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Writer's pictureChris Arter

Remembering the Names of the Strings

Updated: Aug 24, 2023

A mnemonic (nuh·maa·nik) is an easy way to remember things that can be listed that may seem arbitrary before we fully understand them.




For example:

  • Roy G. Biv for the colors of the rainbow, which are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

  • My very educated mother just served us noodles, for the order of the planets, which is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

  • Please excuse my dear aunt sally - and - PEMDAS, both for the order of mathematical operations, which are parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction.


The strings on a guitar are no different. It is necessary to know the names of the strings at the very beginning of study, so that you can tune the instrument. However before understanding much about music, or how the guitar is tuned, the names of the strings can seem pretty random to a beginner. So I’ve listed here mnemonic devices to help you remember the names of the strings. This is a lot of them, so the value of such a big list is simply for you to find one that you really like so you can easily commit it to memory. I’ve highlighted some of my favorites. The ones I highlighted just made sense to me, but some other one might more sense to you.


6 5 4 3 2 1

E A D G B E


  1. Each Apple Does Get Bitten Eventually

  2. Easter Angels Don't Give Broken Eggs

  3. Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Early

  4. Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Everyday

  5. Eat A Dog, Get Big Ears

  6. Eat All Day Get Big Easy

  7. Eat All Dead Gophers Before Easter

  8. Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie

  9. Eggs Are Deliciously Good Breakfast Energy

  10. Elephants Always Do Good Before Eating

  11. Elephants and Dogs Got Big Ears

  12. Elephants And Dogs Growls Barks Eats

  13. Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears

  14. Elvis Aaron Died God Bless Elvis

  15. Elvis Always Did Get By Easy

  16. Even After Dinner Giant Boys Eat

  17. Even Average Dogs Get Bones Eventually

  18. Every Adult Dog Growls Barks Eats

  19. Every Amateur Does Get Better Eventually

  20. Every American Dog Gets Bones Easily

  21. Every Angel Does Good Before Evil

  22. Every Apple Does Get Bitten Eventually

  23. Every Apple Does Go Bad Eventually

  24. Every Average Dude Gets Better Eventually


I like memorizing the strings from thickest to thinnest personally. However, when we are referring to each string with a number, which happens a lot, the strings are numbered in-order from thinnest to thickest. So the thinnest string is string 1 and the thickest is string 6. For that reason, it may make more sense to you to learn the letter names of the strings from thinnest to thickest. It’s not as common, but there is a good argument for doing it this way. You’ll see I was able to find significantly less examples of this.


1 2 3 4 5 6

E B G D A E


  1. Easter Bunnies Get Dizzy At Easter

  2. Elvis’ Big Great Dane Ate Everything

  3. Every Beginning Guitarist Does All Exercises!

  4. Every Big Girl Deserves An Elephant

  5. Every Body Goes Down An Escalator

  6. Every Boy Gets Dinner At Eight

  7. Every Body Goes Dancing At Eleven

  8. Every boy gets down after Easter



Again, don’t try to learn more than one of these, it is pointless. The only reason for such an exhaustive list is just to help you find one that resonates with you. Once you got it, move on, there’s far too much to learn about the guitar to spend more than 5 minutes picking out your favorite mnemonic.



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