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INTERMEDIATE COURSE Notes, Scales and Keys - The Basics
From Evyn
Charles' book From
Guitar Owner To Guitar Player All pages
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Click
here to the Table of Contents Page.
NOTES, SCALES AND KEYS - THE BASICS
This is an introduction to the “language” in which most musicians communicate.
The musical “alphabet” consists of 12 tones. The closest distance between two tones is a HALF-STEP, corresponding to 1 fret on the guitar neck. As you might guess, two half-steps make up a WHOLE STEP. Since there are 12 tones in music, and each tone corresponds to a guitar fret, notes on the 12th fret of the guitar neck have the same names as the open strings: E, A, D, G, B and E! NOTES are the names of the tones sounded or sung. The seven letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G are used to describe those tones. Since there are 12 tones in the traditional musical scale but only seven letters to describe them, SHARPS AND FLATS are used to raise or lower notes by a half-step, respectively. For example, Db is one half-step lower than D; F# is one half-step higher than F. SCALES are a way to subdivide the octave (see OCTAVE-below); an arrangement of succeeding letter notes. For instance, A followed by B followed by C, etc. These arrangements are not random, but follow fixed formulas of whole steps and half-steps.
KEYS determine what notes belong in the scale. For example, the key of D major will always contain an A and an F# note, among others, but never an Ab or F natural. (“Natural” means neither sharp not flat). Just as letters of the alphabet can be found in any word, notes can be part of more than one scale, but scales are always made up of the same notes. For example, the F# note also belongs in the G scale among others. An OCTAVE is an 8-note span between two notes in the same traditional scale. These two notes share the same name. For example, if you start on G and go up (or down) the scale (G, A, B, C, D, E, F#), you will invariably end up on another G eight notes away from where you started. The two Gs are an octave apart. They sound similar but one is higher than the other. The same note played by two instruments is not called an octave, but rather a UNISON. Click here to go the next chapter - Chord Numbering And Transposing Or click here to go to the Table of Contents Page.
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