A guitar has six strings. Played open, from thickest to thinnest, they are: E – A – D – G – B – E. The thickest is the low E string, the thinnest the high E string. Both are E, just two octaves apart.
Memory sentences
A sentence whose words start with the string names makes the order from lowest to highest easy to remember:
- Eat All Day, Get Big Easily
- Every Acorn Dreams Growing Big Eventually
Even better: make up your own sentence! Things you invent yourself are hard to forget.
On a classical guitar the three low strings are easy to spot: they’re wound with fine wire and look metallic. The three high strings are smooth and clear or milky. When you look down at the guitar while playing, the low E string is at the top, closest to your face – even though it has the lowest sound.
Numbering the strings
In notation and tab the strings are often numbered. The 1st string is the thinnest (high E) and the 6th string is the thickest (low E). It sounds backwards at first, but that’s the standard everywhere.
- 6th string: low E
- 5th string: A
- 4th string: D
- 3rd string: G
- 2nd string: B
- 1st string: high E
You’ll need these numbers when you read tab and when you tune. In the app’s tuner you can also listen to each string.
To the tuner