Poll of the Day > I never know what people mean when they refer to top/upper strings of a guitar

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The top from a playing angle? Top from the side or a tab view? Upper in terms of position or pitch? I don't know if there is an understood standard for this but I don't wanna sound like a dummy and refer to one side of the guitar when I mean another.

For that matter, this confusion works both ways, both along the strings and the frets.

Both of those are how I would think to describe it, too, but I've seen situations where people seem to be suggesting differently.

Maybe. I don't know which side is considered first string either lol. I'd assume high E since people usually say EBGDAE rather than EADGBE

I'm pretty sure that the "top string" is the high E/1st string. "Bottom string" is the low E/6th string.
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@Hairy-Man

will know

Technically the top strings start at the high E. kind of backwards and ive never understood it, but thats how it goes
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Like I said, it really doesnt make sense to me. It should be the Low E that is the 1st.

But after being in music class with multiple sources, I was wrong
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Well Im in Ontario. Ive had guitar lessons that told me that, as well as music school.

But really I dont know. I still refer to the top string as the Low E. So I am with you guys
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Hairy is a master. He's worked in Korea playing guitar and knows everything about it so I'm sure he knows what he is talking about. He does this thing where he plays up on the arm part ...not sure of the exact terminology, but it's amazing.

Tapping?

I'm not sure what it's called because I've never seen it before. Where u normally "strum" the strings with the pick..he does it up on the neck or arm part. So both hands are on that arm part. It was more than just tapping but I don't really know anything about playing a guitar.

Maybe @Hairy-man will post tomorrow ..or today I guess it is and explain it. I only saw him do it for a few seconds.

Its just a more advanced form of tapping. Lots of bends and harmonics included. I dont think there is a specific name for it.
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I dont understand it. Logically, it makes sense to refer to the top string as the low E.

But then you look at any tab on the net, and its upside down. I dont know who decided that was logical
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There is no debate around this issue (beyond guitar players with little to no musical background). The low E is the one that is at the low end of the register and the high E is the one at the top. The physical location of the strings does not dictate where they fall in the musical spectrum.

On a guitar in standard tuning, the lowest note is always going to be E2. It would be silly to say "play your lowest note" and hear somebody bust out an E4. Think of it like a piano, if that makes it easier.

JTekashiro posted...

There is no debate around this issue (beyond guitar players with little to no musical background). The low E is the one that is at the low end of the register and the high E is the one at the top. The physical location of the strings does not dictate where they fall in the musical spectrum.

On a guitar in standard tuning, the lowest note is always going to be E2. It would be silly to say "play your lowest note" and hear somebody bust out an E4. Think of it like a piano, if that makes it easier.

None of what you're saying here is in question. "Play your lowest note" is much less vague than "play the top string." If somebody told me the latter, especially assuming they don't know that much about guitar/music, I would think they mean low E.

Well I know zilch about guitars but I know hairy is a master. Is this question one that would matter in a certain senario?

Ive played guitar for like 10 years and dont really ever hear the strings refered to as the top one or bottom. Usually, its just called what its tuned to.
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I dont have too much training in theory, but yeah the only way it makes sense is if you compare it to sheet music. But then, why is it like that?

Ill probably always refer to the top as the low E. Ive never really listened to any of my teachers when it came to that anyway lol
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DirtBasedSoap posted...

Ive played guitar for like 10 years and dont really ever hear the strings refered to as the top one or bottom. Usually, its just called what its tuned to.

This. I've taken lessons for both drums and guitar and never been to music school but I've played in bands with people who have. Nobody ever refers to anything as top string in my experience when showing someone an exercise or a riff. They just always refer to it as low e or high e. But yeah, I'm pretty sure the high e is generally considered the top string for whatever reason

Rockies posted...

JTekashiro posted...

There is no debate around this issue (beyond guitar players with little to no musical background). The low E is the one that is at the low end of the register and the high E is the one at the top. The physical location of the strings does not dictate where they fall in the musical spectrum.

On a guitar in standard tuning, the lowest note is always going to be E2. It would be silly to say "play your lowest note" and hear somebody bust out an E4. Think of it like a piano, if that makes it easier.

None of what you're saying here is in question. "Play your lowest note" is much less vague than "play the top string." If somebody told me the latter, especially assuming they don't know that much about guitar/music, I would think they mean low E.

You are failing to understand how this all works. When people refer to a string, be it top or bottom, it is in reference to the pitch it produces, not the physical location of the string. So your "top string" is the string which produces the "top end" of the instruments range.

Zangulus posted...

JTekashiro posted...

There is no debate around this issue (beyond guitar players with little to no musical background). The low E is the one that is at the low end of the register and the high E is the one at the top. The physical location of the strings does not dictate where they fall in the musical spectrum.

On a guitar in standard tuning, the lowest note is always going to be E2. It would be silly to say "play your lowest note" and hear somebody bust out an E4. Think of it like a piano, if that makes it easier.

Yeah. You missed every point made. Rofl

What did I miss? You are failing to understand how a guitar works in a musical setting. You are too obsessed with the location of the string so you overlook how the instrument works musically. Much like any other instrument, the guitar goes from low to high. Therefore, the "low string" will always be the string at the low end of the register, not the one closest to the floor.

As I said with my earlier post, this confusion only comes from guitar players who lack a solid musical foundation. If you can read sheet music, this is pretty clear from day one. Again, using the piano as a reference, the keys are arranged left to right so none of the keys are physically lower or higher than any other. If you asked a pianist what his "bottom key" was, they would tell you it is the left-most key on the board.

JTekashiro posted...

You are failing to understand how this all works. When people refer to a string, be it top or bottom, it is in reference to the pitch it produces, not the physical location of the string. So your "top string" is the string which produces the "top end" of the instruments range.

My apologies, I didn't know you had insight into the minds of everyone who has ever talked about a guitar.

lmao this guy is something. "HEY GUYS DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT MUSIC HAS HIGH AND LOW NOTES"

Yeah, I did pass third grade music class, but thanks for the refresher

Rockies posted...

lmao this guy is something. "HEY GUYS DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT MUSIC HAS HIGH AND LOW NOTES"

Yeah, I did pass third grade music class, but thanks for the refresher

He always posts as a smug troll in my experience. I actually can read music on guitar and violin and still have never had teachers make references to top strings or bottom strings. Dude just wants to appear as a musical badass I think

Well, as said before, maybe I was confusing that I heard "top" string for "first" string, but either way it's open to ambiguities.

Rockies posted...

lmao this guy is something. "HEY GUYS DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT MUSIC HAS HIGH AND LOW NOTES"

Yeah, I did pass third grade music class, but thanks for the refresher

I mean, you literally started this thread about how you don't understand how the top and bottom strings work so....

OhhhJa posted...

Rockies posted...

lmao this guy is something. "HEY GUYS DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT MUSIC HAS HIGH AND LOW NOTES"

Yeah, I did pass third grade music class, but thanks for the refresher

He always posts as a smug troll in my experience. I actually can read music on guitar and violin and still have never had teachers make references to top strings or bottom strings. Dude just wants to appear as a musical badass I think

True, outside of very early lessons the whole "top string/bottom string" will not come up. It will most definitely come up though and the only people that get it wrong are amateur guitar teachers/players.

If I was trying to appear as a musical badass I would probably start spouting off on negative harmony or something actually worth of a theory discussion. I am just trying to correct low-rent guitar teacher bullspit, something I do regularly with my students.