Mini-Course Lesson 2: Understanding The Musical Alphabet

Guitar scales are made up of notes from the musical alphabet. So if

you don't understand the musical alphabet, then totally understanding scales is virtually impossible!

So…just what is the musical alphabet anyway?

The musical alphabet is simply this: A B C D E F G A

All scales that you play will use some or all of these letters. So it’s definitely a good idea to get to know them inside and out! The great thing is that there are only seven different letters…so remembering them is pretty easy.

There are three VERY important things to remember about the musical alphabet…

1. B and C are always a semitone (1 fret) apart.
2. E and F are always a semitone (1 fret) apart.
3. All other consecutive notes are a tone (2 frets) apart.
   

Some people find it helpful to see this information as a diagram…

I highly recommend that you memorize this.

Important:

The musical alphabet can start on any note. For example, if we started it on D the diagram would look like this…

Have another look at both diagrams. Pay special attention to B and C. Also pay special attention to E and F. Notice how they are right next to each other.

For your reference, here is a fretboard diagram. I've mapped out the musical alphabet onto it…

Please spend a few minutes looking at the above diagram. What do you notice? Do you see any easy to remember shapes or relationships?

Please write down your observations.

I would highly recommend that you memorize the musical alphabet on your guitar. Scales are much easier to learn when you can see the musical alphabet clearly on your fretboard.

Feel free to use any method to learn the musical alphabet. If you want to use the system that I have created, please go to…

Guitar Note Mastery

You don't have to use my system, but I've found that it works really well for almost anyone. :-)

Understanding Sharps And Flats…

Now that you know the basics of the musical alphabet, let's now look at a couple of things that complicate matters a little. Here are the nasty things…

Nasty Thing One:

This symbol is called a flat. It lowers a note by one semitome (1 fret).

For example: If G is at the third fret. then Gb would be at the second fret.

Nasty Thing Two:

This symbol is called a sharp. It raises a note by one semitone (1 fret).

For example: If G is at the third fret, then G# would be at the fourth fret.

All clear? Cool! For your reference here are two fretboard diagrams showing the note locations on the guitar. The first one uses sharps. The second one uses flats…

Diagram One:  Natural Notes and Sharps

Diagram Two: Natural Notes and Flats

IMPORTANT:

I use the term "natural notes" to mean the notes that don't use a sharp or a flat.

That's all for this lesson. I hope you enjoyed it. :-)

In a couple of days, I'll be sending you the next lesson. We'll be taking a look at the most important scale that you need to know.

That's a pretty bold statement, but you'll see what I mean soon.

Until then, practice hard and have fun!

All the best,

Craig Bassett.