Bisecting the Neck (Bass Strings & Melody Strings)

There are many aspects of playing the guitar or bass that are very fundamental and yet are not commonly understood by many, if not most beginners (and some intermediate players).

One such concept is the idea of bisecting the neck of the guitar into two equal halves: the three bass strings (E, A and D)  and the three melody string (G, B and E).

It's useful to think of the three bass strings as a representation of the left hand of a piano player and the three melody strings as the right hand of a piano player. The guitar has a capacity that is similar to the piano in that complex arrangements of songs are possible on both instruments that have bass, middle and melody motion and sound like there are two (or even three) players, playing at once.

General orientation in terms of pitch, what constitutes high or low, can be surprisingly confusing on instruments with necks. For example, going "lower"  has multiple manifestations: going from string one to two to three etc. is going lower while going from fret eight to fret two on the same string is also going lower. The reverse is also true in terms of going higher: going from string six to five to four etc. is moving higher and going from fret two to fret eight is going higher.

As your playing progresses, this concept - of bass and melody strings with become increasingly salient.

Are you ready for your first lesson? Get in touch.

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