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The Musical Alphabet
The musical alphabet consists of seven different letter names: A
B C D E F GThese notes are also known as the naturalnotes.
In addition to these seven natural notes we can have sharp ()
notes and flat () notes.
They are also known as accidentals.
Note: when writing accidentals (or ), they go afterthe letter
name (unless writing theactual music note on the staff).
Ex. 1
A B D A correct
Ex. 2A B D A incorrect
Sharps
Sharps are notes that are raised by one fret and are represented
by the symbol. For
example, if an F note is played on the first fret then an Fnote
is played on the secondfret (one fret higher).
The distance of one fret is also known as a semitone (ST). The
semitone is more
frequently used because it's applicable to any instrument.
Keeping it simple, every note has a sharp except for B and E.
The note above B is C and
above E is F (later we will include Band E).
Here are all the notes and their sharps in order going up:
A A B C C D D E F F G G A ...(keep repeating)...
Notice that after Gis A. The pattern repeats all over again.
Using the above chart, if we needed to find the note that is
three frets (semitones) above
F, we would count three notes above F:G = one fret, G= two
frets, A = three frets.
An A note is three frets above an Fnote.
Ex. 1
What is the note nine frets above C?
Cis one fret above C, D is two frets above, Dis three frets, E
is 4, F is 5, Fis 6, G is
7, Gis 8 and A is 9.
A is nine frets above C.
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Ex. 2
What is the note three semitones above G?
Gis one semitone above G, A is two and Ais three.
Ais three semitones above G.
Test your knowledge of sharps by answering questions from the
Music Alphabet Quiz#1
on page 59.
Flats
Flats are notes that are lowered by a semitone and represented
by a symbol. If a G note
is played on the 3rd fret then a Gnote is played on the 2nd
fret. For our theory needs at
the moment, every note has a flat except C and F. The note
beneath C is B and beneath F
is E.
Looking at the musical alphabet backwards, we get:
A A G G F E E D D C B B A .....
Here it is turned around:
A B B C D D E E F G G A A .....
In the above alphabet, the note above A is B. But we just
learned that the note above A
is A. It turns out that B and A are the same note; this is
called enharmonic.
Enharmonicmeans the note is the same pitch, but spelled
differently.
Lets find a few flat notes:
Ex. 1
What is the note three semitones above C?
D is one semitone above C, D is two semitones above C and E is
three semitonesabove C.
The note that is three semitones above C is E.
(It is also D, but we are finding flat notes at the moment.)
Ex. 2What is the note eight frets above G?
Ais 1, A is 2, Bis 3, B is 4, C is 5, Dis 6, D is 7, Eis 8.
The note that is eight frets above G is E.
Test your knowledge of flats by answering questions from the
Music Alphabet Quiz #2
on page 59.
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Sharps and flats together
Here are all the notes in the musical alphabet that we have
learned so far:
A A/B B C C/D D D/E E F F/G G G/AA ....
There are four notes we should add to finish this list: B, E,
Cand F.
As you can guess, Bis the same as C, Eis the same as F, Cis the
same as B and Fisthe same as E. You will find when we properly name
intervals why we choose, for
example, Finstead of E in certain cases.
Here are all the notes that we know so far (notes stacked on top
of each other are thesame pitch):
A AB BCD DE EFG GA ...
A BCC DD EFF GG AA ...
Test your knowledge of all these notes by answering questions
from the Music AlphabetQuiz#3 on page 60.
Notes applied to the guitar
We can find any note on our guitar with this knowledge of the
musical alphabet. Before
starting this section, make sure you know your string names and
numbers (please seeThe Six Strings on page 126 if needed).
If you are unfamiliar with tab, please check out Basic Tab and
Chord Diagrams onpage 127.
Ex. 1
What is the note on the 6th fret of the 4th string?
We know that the 4th string is the D string. This means that
when we play this string
open, it rings a D note.
Open = D note
1st fret = Dor E2nd fret = E
3rd fret = F
4th fret = For G5th fret = G
6th fret = Gor A
The note on the 6th fret of the D string is Gor A.
Ex. 2
What is the note on the 9th fret of the G string?
