How to Play High E Notes on an Acoustic Guitar
- 1). Pluck or pick the string that is closest to the ground when you are holding the guitar in playing position. This string, which also happens to be the thinnest string, is a high E note and is called the first string or the high E string.
- 2). Hold the high E string in the twelfth fret, which are the sections on your guitar's neck that are separated by bumps, and pluck it. This also is a high E note. It is one octave higher than the high E note that you played in step one.
- 3). Play the first high E note using strings other than the high E string. Holding the B string (second string) in the fifth fret, the G string (third string) in the ninth fret, the D string (fourth string) in the fourteenth fret or the A string (fifth string) in the nineteenth fret will produce a high E note.
- 4). Add style to the way that you play a high E by using various guitar techniques. You can bend a note by holding a fret that is one or two frets away from the high E note, picking the string and bending the string up or down until you hear a high E. Slide up to high E by picking a note that is lower than high E and sliding up to the high E fret as the note rings out. Move your finger or wrist slightly as you fret high E in order to add vibrato to the note.
