guitar de Mystified

Mixo-Lydian and the not-so-average Joes

realinfo1 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:13:45 +0000

what’s the Mixo.Lydian mode and who cares?

Joes care for one…

Joe Satriani, Joe Walsh for instance.

if MixoLydian sounds too nerdy — just listen to the above two songs and you’ll hear it and feel the need to play it.

Summer Song has a rhythm guitar strumming the A major chord, yet Satriani’s melody line comes from a D major scale — that’s the mixoLydian for ya…

Rocky Mountain Way spends a lot of time with an E major in the background, yet Walsh plays most of his lead lines from the A major scale — that’s the mixoLydian for ya…

put simply, here’s how it works…

to get that MixoLydian sound…take the Harmonized Major Scale…find your rhythm chord (in Summer Song that would be A, in Rocky Mountain Way that would be E) as the 5th (V) chord in a harmonized major scale and then track your way back to the Tonic (or I).

here’s a couple examples…[for more, just check out my lesson on the Harmonized Major Scale] (it’s lined up a lot better than the following….)

I – ii - iii – IV – V – vi - vii

A Bmi C#mi D E F#mi G#dim

D Emi F#mi G A B C#dim

Melodic minor scale and Altered

realinfo1 — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:21:44 +0000

HARMONIZED MELODIC MINOR SCALE

do you wanna write some jazzy detective show music from the 40′s or 50′s –

just play a G minor (maj7) chord and you’ll hear it.

–x—

–3—

–4—

–x—

–3—

or maybe you just want explore some jazz tonalities and take your playing to a new level?

let’s check out the Melodic Minor Scale…

perhaps you’ve also heard of a popular mode of this scale,

called Altered Dominant or “Altered”. we’ll get to that in a minute too.

first, let’s evolve a G natural minor scale into a G melodic minor scale–>

the G natural minor scale (same as Bb major)

G A Bb C D Eb F

the G harmonic minor scale (G minor w/raised 7th)

G A Bb C D Eb F#

the G melodic minor scale (G harmonic minor with raised 6th)

G A Bb C D E F#

so, now let’s Harmonize this bad boy to find out which chords the melodic minor scale creates and uses…

so if we add 3rd, 5th, and 7th harmonies to G A Bb C D E F# we get…

G Bb D F# [G min (ma7)]

A C E G [A min7]

Bb D F# A [Bb maj7#5]

C E G Bb [C7]

D F# A C [D7]

E G Bb D [E mi7b5]

F# A C E [F#mi7b5]

so, you’re chords are going to be

G min (ma7), A min7, Bb maj7#5, C7, D7, E mi7b5, F#mi7b5

how do we use this in playing music???

here’s some practical info from Larry Carlton

(Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, The Four Tops, the Partridge Family,)

on how to use this stuff, now that you get the above

background.

the Altered Dominant is a mode of the melodic minor scale.

the way that jazzers use it, is to play the melodic minor scale of the note 1/2 step (1 fret) higher than the altered chord’s root note.

an “altered chord” is a dominant chord with b5 or #5 or b9 or #9, or b13 or #13.

a popular altered chord is the E7#9 (the chord made most popular by Jimi Hendrix in purple haze)–keep in mind, if you reference this, that Jimi tuned his guitar down 1/2 step (to Eb), so it’ll sound like Eb7#9 instead of E7#9.

for example, the G melodic minor scale above would work nicely over an F#7#9.

if you wanna try that Hendrix chord E7#9, you would play the F melodic minor scale.

now, beware, the nerd guitarists (nothing wrong with them by the way) will remind you that you are actually playing the E altered dominant mode of the F melodic minor scale, and that you should think of it as an E scale, rather than F, but that takes along time, and makes it sound twice as complicated. i am here to deMystify you.

but….if you break down the Altered Mode of the Melodic Minor Scale,

you’ll also notice that if you call it by the nerd-approved name, you’ll find all of the possible chord Alterations in that scale…

the b5, the #5, the b9, the #9, the b13 and the #13, check it out:

[i will take the long way here, so that you can see how we've evolved step by step on these scales]…

Ab major scale (F’s relative major) –> Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G

F natural minor scale—->F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb

F harmonic minor scale–> F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db, E

F melodic minor scale –> F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, E

E altered scale —-> E, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D

-vs-

E major scale: ——–> E F# G# A B C# D#

you can see that the

F# in the E major scale (also known as the 2nd and 9th degree) –> [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (octave),9,10,11,12,13,14,etc...]

