The Musical Alphabet
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This first lesson I will give you, if you are already familiar with music, can be pass, it only consist of basic knowledge. If you are a total beginner in this field, read on, even if it is basic, understanding this lesson is critical. Also, I am a guitarist; therefore, even if you can learn music theory without playing an instrument, my lessons will be more “guitar-oriented”. Finally, my lessons, except if it is necessary, won’t go too deeply into complex “theory” (the dreaded word), my goal is to help you to understand what is happening in what you are playing, and, while we are at it, improve your improvisation skills, no more no less. So, let’s get to it.
First off, a note is a pitch produced by a musical instrument, so whenever you are producing sound with your instrument, you play notes. If you want to learn a language, you need to learn its alphabet and even music has one, it is made of notes, ordered from the lowest pitch, to the highest. There are seven notes:
A B C D E F G
You should know them, but most of the time you see them in this order:
C D E F G A B
Or with different names:
DO RE MI FA SOL LA SI
The notes works in sequences, you start from one of them, go through the whole sequence and get back to the first one
…C D E F G A B C D E F…
Even if it looks like you went full circle, you didn’t, you just reached the next octave. The first C is at a lowest pitch than the second one, it is like counting numbers, you start from 1 and go to 9, you start back at 0 but you add 1 and start other to 20, then 30… In music, these sets are called octaves: you reach a higher C and go on until the next higher C.
Now you know that there are 7 notes in the musical alphabet, we call them natural notes. However, there are 12 notes, the 5 others are:
C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ A♯
D♭ E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭
Yeah, I know, there are 10 notes, not 5, well; it is time to talk about enharmonic, accidentals and steps.
Steps are easy to understand, they are the difference in pitch between two notes, or the interval between two notes: between C and D, D and E, F and G, G and A, A and B there is a whole step, between B and C, E and F there is a half-step.
A B C D E F G
You should know them, but most of the time you see them in this order:
C D E F G A B
Or with different names:
DO RE MI FA SOL LA SI
The notes works in sequences, you start from one of them, go through the whole sequence and get back to the first one
…C D E F G A B C D E F…
Even if it looks like you went full circle, you didn’t, you just reached the next octave. The first C is at a lowest pitch than the second one, it is like counting numbers, you start from 1 and go to 9, you start back at 0 but you add 1 and start other to 20, then 30… In music, these sets are called octaves: you reach a higher C and go on until the next higher C.
Now you know that there are 7 notes in the musical alphabet, we call them natural notes. However, there are 12 notes, the 5 others are:
C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ A♯
D♭ E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭
Yeah, I know, there are 10 notes, not 5, well; it is time to talk about enharmonic, accidentals and steps.
Steps are easy to understand, they are the difference in pitch between two notes, or the interval between two notes: between C and D, D and E, F and G, G and A, A and B there is a whole step, between B and C, E and F there is a half-step.
Accidentals are those symbols you saw previously: sharps (♯) and flats (♭). Sharps
increase the pitch of a note by a half step, while flats decrease it by a half step. Maybe you already understand
where the problem is:
C D E F G A B C
From C to D we have a whole step, between these two notes you have another note: a C♯ (remember, C♯ is only the natural note C and the ♯ adds a half step to its pitch), so between C and C♯ we have a half-step, and between C♯ and D we also have a half-step. Easy isn’t it? Okay let’s see what happens when we look at D♭. From D to D♭ we have a half-step (once again D♭ is the natural note D, minus a half step) and from D♭ to C we have a half-step again! As you can see, the intervals between C - C♯ - D and D - D♭- C are the same, therefore C♯ and D♭ have the same pitch, they are the same notes! They are enharmonic; they have the same pitch, but different names. You will learn later why it is useful in musical theory to have two names for the same pitch, it will be all clear but, for now just remember that.
Now we have our 12 notes:
C C♯/D♭ D D♯/E♭ E F F♯/G♭ G G♯/A♭ A A♯/B♭ B
C D E F G A B C
From C to D we have a whole step, between these two notes you have another note: a C♯ (remember, C♯ is only the natural note C and the ♯ adds a half step to its pitch), so between C and C♯ we have a half-step, and between C♯ and D we also have a half-step. Easy isn’t it? Okay let’s see what happens when we look at D♭. From D to D♭ we have a half-step (once again D♭ is the natural note D, minus a half step) and from D♭ to C we have a half-step again! As you can see, the intervals between C - C♯ - D and D - D♭- C are the same, therefore C♯ and D♭ have the same pitch, they are the same notes! They are enharmonic; they have the same pitch, but different names. You will learn later why it is useful in musical theory to have two names for the same pitch, it will be all clear but, for now just remember that.
Now we have our 12 notes:
C C♯/D♭ D D♯/E♭ E F F♯/G♭ G G♯/A♭ A A♯/B♭ B
Remember, we do not need to add sharps to B and E because there is only a
half-step between B and C, E and F,
and for the same reasons, we do not add
flats to C and F. Thus, B♯ is actually C, C♭ is B, and E♯ is F while F♭ is E. Do not
hesitate to write this down and to try it by yourself, it can be pretty complex
at first, it will get easier with practice.
That’s all you need to know for now, take time to fully understand all of this, as I said, it is basic but critical knowledge.
Prepare yourself for the next lesson or you can check on the Musikal Knowledge timeline on facebook or twitter, click on the icons and check out my books.
That’s all you need to know for now, take time to fully understand all of this, as I said, it is basic but critical knowledge.
Prepare yourself for the next lesson or you can check on the Musikal Knowledge timeline on facebook or twitter, click on the icons and check out my books.
Learning music theory is useless if do not make music! And playing an instrument helps you to understand all that theory! Musikal knowledge have you covered: Alfred's Teach Yourself Rock Guitar
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