Guitar Lesson 2 - Guitar strings names

In order to be able to get to a level where you can learn and master guitar, you certainly first need to be able to understand the very basics of playing this instrument. One of the first priorities that any aspiring guitar player should have is to learn the six guitar strings names that are on the guitar. This is very simple, and I will show you a system for it that is widely known by many a player, and you will be able to use this system to connect the dots better and flow smoothly into the next lesson.

In order to do so, I'm actually going to combine several lessons here. Don't worry, this will be simple and fun.

You have six strings on the standard guitar. Now imagine that they are stacked upon one another like so:

|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|
|--------------------------------|

The very top line represents the thinnest string on your guitar, while the bottom line represents the thickest. I bet if you pick up your guitar now, and then look at these six lines, that you will be able to see how we are looking at this in terms of perspective. Remember, the top line represents the thinnest string that is on the standard guitar, which will be the string closest to the ground when you are holding your instrument.

Now, these strings are numbered for easy identification, and therefor, so are the lines in our chart. We now have this...

|-----------------------------| 1
|-----------------------------| 2
|-----------------------------| 3
|-----------------------------| 4
|-----------------------------| 5
|-----------------------------| 6

Each string of course has a specific name, and each name is taken from the pitch that the string is tuned to. There are many different ways to tune a guitar, but because we have a standard tuning that most people follow and that most music is written for, we call this a standard tuning. Not just any though. The tuning is called standard E tuning.

It gets its name from the fact that when its in this tuning, there are two E's that dominate everything. One high, and one low. Your thinnest string (1) will be your high E, while your thickest string (6) will be your low E.

|----------------------------| 1 (E) high
|----------------------------| 2
|----------------------------| 3
|----------------------------| 4
|----------------------------| 5
|----------------------------| 6 (E) low

Now to fill in the rest of the strings.

|----------------------------| 1 (E)
|----------------------------| 2 (B)
|----------------------------| 3 (G)
|----------------------------| 4 (D)
|----------------------------| 5 (A)
|----------------------------| 6 (E)

Now its a simple matter of reviewing this lesson and you'll be on your way to learning and mastering guitar.