where on earth in the middle C on the guitar?????

heeeeeelppppppppppp!!!
i need to compose this peice of music for a piano for my music class. dont have a piano so i'm using a guitar. i need to know where middle C is so that i can start writting in treble and bass clef.

thanks

Middle C on the guitar is either 8th fret E string, or 3rd fret A string. That doesn't give you much room for playing more bassy stuff. Guitar is a treble clef based instrument and as such you don;t really need to use a bass clef. Even low E can be written on treble clef with 3 ledger lines. Borrow a crappy old casiotone or something. One of ur older relatives will have one gathering dust.

Actually, it's more accurate to say that middle C on the guitar is the fifth fret G string, or 1st fret B string. You're right, when we see a middle C on the page, we play it at either of the locations you mentioned. However, the guitar is a transposing instrument. It plays an octave lower than it reads. If you ask anybody else for middle C, the note they will give you is the one that sounds at the fifth fret G string, or first B string.

luigi is right.

I back Luigi

hey, what's the deal with the dates of these posts? I think we've been had!

word

I searched on Google and one of the most popular links for middle C on guitar was this one.

I think I should post a correction. While if you were looking guitarcentricly you might say that the C on 5th fret G string or 1st fret B string is middle C. In the western world of music middle C is defined as C4, which is matched to the guitar 3rd fret A string or 8th fret LowE string. This is because the LowE string on guitar is tuned standardly to E3 and the next C is C4 (the number group of the notes starts on C or commonly known as Do).

No offense to anyone posting incorrect information without knowing it's incorrect; it's nobody's fault to be unwittingly incorrect about something.

Cheers :)

I am just starting guitar and have the same question. I created this mapping diagram to flesh out my understanding (trying to leverage my little understanding of piano). Can someone please confirm this is correct, and if not let me know how it is wrong.

The tone of middle c on the piano (C4), is annotated on the ledger line between the treble and bass cleff on the grand staff. That same tone (C4) is played on the guitar at the first fret of the B string (or 5th on G, or 10th on D, or 15th on A, or 20th on low E), but it is noted on the treble cleff (in guitar notation) as the C in FACE.

Originally Posted by: link4gI searched on Google and one of the most popular links for middle C on guitar was this one.[br][br]I think I should post a correction. While if you were looking guitarcentricly you might say that the C on 5th fret G string or 1st fret B string is middle C. In the western world of music middle C is defined as C4, which is matched to the guitar 3rd fret A string or 8th fret LowE string. This is because the LowE string on guitar is tuned standardly to E3 and the next C is C4 (the number group of the notes starts on C or commonly known as Do).[br][br]No offense to anyone posting incorrect information without knowing it's incorrect; it's nobody's fault to be unwittingly incorrect about something.[br][br]Cheers :)

Is the low E string tuned to E3? My Mel Bay guitar book has it mapped to E2, which would make Luigi (post #3) correct. In fact all reference material I can find shows low E mapped to E2 not E3.

Originally Posted by: gsn1074

I am just starting guitar and have the same question. I created this mapping diagram to flesh out my understanding (trying to leverage my little understanding of piano). Can someone please confirm this is correct, and if not let me know how it is wrong.

Yes, that mapping diagram looks correct. Guitar is a transposing instrument. Best of success with your guitar learning!

Originally Posted by: gsn1074

[br]Is the low E string tuned to E3? My Mel Bay guitar book has it mapped to E2, which would make Luigi (post #3) correct. In fact all reference material I can find shows low E mapped to E2 not E3.

The low open E string corresponds in pitch to E2. The confusion on this issue is usually due to the fact that the guitar is written as a transposed instrument.

Guitar notation is typically written an octave higher than it sounds at concert pitch compared to the piano (and other standard instruments). This means that the guitar is a transposing instrument, because its notes sound one octave lower than they are actually notated on a score.

The reason for this practice is because if the guitar was written on sheet music as actually pitched, then the pitch of middle C would be written in the bass clef! (Second space from the bottom to be precise.) And the bottom string E would be one ledger line below the entire bass clef.

In order to avoid having to read two staves (bass and treble), the music establishment decided to write guitar one octave up. This helps in one sense because rather than have to read two staves (bass and treble) like piano music, guitar is usually only written in treble clef.

The actual concert pitch middle C on a piano is the "industry standard"; and it is written on the "middle C", one ledger line below the treble clef (also one ledger line above bass clef in order to occupy it's very special place in music notation).

However, the piano is better written in two staves not only because it has a much wider pitch range (higher and lower). But more importantly, because it adds clarity to being able to clearly see two separate parts for two separate hands.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the replies Christopher, I am crystal clear on this now. I appreciate the help greatly.