Lesson 2
Musical Theory
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In this lesson we will discuss the notes that make up the musical alphabet and how to relate those notes to your guitar.
The Musical Alphabet
There are twelve notes in modern western music. These twelve notes are sometimes referred to as the musical alphabet. All of the music we make and listen to consists of these twelve notes, just as all of the words we speak, write, and think are made up of the 26 letters of the alphabet. The twelve musical notes are:
A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#
Memorize this! These are all the notes you will ever play on your guitar (or any other instrument). It is these 12 notes that make up all of modern music (some areas of the world, like parts of Asia, have a different musical alphabet that consist of more notes, but in European and American culture, all of the music you are likely to hear is made up of these 12 notes). So, it is important that you learn these 12 notes. So, take a few minutes now and learn these 12 notes. The "#" symbol stands for sharp (I'll explain what a sharp is in a moment, but first learn the musical alphabet, as shown above.)
Notice that all of the letters except B and E have sharps. A, C, D, F, and G all have sharps. The notes that have a sharp in them can also be called by another name: flat. For example, an A# can also be called a B-flat (Bb) ("b" is the sign for flat). The C# can also be called a Db. Do you see how you are just moving one musical letter over, from left to right or right to left, forwards or backwards? D# is the same note as an Eb. F# is the same as Gb. G# is the same as Ab. The term that is used when a note is called by two names (flat and/or sharp) is enharmonic. So, for example, a G# and an Ab are enharmonic notes (they are the same pitch, so they sound exactly the same). The reason there are two names for the same note has to do with the direction you are moving. If you are moving from an A note to the next note in the musical alphabet, A#, you are sharpening the note. Thus, an A raised a half step (one letter in the musical alphabet) becomes an A#. (When you move from one letter to the very next letter in the musical alphabet it is called a half step, or semi-tone. When you move two letters to the left or right it is a whole step, or tone). If you are lowering the pitch a half step, you are flattening the note. Thus, for example, a B note flattened would become a Bb. Technically, there is no such note as an Fb or a Cb, this is because the interval between B and C and between E and F are a half-step or semitone - an F flattened is just an E note and a C flattened is a B note. Now let's see how this relates to your guitar.
When you see this image of a green head with a dotted cloud brain, it means take a moment to think, reflect, and absorb the information. Take at least 1 minute to take in what you just read. If you do not understand it, call, text, or e-mail me and I will explain.
Notes on the Guitar
Here is how it works on the guitar. The guitar neck is divided by strings (running vertically along the neck) and frets (running horizontally). When you play notes on the guitar, you press your finger down on a string within a fret. A combination of notes (placing multiple fingers on multiple strings and frets) makes up a chord. The open strings in a guitar in standard tuning (A=440 hz) are (from top to bottom, thickest to thinnest string):
E, A, D, G, B, E
Memorize this! Pick up your guitar and look at the strings. The top one and thickest string should be tuned to E, the next string down should be tuned to A, then D, then G, then B, then E again. (If you do not have a guitar tuner, get one. Talk to me, if you need one. If your guitar is not in tune it will not sound right.)
Here's a way to remember the notes of the strings in standard tuning. I call it the Doctor's Prescription for a Healthy Life:
Eat Apples Daily, Go Bed Early
Say that in your mind over and over until you have it memorized. Make it stick!
Now, this is your starting point. To find the other notes on your guitar, you just go down the fretboard on each string following the musical alphabet. So, starting on your Low E string (it also is the same on the high-E string), the first fret is an F note, the second fret is an F#, the third fret is G. What is the note on the fourth fret of the E-strings? You guessed it (I'm guessing), G#. The fifth fret of the E is an A, sixth fret A#, seventh fret B and so on. Now go to the next string, the A-string, the open string (pluck it with your pick or finger), is what note? An A note. Now, if you press your finger between the nut and the first fret bar, you are playing an A# note. Go to the next fret, place your finger right in the middle between the first and second fret bar. Pick it or pluck it. That is a B note. Go down the A-string, fret by fret, as far as you can pressing your finger between the frets and say all the notes. Notice when you get to the twelth fret, you start over again at the beginning (when you get to G-sharp, the next note is an A, it just loops around or starts over again). The distance between the open A (A note played by picking or plucking the A-string) and an A-note played on the 12th fret is called an octave. Now, do this with each of the strings, saying each note as you move down the fretboard. The goal is to eventually know where every single note is on the fretboard (so that when you put your finger down anywhere on the fretboard, you instantaneously know what note you are playing). Here is a diagram of all the notes (up to the twelfth fret) on your guitar:
It helps to use your position markers (the dots on the fretboard) to help you memorize where the notes are. Starting from the nut (if you don't know where your nut is, go to lesson 1 and look at the diagram of the parts of the guitar), your first position marker (dot) is on the third fret (between the 2nd and 3rd fret bars), the second position marker is on the fifth fret, the third position marker is on the seventh fret, the fourth position marker is on the ninth fret, the fifth position marker (two dots) is on the twelth fret. Now, it varies from guitar to guitar which position markers are present, some guitars do not have position markers at all, but most guitars have them. Use these position markers as landmarks for finding notes on your fret board.
For example, the notes on the twlefth fret (fifth position marker) are the same notes as the open strings (strings played without pressing any fingers down on the fretboard). The notes on the thriteenth fret are the same as the notes on the first fret (one octave up). Find the notes for each of the position markers on each of the strings. Write them down (diagram your fretboard and write down the notes just on the postion markers). It will take a while to memorize all the notes on your fretboard, but in the long run it will really help you understand your instrument.
Quiz
1) What are the twelve notes of the musical alphabet?
2) What is the difference between a flat and a sharp?
3) What does the term enharmonic mean?
4) What are the notes of the open strings (strings played without pressing any fingers down) starting from lowest to highest (thickest to thinest, top to bottom)?
5) What is the note on the second fret of the A-string?
6) What is the note on the twelfth fret of the G-string?
7) What is the note on the third fret of the D-string?
8) What is the note on the seventh fret of the A-string?
9) What is the note on the ninth fret of the B-string?
10) What is an octave?
Answers:
1) A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#
2) A flat is when you are moving downward in pitch (from a higher to a lower pitch) and a sharp is when you are moving upward in pitch (from a lower to a higher pitch)
3) Enharmonic is a term for two identical notes that are called by two different names (sharp or flat) For instance, a A# and a Bb are enharmonic, and a G# and an Ab are enharmonic.
4) E, A, D, G, B, E (Remember: Eat Apples Daily, Go Bed Early)
5) B note
6) G
7) F
8) E
9) G#
10) An octave is when you go through each of the twelve notes of the musical alphabet and you get back to the original note that you started on (12 notes apart - up or down, higher or lower in pitch)