In general guitar playing and music you will only ever encounter twelve notes. A, B, C, D, E, F, G (we will call these even notes which probably isn’t a correct musical term, but will help during the explanation of this lesson) and their sharps and flats.
A flat (b) refers to a note that is slightly lower in pitch, e.g., E flat (Eb) is slightly lower in pitch than E.
A sharp (#) refers to a note that is slightly higher in pitch, e.g., D sharp (D#) is slightly higher in pitch than D.
Just for the record, even notes are the white keys on a piano whilst, the black keys are sharps and flats.
The interval between each of the twelve notes is referred to as a semi-tone. Two semi-tones equal a whole tone, therefore, the interval between two notes is a tone.
Generally there is a whole tone interval between each even note, except between B & C and E & F, where there is only a semi-tone. This provides the key to note theory.
Between each note that has a whole tone between it, there lies another note, which is either the sharp of the note below it in pitch, or the flat of the note above it in pitch. This also means that the flat off one note is the sharp of another, but dont let this confuse you. The note is the same, it just has two different names. So for instance, between A and B there is an interval of one whole tone, therefore there must be another note between them. This note is called both A# and Bb.
This also implies that if there are no notes between B&C and E&F, then there must be no B#, Cb, E# and Fb. Which is true, but generally you will find these notes written occasionally. If you do, dont worry, as an E# is just an F, etc.
So now that we’ve figured out the intervals, lets look at the entire set of twelve notes:
|
Note |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
Restart |
|
Even |
A |
|
B |
C |
|
D |
|
E |
F |
|
G |
|
A |
|
Sharp |
|
A# |
|
|
C# |
|
D# |
|
|
F# |
|
G# |
|
|
Flat |
|
Bb |
|
|
Db |
|
Eb |
|
|
Gb |
|
Ab |
|
After we’ve reached the twelfth note, we just start over again, see the column entitled restart. So after G#/Ab, the next note is A.
Taking all of this is mind you should now know all of the notes on the neck of the guitar. We already know from the tuning lesson that the notes of the strings are E, A, D, G, B, E from low to high (thick to thin). So lets take the A string as an example.
Played open (without putting a finger on a fret), the string produces an A note. If we now hold down the string at the first fret, we get an A# note, 2nd fret B, 3rd fret C, etc.
That should explain all there is to know about notes.
It is worth bearing in mind that other notes do exist called micro tones, where by the tones and semi tones are divided up further into smaller intervals, but these involve different instruments that are designed for their use.
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