Arts >> Music >> Music Basics

How to Make Guitar Fretboard Note Decals

When learning the guitar, learning the organization of the notes is essential. While it is relatively easy to learn chords and move forward, you will hit a wall if you cannot quickly determine the name of any note on the fretboard. Placing decals with the names of the notes on the fretboard can be a good way to start learning and internalizing this system. While there are decal systems available commercially, you can easily make your own, and you will be learning while making them.

Things You'll Need

  • Guitar
  • Ultra-fine-point Sharpie
  • About 144 quantity 1/8-inch dot stickers (use two colors: one bright and one dark)
  • Knowledge of Western tonal system
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Start at the first fret. Remember that the order of the strings' open pitches, from bottom to top, is E, A, D, G, B, E. For each string, imagine the note a one-half-step up from the open pitch. This gives us F, A#/Bb, D#/Eb, G#/Ab, C and F.

    • 2

      Write the names of the natural pitches (F, C, F) onto brightly colored dots and stick them in the appropriate place.

    • 3

      P lace a dark-colored sticker in the appropriate place for the sharp/flat notes (A#/Bb, D#/Eb, G#/Ab). You can identify each of these notes by referencing its adjacent pitches. For example, if it is one fret down from B, then it is A#/Bb.

    • 4

      Continue up the neck in this way. For example, for the second fret, look at what you marked out for the first fret. Moving up a half-step each from F, A#/Bb, D#/Eb, G#/Ab, C and F, we get F#/Gb, B, E, A, C#/Db and F#/Gb.

    • 5

      Mark every note on the entire fretboard in this way, if you want; however, knowing that the 12th fret is the same set of notes as the open strings, you could also mark the same notes for the 13th fret as you did for the first, and so on. Or, you might leave everything above the 11th or 12th frets unmarked. It is up to you and should be determined based on your preferred learning style.

Music Basics

Related Categories