If you play the 1st fret on the 5th string, what note are you playing?

When you play the 1st fret on the 5th string of the guitar, you are pressing down on the lowest A string, which is tuned to E in standard tuning. When you push down on the string at the 1st fret, you raise the pitch by one half step. The note that is one half step above E is F. Therefore, when you play the 1st fret on the 5th string, you produce the note F. Understanding this involves a fundamental concept of music theory known as the chromatic scale, which recognizes that each fret represents a successive half step in pitch. This systematic approach allows guitarists to navigate the fretboard more easily and understand the relationships between notes.