Reading Notes on the Fretboard

Every note on the fretboard is measured from the open strings. In standard guitar tuning, the strings from lowest to highest pitch are E, A, D, G, B, E — memorize this order. Ukulele uses a different tuning: G, C, E, A (with the G often sounding one octave higher in re-entrant tuning). When you pluck an open string you hear that string's open note; the 3rd fret of the low E string, for example, is G.

Each fret raises a string's pitch by one semitone (half step). The twelve notes cycle in chromatic order: C, C♯, D, D♯, E, F, F♯, G, G♯, A, A♯, B, then back to C. Notice there is no sharp or flat between E and F, or between B and C. Starting from any open string and counting frets up the chromatic scale names every note on that string — the open low E followed by frets 1, 2, 3 gives F, F♯, G.

To find a specific note, count semitones from the open string. Want D on the A string? A is the open note and D sits 5 semitones above A, so D lives at the 5th fret. Want C on the B string? B to C is one semitone (no sharp between them), so C is at the 1st fret. This counting method works identically on ukulele — only the open-string starting notes change.

Every note repeats at the 12th fret, one octave higher: the 12th fret of any string is the same letter as the open string. You can also find octaves across strings — from any fretted note, the same note sits 5 frets lower on the next higher-pitched string (or 4 frets lower when crossing from the G to the B string on guitar). These octave shapes let you reach any note without counting from the open string every time.

Fretboard fluency comes from connecting note names to physical locations until it becomes automatic. Use the interactive fretboard quiz below to practice finding notes at marked positions, then explore the full fretboard note map and the Note Finder tool to look up any position. Once you can name notes quickly, every later lesson — chord construction, barre chords, and transposition — becomes dramatically easier.