A# or Bb B C C# or Db D D# or Eb E
B C C# or Db D D# or Eb E F F# or Gb G G# or Ab A A# or Bb B
G G# or Ab A A# or Bb B C C# or Db D D# or Eb E F F# or Gb G
D D# or Eb E F F# or Gb G G# or Ab A A# or Bb B C C# or Db D
A A# or Bb B C C# or Db D D# or Eb E F F# or Gb G G# or Ab A
E F F# or Gb G G# or Ab A A# or Bb B C C# or Db D D# or Eb E

Alternate Tunings

It’s important to know that the names of the strings don’t change even if you tune them to different notes. For example, if you tune the B String down to A then the name is still called the B String.

That’s all there is to it – now you know the names of guitar strings and guitar string notes!

Also in this beginner guitar series:

Guitar For Beginners

How To String An Acoustic Guitar

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