Guitar Lesson 10: the notes in standard tuning, with Michael Angelo Batio
Taught by Fret, your Change Your Strings Guitar teacher ·
In standard tuning the six open strings, from the thickest to the thinnest, are E, A, D, G, B, and E. The lowest and highest strings are both E, two octaves apart. Michael Angelo Batio drills these names so you always know which string is which, which is the first step to finding any note on the neck.
What you need
Watch Michael Angelo Batio name the strings in the video above, then read the breakdown.
Before you can find a note, you have to know the strings. In this beginner reference, Batio does one simple, important thing: he names every open string in standard tuning so you are never lost on the neck.
Hold the guitar in playing position. The thickest string, closest to the ceiling, is the lowest in pitch. The thinnest string, closest to the floor, is the highest. From thickest to thinnest, the six open strings are:
e |--0-- 1st string, high E (thinnest)B |--0-- 2nd string, BG |--0-- 3rd string, GD |--0-- 4th string, DA |--0-- 5th string, AE |--0-- 6th string, low E (thickest)
Notice the two E strings. The thickest (6th) and the thinnest (1st) are both E, two octaves apart. That is where the name E standard comes from, and it is a handy checkpoint: if your outer strings do not both read E on a tuner, something is off.
A mnemonic helps the names stick. Reading from the thick low E up to the high E, try "Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie." Say it a few times while you pluck each string in order, and the letters lock in fast.
Why bother memorizing this? Every chord shape, every scale, and every riff you will ever learn is described by these string names. When a lesson says "second fret of the A string," you need to know which string that is without counting. Batio treats it as the reference you come back to, not a one-time fact.
Practice this
Pluck each open string from the thick low E to the thin high E and say its name out loud: E, A, D, G, B, E. Do it five times. Then close your eyes, pluck a string at random, and name it before you look. Two minutes of this and the string names become automatic. A clip-on tuner clipped to the headstock lets you confirm each name as you go.
Where you are
In Lesson 09: the blues scale you played notes up and down a box shape. Now you know what every open string is called, so those shapes have real names attached. Keep the guitar in standard tuning (E A D G B E), the exact tuning these names describe, and see how Michael Angelo Batio built total command of the neck on this same simple foundation. Next, Lesson 11: the finger position exercise, where Batio strengthens both hands at once.