Chapter 3:

Play across strings

Playing in position

After thoroughly exploring a melody on a single string, try playing the same melody across strings, without moving the fretting hand out of position.

This is sometimes called “position playing”.

Finding notes across strings

At first, picking out a melody across strings seems like a matter of random guessing, and then remembering what we find. It gets easier over time. It’s like a memory game that never resets.

The following figures show where notes are located on neighboring strings.

Every pair of neighboring strings has the same relationship between their notes, except between strings 2 and 3. While all other strings are tuned the same distance apart, there is a slightly smaller difference in pitch between strings 2 and 3.

Identical notes on neighboring strings

To get better at finding notes across strings, it can be helpful to study scales. See Chapter 15. Introduction to scales.

Finding chords across strings

Major and minor “triad chords” are the most common chords used in all of Western harmony.

There are many of these three-note triad chords around the fretboard. Listen and explore to find them. The following figures show some examples.

Common triad chord shapes

See Chapter 7. Practical CAGED grips for more about triad chord shapes.

Intervals between strings

On a guitar in standard tuning, the differences in pitch (“intervals”) between the strings are carefully chosen as some of the most fundamental sounds in music.

The interval between a string and its neighbor to the left (except strings 2-3) is called an “inverted perfect fifth” (also known as a “perfect fourth”). The perfect fifth is the most common musical sound in the world (partly because it is the dominant harmonic in the “overtone series”, a natural phenomenon of acoustics).

The interval between the 2nd and 3rd string is called a “major third”. It’s arguably the most important sound in Western harmony, and it’s the next most distinguishable harmonic in the overtone series.

Between them, these intervals (R-3-5) describe a major triad chord, the most common chord in Western music. Lowering the major third by one fret turns it into a minor triad, the second most common type of chord.

As Bert Ligon said in Comprehensive Technique for Jazz Musicians, the major triad consists of “the first three pitches in the overtone series and the natural laws of physics insist that the planet vibrates with these tones when the winds blow, which may explain the universal occurrence of the triad in melodies.” (Ligon, 1999)

For more information about chord intervals and playing in position, see Chapter 8. Major key harmony.