is 1/2 step lower (F) and 1/2 step higher (G) than it was in the E major scale

same with the 5th (the B) –> in the altered scale there is a Bb and also a C (1/2 step lower and higher than the B)

and same with the 13th (same as 6th, just one octave higher) (C#)–>in the altered scale is C and D

this is why it’s used on Altered Chords and called the Altered Scale

SUMMARY AND HOMEWORK:

so, now that you know this, use the chords:

G min (ma7), A min7, Bb maj7#5, C7, D7, E mi7b5, F#mi7b5

to write some jazzy detective stuff and solo over it.

and then get super jazzy with the Altered Mode

and listen to some Larry Carlton.

Harmonic Minor Scale and understand it and how to use it

realinfo1 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:51:25 +0000

you want: Egyptian Spanish Exotic sound your recipe: the harmonized major scale

you may also hear people talk about things like the “Phrygian Dominant” mode or scale – as if the regular modes weren’t weird enough to make sense out of – now this??? RELAX! keep in mind, modes were just invented so that you could sound elitist – what matters is how you play, not what you say. let’s demystify it:

a great musical example of the Phrygian Dominant Scale (Harmonic Minor Scale) is used as the basis of the guitar solo in YYZ by Rush — this instrumental was nominated for a Grammy in the early 80′s and is now a Guitar Hero video game song we’re going to check out the solo section for this lesson — Rhythm: B major and C chords – guitar plays an exotic scale oriented solo in B Phrygian dominant.

the big question you want to ask yourself is…why would Alex (the guitarist in Rush) play a B Phrygian Dominant Scale when the rhythm part is B and C?? the answer lies in the Harmonized Harmonic Minor Scale…

ok, that probably sounded complicated…let’s break it down…look at the lesson on the modes and the harmonized major scale to recall that, with the major scale, we just put a 2 (sometimes 3) part harmony on top of each note of the major scale. when you play those 3 or 4 notes for each scale step you get chords, those are the chords that form the Harmonized Major Scale…

so now, just take that same idea and apply it to the Harmonized Minor Scale…let’s do a couple… first, for reference, the C major scale = C, D, E, F, G, A, B

the relative minor scale in C major is A minor – also known as the A aeolian mode, or the A natural minor scale. A, B, C, D, E, F, G (same notes as the C major scale, just beginning with A instead of C) you can see in this video that the A harmonized natural minor scale is the same as the C harmonized major scale

to make the A Harmonic minor scale we raise the last note a 1/2 step (1 fret).

this would make it A, B, C, D, E, F, G, G#, watch this video to play the scale

and WATCH THIS VIDEO TO SEE ANOTHER GUY PLAY IT IN A HIGHER OCTAVE AND DO SOME NEAT ‘SHREDDING LICKS BY PLAYING THAT SCALE…AND TALKING ABOUT THIS ’5th Mode of Harmonic Minor’ [what this BLOG ENTRY of Mine is ALL ABOUT]. he starts talking at 1:25

now let’s make some harmonies for this Harmonic minor scale now:

5′s E F G# A B C D

3′s: C, D, E, F, G#, A, B

roots: A, B, C, D, E, F, G#

so this makes our chords in the A harmonized harmonic minor scale

1 minor — A, C, E
2 diminished – B, D, F
3 augmented – C, E, G#
4 minor – D, F, A
5 Major – E, G#, B
6 major – F, A, C
7 diminished – G#, B, D

notice the V and VI (in this case, the E and F chords): this kind of 1/2 step major to major chord motif in all kinds of spanish music…to replicate quickly and easily, play an E major chord, shift your fingers up one fret so that your fretted fingers are now playing notes from an F chord and some from the E (the open strings), and then go back to the E and resolve to A minor…you’ll be expecting a bull-fighter to pop out of nowhere. or maybe these guys.

also, just an FYI…if you had another harmony on top of the 1,3,5, you get…

1 minor Major 7 – A, C, E, G#
2 minor 7 b5 – B, D, F, A,
3 Major7 #5 - C, E, G#, B
4 minor 7 – D, F, A, C
5 Dominant 7th – E, G#, B, D
6 Major 7 – F, A, C, E
7 fully diminished-G#,B,D, F

