Learning the Fingerboard
Unison Notes
Because each fret on the fingerboard marks the distance of a semitone, wherever a string is stopped at any fret, the next fret stopped either above or below is a semitone, as it is from an open string to the first fret. Therefore due to the nature of the guitar's tuning, by stopping the sixth string at the fifth fret, we obtain the A which is a unison of the open fifth string A. Similarly, if we stop the sixth string at the sixth fret, we obtain the At (Bt) which is a unison of the fifth string, first fret As (B?). This system is the same for all strings except the third string, which must be stopped four frets above the second string. The following examples show the system of unison notes as they shift up the fingerboard on to the next lower string (as demonstrated on the accompanying Table of Unisons page 95).
Note: refer to Appendix One, page 203, "Tuning the Guitar to Itself"
Unison Examples
The following pieces which have already been studied earlier in the first position (page 22 and 24) are now demonstrated in the fifth position (first unison) and the ninth position (second unison). Remember that position indicates the fret controlled by the first finger.
The following table shows the notes on the guitar fingerboard and how the unison system works via the six open strings and the notes above E on the first string. This table can be used as a reference for finding the notes on the fingerboard easily.
Note: dotted indication relates to unison examples (page 92) and pieces (page 93 and 94).
