Cheap Web Hosting | Free Web Hosting | Dedicated Servers | Windows Hosting | Free Web Space | Trade Show Displays | GoDaddy Coupon Codes | FrontPage Hosting | Business Hosting
cheap web hosting
Search the Web

These are the notes as they appear on the grand staff. The bass clef is on the bottom and the treble clef is on top.



Notes and Rests



This is how we count the notes




See if you can figure out the count for this simple little ditty



 Time Signatures

 Time signatures are the numbers that look like fractions. 2/2, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8 and so on. The top number tells you how many beats there are in one bar. The bottom number tells you what kind of note gets one beat. Let us take for example the most popular time signature, 4/4. 4/4 time means there is 4 quarter notes per measure. How is this so? Looking at 4/4, you saw the 4 on top. This means that the notes have to equal 4. The bottom number determines what the note is going to be. The bottom number can be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 etc... Using 4/4 time as an example One whole = 4 so in 4/4 time you would see one whole note per bar. 2 half notes = 4 so in 4/4 so you would see 2 half notes per bar. It takes 4 quarter notes to = 4 so you would see 4 quarter notes per bar in 4/4 time. How many eighth notes does it take to equal four you ask? The answer is 8! Which also means one bar in 4/4 time consisting of all eighth notes would have 8 of them in it.

1 = Whole note
2 = Half note
4 = Quarter note
8 = Eighth note
16 = Sixteenth note

We looked at 4/4 time now lets take a look at 3/4. The 3/4 time signature tells us the notes have to add up to 3 quarter notes per bar.

Here another way of stating 4/4 time.

This symbol represents 2/2 time also known as cut time.

Simple counting

Lets intermingle a half note and two quarter notes.

The half note get the first 2 beats, and each quarter its own beat. This makes sense because the 4/4 time signature means there is 4 quarter notes per measure. 2 quarter notes + 1 half note = 4 quarter notes, the total number of quarter notes for that measure (time sig).

Now lets add 8th notes


In this example there is something new. The + sign. It just means "and". If you said 1 + 2 + ... out loud it would sound like this. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Each eighth note is 1/2 of a quarter note, therefore it takes 2 eighth notes to equal 1 quarter note. Think of it like this: the 1 and the "and" are both half of one quarter note and together they form 1 quarter note and from the time sig we know there are 4 quarters per measure.

Here's another mixed example


The quarter note is obviously beat 1 because from the time sig you know there are 4 quarter notes per measure. You also already know one half note = 2 quarter notes therefore the half note must be beats 2 and 3. Finally, you know that two eighth notes = 1 quarter note so they must be the "4 +".

Notes on the guitar frets 1 - 12
Open E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D E flat E
Open B C C# D E flat E F F# G G# A A# B
Open G G# A A# B C C# D E flat E F F# G
Open D E flat E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D
Open A A# B C C# D E flat E F F# G G# A
Open E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D E flat E

The Major Scale

The major scale consists of 8 notes. The first and eighth note are one in the same and are known as the tonic.
Here is the G major scale which consists of the notes G A B C D E F#. This is a one octave scale. The scale starts on G, 3rd fret of the low E string and ends on the G 5th fret on the D string. This is a distance of one octave. Notice also that the scale has one sharp in it.

Open E
Open B
Open G
Open D E F# G
Open A B C D
Open E G A

The major scale has the following order of whole and half steps W W H W W W H.
This is also known as tone and semi-tone with tone being a whole step and semi-tone being a half step.
A half step is the distance of one fret on the guitar. A whole step is the distance of two frets on the guitar.
Raising a note one fret results in the note becoming a sharp. Lowering a note one fret results in the note becoming a flat. Thus it is possible for the same note to have two different names. When a note has two different names at the same pitch they enharmonic equivalents. The notes with two names are as follows F#/G flat, G#/A flat, A#/B flat, C#/D flat, and D#/E flat.

Here is a list of the notes of all 6 sharp major scales.

Scale
G G A B C D E F# G 1 sharp
D D E F# G A B C# D 2 sharps
A A B C# D E F# G# A 3 sharps
E E F# G# A B C# D# E 4 sharps
B B C# D# E F# G# A# B 5 sharps
F# F# G# A# B C# D# E# F# 6 sharps

Here is a list of the notes of all 6 flat major scales.

Scale
F F G A B flat C D E F 1 flat
B flat B flat C D E flat F G A B flat 2 flats
E flat E flat F G A flat B flat C D E flat 3 flats
A flat A flat B flat C D flat E flat F G A flat 4 flats
D flat D flat E flat F G flat A flat B flat C D flat 5 flats
G flats G flat A flat B flat C flat D flat E flat F G flat 6 flats

The C major scale is not included because it contains no sharps or flats. The F# and G flat scales contain the same notes, therefore including the C major scale there are a total of 12 major scales.

Key Signatures

 A key signature is a collection of sharps or flats that occur in a particular scale. The key signature appears at the beginning of every line of music. It tells you what key you are in by indicating which notes are sharp or flat throughout the piece. Below is a list of all the major and minor key signatures.





