I want to root my galaxy note but I don't want to lose jelly bean. and all the guides that I've read seem to want to install Gingerbread. I'm very confused on where to start
You dont have to do that. You need to install a custom Recovery via ODIN and after you do you install the zip version of SUperSU. So read on how to install CWM or TWRP and from there go to the SuperSU site and get the zip version of that.