Unit One: The Musical Alphabet

Unit One
The Musical Alphabet
Know the Notes on your Guitar without a Fretboard Chart

Guitarists who are new to music theory will have a lot to take in today. Guitarists who have
been playing a while or who read music will have heard most of this. Bear with me! I’ve
done my best to find challenging applications of today’s material for you, that will help you
become more agile on your fretboard as you prepare for new information. Things will pick
up in units 2 and 3.

1. The physics of sound (extremely simplified)

➔ A pitch describes how high or low a note is. Pitches sound the way they do because
of the frequency at which their soundwaves vibrate.
➔ When two waves sound at the same time, or in close succession with each other, the
waves interact in a way that depends on their frequencies
◆ Some pairs of notes have a smooth, harmonious relationship (called
consonant), because their frequencies line up nicely and intersect regularly.
◆ Other pairs of notes have a rockier relationship (called dissonant), because
the ratio of their sound waves is not neat and regular.

➔ Western music (which includes nearly all guitar genres) is based on a system of
twelve tones.
◆ The twelve tones and their interactions with each other give us a beautiful
palette of consonance and dissonance to play with, and the possibilities are
endless.
◆ To drastically oversimplify, we use dissonance to create tension, and
consonance to resolve it. That tension and resolution is what makes music
work, harmonically speaking.

2. The Natural Musical Alphabet

➔ We use seven letters to communicate pitches, starting at A, and then starting over
again after G. When we start over, we are one octave higher than where we
started. The seven letters are:

A B C D E F G A

➔ These seven notes, defined by these letters alone, are what we call natural notes.
➔ Essential vocabulary
◆ Half-step: one fret
◆ Whole-step: two frets
◆ Octave: 12 frets, the same note name as the open fret

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 Unit One: The Musical Alphabet

➔ Pay close attention to which notes in the natural scale are separated by
◆ only a half step (one fret)
● B/C
● E/F
◆ a whole step (two frets)
● A/B
● C/D
● D/E
● F/G
● G/A
◆ For anyone familiar with a piano keyboard layout, the white piano keys are
the natural notes.

➔ With this information memorized, you can find all the natural notes on all 6 strings

◆ Strings 1 and 6 E.
E F G A B C D E

◆ String 2 B
B C D E F G A B

◆ String 3 G
G A B C D E F G

◆ String 4 D
D E F G A B C D
(FIG 2)

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 Unit One: The Musical Alphabet

3. The Chromatic Scale

➔ So far, we’ve only talked about seven notes of the musical alphabet, and our musical
system is based on twelve notes.
➔ The other five tones are the blank spaces between the natural notes, and they can
be named in different ways depending on the context.
➔ Essential vocabulary and symbols change the pitch of a natural notes
◆ Accidentals: change the pitch of a natural notes
◆ Sharp ♯ - raises a note by one half-step
◆ Flat ♭- lowers a note by one half-step
◆ Natural ♮- restores a note to its natural version
➔ What symbol we use to describe a note depends on the musical context in which it
occurs.
➔ The chromatic scale includes all of the notes (flat, natural, sharp) and it is our
musical alphabet.

A A♯ B C C♯ D D♯ E F F♯ G G♯ A
B♭ D♭ E♭ G♭ A♭
(FIG 3)

➔ Play through Chromatic Scale on 5th string, using sharps only when ascending, flats
only when descending.
◆ A • A♯ • B • C • C♯ • D • D♯ • E • F • F♯ • G • G♯ • A
◆ A • A♭• G • G♭• F • E • E♭• D • D♭• C • B • B♭• A

4. Scales and why they matter

➔ A scale is a collection of notes in a specific pattern, beginning on one note and
ending an octave higher (or lower) on the same note.
➔ There are lots of types of scales. Most, but not all, consist of half-steps and
whole-steps.
➔ Melodies are made from scales and chords are derived from them. Thinking of
music in terms of scales helps us see the big picture, rather than being lost in details
and seemingly random successions of notes.
➔ The chromatic scale IS our musical alphabet. We need it to understand our guitar,
and all of the theory knowledge you’ll learn in this course.