One problem I found when I started to look at how the guitar is represented on sheet music is, where do the notes go? If you’re not sure about which pitches are represented where on score, then you may want to brush up before reading the rest of this post!
First, it’s worth noting two things:
- All pitches on the guitar are written using the treble clef.
- All pitches on the guitar are written an octave higher than they sound.
Sidenote: Due to point 2, the guitar is a ‘transposing instrument’, i.e. you have to transpose the written pitch before you play it. However, as it’s just an octave, this is easy and not a consideration for most players, but is important when composing for instruments covering different octaves.
The open strings can be represented as follows (ignore the time signature for now), from the low E to the high E:
Going from the lowest note on a standard (six strings, 24 frets) guitar (open low E), to the highest (fret 24 on the high E), we can see the standard guitar covers four octaves:
Now, where you play these notes on a guitar is more a matter of choice, and convenience depending on the piece being played, as the guitar has the ability to play the same pitch in different places, as demonstrated with this tab:
Note: The above pitches aren’t quite exactly the same. This is to do with equal and true temperament, which I’ll go through another time.
That’s all for now, enjoy!
