Reference
Bass notes chart.
Every note on the bass through the 12th fret, string by string. At the 12th fret the pattern starts over an octave higher, so learning these twelve frets learns the whole neck.
Start here
Standard tuning.
Standard four-string tuning — the same pitches as a guitar's bottom four strings, an octave lower.
- string 1G
- string 2D
- string 3A
- string 4E
The map
Every note, fret by fret.
Rows are strings (highest at the top, the way you look down at the neck); columns are frets. Natural notes are set in full ink, sharps and flats in grey — the two-fret gaps between naturals are where B–C and E–F sit only one fret apart.
| string | open | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 G | G | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | G |
| 2 D | D | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D |
| 3 A | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | A |
| 4 E | E | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D | E♭ | E |
The alphabet
The twelve chromatic notes.
Western music runs out of note names after twelve and starts again an octave higher. Seven of them are naturals; the other five each answer to two names.
Naturals — 7
Sharps — raised a semitone
Flats — lowered a semitone
Same pitch, different name
F♯ and G♭ are the same fret and the same key — the spelling depends on the key you are in. A key with sharps in its signature calls it F♯; a key with flats calls it G♭. That is why key pages spell their chords the way they do.
Next
What to do with this.
Do not memorise the grid. Learn the natural notes on the two lowest strings first — that is where root notes for barre chords live — then use the octave shape (two frets up, two strings across) to find everything else. The 12th fret repeats the open strings, so anything you learn below it applies above it.
Once the notes are under your fingers, the useful next step is the complete bass chord index — every chord we have a voicing for, grouped by root — or the scale library, which turns these twelve notes into patterns you can actually play over.