Flats
A Flat (b) does the opposite of a sharp. Placed immediately before a note, it lowers the pitch of that note by one semitone.
As with sharps, flats are cancelled by a bar line or by a natural sign.
The use of sharps and flats means that the same note can have two different names. For example, F# is the same note as Gb and G# is also Ab. These are referred to as enharmonic notes. The following diagram outlines all of the notes in the first position on the guitar (including both names for the enharmonic notes). The first position consists of the open string notes and the notes on the first four frets.
To improve your knowledge of flats, write the names above or below these notes and then find them on the guitar.
The following example demonstrates two octaves of the E chromatic scale. Notice that sharps are used as the scale ascends and flats as it descends. This is common practice when writing chromatic passages in music. To help you memorize the notes an their positions on both the staff and the fretboard, name the notes out loud as you practice this scale.
Now play this example which makes use of sharps, flats and naturals.
