Rockschool Syllabus:
You will need to learn the main notes on the E and A strings to get by in Rockschool, in particular from Grade 3 onwards because they will be needed to play barre chords and scales in the correct places. It is beneficial to understand how sharps and flats (# and b) work from Grade 3, and by Grade 5 you might struggle without this knowledge.
RGT Syllabus:
You will need to learn the notes on the E and A strings including all the sharps and flats in RGT Grade 3 because they will be needed to play barre chords and scales in the correct places. By Grade 5 you will need to have some understanding of all the fretboard notes including sharps and flats, and at least the ability to quickly work out any note on the fretboard in your head if you don’t remember it.
Sharps (#) and Flats (b)
1 fret higher is a sharp, or 1 fret lower is a flat. So fret 2 of the E string could be either F sharp of G flat (F# or Gb). They are both the same note. Try not to get confused with this at first, because you don’t need to understand why until Grade 5.
Remember This:
“SHARPEN UP” +1 FRET
“FLATTEN DOWN” -1 FRET