When learning how to play guitar, you should know the musical alphabet is a little different than the alphabet you learned as a child. Learning notes starts with some basic music theory. With the natural musical alphabet, you only have seven notes – A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. They’re called natural since you have no flats or sharps. All your sharps and flats occur between these notes. Once you know these, learning sharps and flats is as simple as moving up or down.

Sharps & Flats

Sharps and flats are just half-steps away from the natural notes. So what’s the big difference between the two? It’s all in how you move. Every half-step (or fret) changes the note.

Sharps are a half-step up from a natural note. For instance, a half-step above A is A#.

Flats are the exact opposite. One half-step down leads to a flat. For instance, if you step down from A, you’d get Ab. The confusing part comes into play with a single note has two names and the name depends mainly on the key you’re playing in. For instance, the note between D and E is D# if you’re stepping up and Eb if you’re stepping down.

Pro Tip: An easy way to keep your sharps and flats straight is to think of stepping on a bug. When you step down on the bug, it’s flat, just like notes on your guitar.

The BC & EF Rule

All natural notes have sharps and flats between them except BC and EF. A half-step between these leads to the next natural note. Stepping up from B leads you to C. Stepping down from F leads to E.

String Names

Using standard tuning, your strings are E, A, D, G, B, and E. If you played an open string, meaning you’re not holding down a note at any fret, those would be the notes played. This gives you a reference point to start learning. As you may notice, your high and low string are both E, meaning they’ll have the same notes, giving you less to memorize.