Fingers, Frets, And Strings

In this video we’re going to cover the numbering systems for the guitar. By that I mean the numbering system for your fingers, the frets, and the strings of the guitar. This may seem simple, but it’s very important. If you know these numbering systems well, it’s going to make all the future lessons that you go through much faster.

Numbering Systems

Let’s get started with the numbering system for the fingers of your fretting hand. Your first finger is going to be labeled as a 1, second finger is going to be a 2, third finger is going to be 3, and your fourth finger is going to be a 4. Knowing this will be very valuable when you start reading chord diagrams, scale diagrams, TABs, and sheet music. You are going to need to know which finger to use right away.

Next is the numbering system for the strings of the guitar. This the opposite of what you might think. Most people think that the thickest string is the first string. It’s exactly the opposite. The thinnest string is the first string. The second string, third, fourth, fifth, sixth follow from there. That’s not really hard. You’re just going to want to be aware that the thinnest string is the first string, and the thickest string is the sixth string.

The last numbering system that we need to go over is for the frets of the guitar. The frets are just the little metal strips that are laid in the fretboard. It’s really easy, the first fret is the first metal strip all the way down by the headstock of the guitar. The second fret, third fourth, fifth, and so on continue in order up the neck of the guitar. When someone tells you to put your finger on a specific fret of the guitar, you’re going to need to be able to go right to that fret. This takes some practice, but you will start to get quicker at it the more you practice. If somebody says put your second finger on the third fret of the sixth string, you need to be able to do that. Take some time and test yourself. Look at some TABs and chord diagrams to get comfortable with the numbering systems for your fingers, the strings of the guitar and the frets.

Simply being aware of the numbering system that we talked about are going to make all the future lessons in this series, and all the other guitar lessons you take, a lot smoother.