Are Pianos and Electric Guitar Keys the same?

Question

So I know that Pianos Keys are pretty simple to understand, yea? Like C1 is just the first time C comes up, but how does that relate to guitar? More specifically, F#5 on keyboard is easy to find, but where is that on a guitar?

I've done some google searches and found differing answers. Some saying you can play guitar in the same key, some saying pianos are in C while Guitars are in E, or in G. So I thought that maybe I could play a couple keys up like f#5(G, 11th Fret) was really the same key three whole steps upward. (B,16th fret)

I'm really just confused at this point and would really like if someone can explain where F#5 would be on guitar, and how I can find other keys. I figured they might be the same and I might just be overthinking it, but when I played the notes, it sounded outright wrong.

I've been using trying to use this image here to try and figure it all out. [1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/9XPd6.jpg

Answer 1

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your confusing the idea of a musical "key", a set of notes and a tonic, with a physical "key" on a keyboard. Correct me if wrong, please.

Each key on a piano corresponds to a note. Every fret + string (ex 1st string 5th fret) combination on a guitar corresponds to a note. Every note on a guitar can be played on a piano. Not every note on a piano can be played on a guitar, because a piano might have a larger range (lower and maybe higher than the guitar can play).

Your image is correct for a guitar in standard tuning. Guitars are not "in a key", they are "in a tuning". Guitars can play in any key, provided the musician knows how to. Notes also occur in multiple locations on a guitar. You can see from the image that F#5 appears on three different strings. This is just the nature of the instrument. These locations of the note F# (in standard tuning) are string 1 fret 14, string 3 fret 19, and string 3 fret 23 (which guitar may not have).

Edit: If your guitar sounds "Wrong" I would make sure it is in tune and maybe even correctly intonated. Worry about tuning first

Answer 2

Guitars are an octave-transposing instrument. This means they play in C*, the same key as a piano, but one octave lower than written. (Why?)

The lowest note on a standard-tuning guitar sounds an E2, and this would be called "concert E2". On a written score, however, it will be written an octave up, as an E3. From there, you can count up just like a piano. Personally, I prefer to talk about the guitar in concert pitch, especially since I play genres that don't typically use written music anyway.

So, where is (concert) F#5 on a guitar? Well, the lowest F# you can play on a guitar is F#2, since that's the first F# that's not lower than E2. Then the next highest F# is F#3, then the next is F#4, then finally F#5.

Original guitar image from Wikipedia

*An instrument in C means that a C played on the instrument is the same pitch as a C on a piano. Music can be played on a guitar in any key, just as with a piano.

Answer 3

"keys", on a piano, are the things you press to make notes sound. they are not the notes themself -- D is a note, you sound it on a piano by depressing a key, you sound it on a guitar by plucking (and perhaps also fretting) a string.

"key", in the sense of instrument tuning, is difficult to explain but relates to non-octave transposing instruments. you do not need to worry about this, the guitar is an octave-transposing instrument; your low E string is the same as an E on a piano, but if you're reading sheet music, it's an octave down from where it would be on a piano. a guitar is, in this sense, "in C".

in my experience, many guitarists do not use transposing terminology, and "in C" to a guitarist might instead mean that the guitar is drop-tuned to C-G-C-F-A-D. this is incorrect terminology if you are hoping to communicate with musicians who play transposing instruments (e.g., in a jazz or ska band), but it's common, and is probably why you have heard the statement that guitars are "in E" (meaning, that the lowest string in standard tuning is tuned to E). to be explicit, despite using the phraseology of key ("in E"), guitarists are not taking about key when they use this language in this way, they are talking about tuning. i would strongly recommend never using this terminology in this way.

there is also "key" in the sense of tonality. this is more abstract again, it broadly describes the chord you might expect to end a song on (oversimplifying because you don't seem ready).

for some reason, musicians insist on giving every theory-specific word three distinct meanings. this is extremely frustrating for beginners.

Answer 4

Pianos and guitars have no ‘key’ as they offer multiple octaves of notes. Woodwind instruments have a fixed number of notes and can be purchased in different keys.

However, to make sheet music easier, some instruments have music in one key and make sounds in another key. For example a clarinet’s C natural sounds exactly like the piano’s B flat ... to make the sheet music for clarinet simpler, no accidentals in the key of C.

It's a transposing instrument. https://www.soundslice.com/blog/2/transposing-instruments/

Don't confuse the name of the tuning of a guitar with the key. A guitar tuned in “Open G tuning” means the open strings are the notes of a G major chord.

Guitar strings are tuned: E2–A2–D3–G3–B3–E4

A2 is 110.00 Hz.

Bass strings are one octave lower and are tuned: E1–A1–D2–G2

A1 has half the frequency of A2 i.e. 55 Hz.

https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/notes.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_tunings#Standard

The diagram you noted seems clear. The F♯5 is between pink-5 and pink-6 ... B string 19th fret ... or E string 14th fret ... or G string 23rd fret.

That's a really good diagram!