The neck and its notes

Octaves

A free guitar lesson · 4 steps · about 7 minutes

The same note, higher

Play the open low E, then the high E string open. They sound like the same note, one high and one low. That relationship is called an octave: the same letter name, twelve frets apart.

Every note on the guitar can be found in several places, and octave shapes are the quickest way to jump between them.

The octave shape

From any note on the low E or A string, the same note an octave higher is two strings up and two frets up.

Octaves from the low E and A strings

e|-----------------|
B|-----------------|
G|-------------5---|
D|---5---------3---|
A|---------3-------|
E|-3---------------|
  G octave  C octave

G at the 3rd fret of the low E, and G at the 5th fret of the D string.
C at the 3rd fret of the A string, and C at the 5th fret of the G string.

Mute the string in between with the underside of your first finger, and you can strum both notes together. It is a great sound, and plenty of famous riffs are nothing but octaves.

From the D and G strings

From the D or G string the shape stretches one fret further, because of the way the B string is tuned: two strings up and three frets up.

Octaves from the D and G strings

e|-----------8---|
B|---5-----------|
G|-----------5---|
D|---2-----------|
A|---------------|
E|---------------|
  E octave  C octave

E at the 2nd fret of the D string, and E at the 5th fret of the B string.
C at the 5th fret of the G string, and C at the 8th fret of the high E.

Do not worry if that one feels awkward. The first shape, from the low E and A strings, is the one you will use most.

Find every A

Here is a good exercise. Find every A between the nut and the 12th fret, on all six strings. Use the octave shapes and the neck map from the last lesson to check yourself.

There are seven of them up to the 12th fret: the open A string and its 12th fret, the 5th fret of the low E, the 7th fret of the D string, the 2nd fret of the G string, the 10th fret of the B string, and the 5th fret of the high E. When you can find them all without the map, try the same with C and G.