hey guys i have been learning music theory on myself for quite sometime now, from books, websites, etc, whatever i could find. and i think that the books i got from the library, "guitar for dummies" and "music theory for dummies" (LOL!!) finally managed to get something into my head!! i think i now know how it works...
So the 5 lines on the staff are (from bottom to top) E G B D F ....and the 4 spaces are F A C E ...right?
the notes indicate whether they are quarter notes, eighth notes, etc etc, from the character, but my question is how do we know WHICH STRING TO PLAY THE NOTES ON? like suppose on the staff, on 2nd line (G) there's an eighth note....so which string should I play the G note on?
I hope I got everything OK..if not please correct me..still a beginner to music theory so forgive mistakes!!!!

looks good as far as i can tell as for which string i think that is at the descretion of the musician usally the most efficient one is the best choice in some musical notation they will give you fingering hints on the staff or above it this varies widely though

Start by learning to play the C scale in the first position.

Look at Lesson 4, Figures 1 and 2 at GuitarMore.com to see diagrams that show the finger and fret numbers for this scale. 



http://www.guitarmore.com/

thanks Scott! i learned the C scale. but still figuring out how to know which string to play the notes on, by looking at the staff..

You are welcome! Clarifying my previous comment... you need to memorize the names of the strings by their note names and memorize the names of the fretted notes if you want to play music you are reading from a sheet of music.

The method I referred to was to write the fret numbers above the music staff and the string number below the music staff for each note on the sheet of music you are playing. That way, when you first start playing the music, you are playing the notes by looking at the numbers. After awhile, you start to recognize the notes without putting the numbers on the sheet of music. It is a simple way of memorization. These string and fret numbers are shown for the C scale in the diagrams in my Lesson 4 that I mentioned in my previous post. To learn more notes, Google search for guitar fretboard notes for notes on every fret of the neck.

The thought of memorizing can sound intimidating or like too much work, but take it slow, learn a few notes or a scale at a time and before you know it, you've mastered it. And it is worth it, because it becomes the foundation of all your melody and chord playing. Good luck!


http://www.guitarmore.com/