Reference
Mandolin notes chart.
Every note on the mandolin through the 12th fret, course by course. At the 12th fret the pattern starts over an octave higher, so learning these twelve frets learns the whole neck.
Start here
Standard tuning.
Four courses of two strings each, tuned in unison and in fifths — the same intervals as a violin.
- course 1E
- course 2A
- course 3D
- course 4G
The map
Every note, fret by fret.
Rows are courses (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.
| course | open | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 E | E | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D | E♭ | E |
| 2 A | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | A |
| 3 D | D | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D |
| 4 G | G | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | C | C♯ | D | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | G |
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 courses first — that is where root notes for barre chords live — then use the octave shape (two frets up, two courses across) to find everything else. The 12th fret repeats the open courses, so anything you learn below it applies above it.
Once the notes are under your fingers, the useful next step is the complete mandolin 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.