Chord Construction - Major and Minor Chords

 Major chord construction
Every chord type (major,minor,7th,etc..) is based upon a specific formula which relates back to the major scale after which the chord was named. The formula for the major chord is the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale.

C major scale (C D E F G A B C)
C major chord (C E G)

D major scale (D E F# G A B C# D)
D major chord (D F# A)

E major scale (E F# G# A B C# D# E)
E major chord (E G# B)

Minor Chord Construction
To construct a minor chord every 3rd note of the major scale must be flattened. The formula for a minor chord is the 1st, flattened 3rd and 5th notes of the major scale.

Using the E minor chord as an example, G# (3rd) of the major chord is flattened to G thus making the chord minor. The only differnce between major and minor scales are the flattened 3rd and 6th. So if we wanted to convert the E major scale to E minor the G# (3rd) and C# (6th) would need to be lowered one fret.

E minor scale (E F# G A B C D# E)
E minor chord (E G B)

The circle of 5ths

 The circle of fifths is a handy tool for organizing the 12 possible Major scales into what is called key signature. The circle of 5ths starts with the C Major scale because it contains no sharps or flats. If we build our next scale starting with the 5th note of the C major scale, we get the G Major scale - G A B C D E F#. Notice that the G Major scale has one note that is sharp (F#). Now, lets build a third scale starting from the 5th note of the G Major scale. That will give us the D major scale - D E F# G A B C#. Notice that we now have two notes that are sharp (F# and C#). If we build a fourth scale from the 5th note of the D Major scale, we get the A Major scale - A B C# D E F# G#. As you've probably guessed, the A Major scale has one more sharp than the D Major scale. That's how it works. If you build a Major scale from the 5th note of another Major scale, the new scale will have one more sharp than the scale you started with. That's where the "5ths" in the circle of 5ths comes from, but what about the "circle" part? The circle comes from the fact that if you continue to build a scale from the 5th note of the previous scale, you will eventually wind up right back at the beginning, C Major.



G is the 5th note of C Major
D is the 5th note of G Major
A is the 5th note of D Major
E is the 5th note of A Major
B is the 5th note of E Major
F# is the 5th note of B Major
C# is the 5th note of F# Major
G# is the 5th note of C# Major
D# is the 5th note of G# Major
A# is the 5th note of D# Major
F is the 5th note of A# Major
C is the 5th note of F Major

We're right back where we started, as if we traveled in a circle.

Diatonic Harmony

 Diatonic Harmony means chords that are within the key. Using the G major scale (GABCDEF#) as an example the diatonic harmony in the key of G would be the chords that can be made with notes from the G major scale.

The diatonic chords in the key of G major are (1)G (2)Aminor (3)Bminor (4)C (5)D (6)Eminor (7)F#diminished
Here are the rules for diatonic harmony. The 1st, 4th, and 5th chords are always major. The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th chords are always minor and the 7th chord is always diminished.

Lets look at the chord progression of the song Take It Easy by The Eagles. The song is written in the key of G. The chord progression for the verses is G, D, and C. Looking at the diatonic harmony chords in the key of G major we can see that the 1st, 4th, and 5th chords are used in the verses. The chorus has a chord progression of G, Eminor, C, G, Aminor etc... The chorus adds the 2nd and 6th chords. Here is a chart of all the chords available for major and minor keys. Notice how in each major key the I, IV, and V are always major, the ii, iii, vi are always minor, and the vii is always diminished.

MAJOR KEYS
I
ii
iii
IV
V
vi
vii
C
Dm
Em
F
G
Am
Bdim
D
Em
F#m
G
A
Bm
C#dim
E
F#m
G#m
A
B
C#m
D#dim
F
Gm
Am
Bb
C
Dm
Edim
G
Am
Bm
C
D
Em
F#dim
A
Bm
C#m
D
E
F#m
G#dim
*

MINOR KEYS
i
ii
III
iv
v or V
VI
VII
Am
Bdim
C
Dm
Em or E
F
G
Dm
Edim
F
Gm
Am or A
Bb
C
Em
F#dim
G
Am
Bm or B
C
D

Using the charts above will help you in being able to figure out what key a song is in. Once you know the key you can figure out the chord progression. Lets try a little pop quiz. Can you figure out what key this song is in? Write down all the chords and refer back to the chart. Hint: the song is in a major key.

Advanced chord construction

 7th Chord Construction

The seventh chord (correctly called dominant 7th) is used in all types of music. It is formed by adding a flattened 7th note to the major chord. Put simply, every 7th note of the major scale is flattened and added to the major chord. Referring back to our chord formula a 7th chord consists of the 1st, 3rd, 5th and flattened 7th notes of the major scale.

Using the C major scale as an example, the B note of the C major scale is flattened to B flat and added to the C major chord resulting in a C7 chord.

C major scale (C D E F G A B C)
C Major chord (C E G)
C7 chord (C E G B flat)

Major 7th chord construction

The formula for major 7th chords is the 1st, 3rd, 5th and the 7th note of the major scale. A Cmaj7th chord contains the notes C E G B. Notice that with the CMaj7th chord the B is not flattened as it was with the C7 chord.

C major scale (C D E F G A B C)
C Major chord (C E G)
C7 chord (C E G B flat)
C Maj7th (C E G B)