How to Play Guitar: Whole-Steps and Half-Steps 1

So the first thing I want to go over is the fret board is made up of a series of whole steps and half steps. Now a whole step is the distance between two frets on the guitar also the distance between a note. Distance between A and B is a whole step. A half step is the distance between one fret or half a note. So A to A-Sharp would be a half step. Now there are two natural half steps that occur in the notes on the guitar A B C D E F G back to A or seven notes, the 8 1 is actually an octave higher. The natural half steps occur between B and C and E and F. With that means is actually instead of going up on the guitar in a two frets, you are only going up one to increase by a higher note by a whole note.

For instance, our sixth string is the low E now E to F is a natural half step so we only need to go to the first fret and open E the first fret which is F. Now to go up to G, we need to go up a whole step which is the distance between two frets. So E to F is a natural half step. F to G is a whole step, two frets. Now if you go from G to A to another whole step G A two frets A to B another whole step just two frets B to C is a natural half step so we only go up a half step which is one fret E to C. Let us see the D as another whole step C to D and then finally D back to E is actually an octave higher from open E to the twelfth fret there is your octave E to E.

Now everything beyond the twelfth fret is actually an octave higher. You will back to F on the thirteenth fret it was an octave from this F here on the first fret and so on. It just the whole guitar frets but repeats itself on the twelfth fret on. Now I have a little exercise to go over. This is a chromatic pattern which is basically a series of half steps. Now, what I want you to do in between each note we are going to lift up our fingers. So in other words when we go form E to F then F to F-sharp will lift up our first finger when we put our second finger down. F-sharp to G where we want to put our third finger down, lift up our second finger G to G-sharp when we put our fourth finger down on the top of third finger and then we work this backwards again lifting up each finger.


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