Learn your guitar string names and numbers

Do you know your guitar string names and numbers? The standard guitar has six strings and each one has a number and a letter name.

  1. E – 1st string
  2. B – 2nd string
  3. G – 3rd string
  4. D – 4th string
  5. A – 5th string
  6. E – 6th string

When you hold your guitar in playing position and look down at the strings you are actually seeing them in reverse order. The string closest to your face is the sixth string. This is the thickest string and the lowest pitch. But it has the same name as the first string, E. 

To differentiate these two notes/strings on the guitar, we will often use names like “high E” and “low E” or “top string” and “bottom string.”

The musical staff

Now that you know the order of strings and which is which, let’s see what those look like on the musical staff:

Guitar string names and notes on a musical staff

As we have already seen, there are two E’s, one on the 1st and the other on the 6th string. The 1st-string E sounds two octaves above the 6th-string E. An octave is a musical interval between two notes that have the same name. So if we start from E on the sixth string and go up two octaves, we reach the E on the first string:

E phrygian scale starting from sixth string with note names

E phrygian scale starting from sixth string with note names

String numbers in guitar music

Typically in actual guitar music we won’t have string names above the notes. Instead, guitar music uses circled string numbers (either above or below the notes) to tell us which string to play. Those look like this:

 

Guitar string notes with circled string numbers on musical staff

Bach, Prelude (BWV 999):

Bach Prelude BWV 999 first measures showing circled string numbers

Tárrega, Capricho Arabe:

Want to go deeper? You can learn the entire guitar fretboard with our six string scales. These scales have you play the same note (in different octaves) on each of the six strings across the fretboard. Go here to get started with six string scales.

We hope this introduction to guitar string numbers and names was helpful! Are you a beginner looking for more lessons? Check out our Beginner Classical Guitar Resources page.