NOW LET’S SEE HOW THIS APPLIES TO “YYZ” — just before the guitar solo there is a drum and bass trade off solo section in which the guitar plays B major and C major in an almost reggae fashion. then this sound (B maj -> C maj) is implied with the bass notes and the notes played in the guitar solo. it all revolves around the E harmonic minor scale: how?

take the E minor scale (same as G major)…you’ve got : E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, then we’ve got to raise the 7th to make it a harmonic minor scale: so now we’ve got E, F#, G, A, B, C, D#: and our chords will be E minor, F# dim, G aug, A minor, B maj, C maj, D#dim

since you’ve got these two major chords side by side, this should be a dead give away that you are right smack dab in the middle of an E harmonized harmonic minor scale…and that you can play notes from the E harmonic minor scale…or the B Phrygian Dominant [same notes].

getting the most out of the pentatonic…and other stuff

realinfo1 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:14:04 +0000

as you may or may not have seen,

i think the pentatonic scale is the most important for soloing….

my youTube vid on pentatonic

but did you know that you can also take just one pattern of a pentatonic scale and with a little knowledge, which i’m about to present, play 6 scales?!

GETTING MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK WITH

the PENTATONIC scale

wanna know a way to know a bunch of notes that all work for a particular key :

let’s use the good old easy to understand C major scale as the example:

C D E F G A B C

according to the C major harmonized major scale,

there are 3 minor chords in the scale, A minor, D minor, and E minor

C maj, D min, E min, F major, Gmajor (or dominant), A minor, B mi7 b5

so take a look at the notes of those minor pentatonic scales…

Aminor pentatonic: (same notes as C major pentatonic)

A C D E G

here’s the most common way to play this scale:

——————————5-8————–

————————-5-8——————–

——————–5-7—————————

————–5-7———————————-

———5-7—————————————

—5-8——————————————–

Dminor pentatonic: (same notes as F major pentatonic)

D F G A C

—————————————-10-13—–

———————————10-13————

————————-10-12——————–

—————–10-12—————————-

———10-12———————————–

–10-13——————————————

E minor pentatonic: (same notes as G major pentatonic)

E G A B D

—————————————-12-15———-

——————————–12-15——————

————————12-14————————–

—————-12-14———————————-

——–12-14—————————————–

-12-15————————————————

amazingly, all of these notes are from the C major scale,

so if you get stuck, just play notes from the A minor, D minor, E minor scales.

here’s another way to play those scales, all kind of in the same area of the fret board

C major scale A minor pentatonic

————————————————7-8-7/5—————————————-

—————————————–8-10———–8^5————————————-

——————————-7-9-10———————–7^5———————————-

———————7-9-10————————————–7^5—————————–

———–7-8-10—————————————————–7^5————————

—-8-10——————————————————————–8^5^8—————–

D minor pentatonic E minor pentatonic

———————–5^8-/-10^7—————————————————————–

——————6^8————–10^8———————————————————-

————5^7—————————9^7—————————————————

——-5^7————————————-9^7———————————————-

–5^8———————————————–10^7—————————————-

——————————————————————————————

what if you’re not in the key of C?

to relate this example to other keys,

just play the minor pentatonic scales of the ii, iii, and vi

of the key you are in,

example…in A major

you’d have

A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G# in the major scale

if you were to harmonize those notes [see lesson on harmonized major scale here]

you would have

A maj, B min, C#min, Dmaj, Emaj (or Edom), F#mi, and G#dim (mi7b5 technically)

anyway,

just assign numbers to each scale note and you’ll see that

your ii (2nd note of the A major scale) is B so you can play B minor pentatonic

your iii (3rd note of the A major scale) is C# so you can play C# minor pentatonic

and

your vi (6th note of the A major scale) is F# so you can play F# minor pentatonic

one word to wise though,

don’t play notes just to play notes.

but, do use this stuff, to build on the things you already know.

i mean, think about it, if you know the A minor pentatonic scale in just one pattern, you can use that scale pattern, starting on different notes to play different scales!

[the C major pentatonic, D minor pentatonic, E minor pentatonic, the F major pentatonic, the G major pentatonic, the A minor pentatonic]

isn’t guitar awesome ?!

playing the modes – using the pitch axis theory

realinfo1 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:32:40 +0000

pitch axis theory on modes

try the pitch axis approach,

as explained in

this video

this lesson assumes that you know how to play a major scale pattern 2

now, i’ve picked up where the video leaves off and also want to assume you know a major scale pattern 4 shape.

there are 5 essential major scale patterns that i recommend you learn.

start with patterns 2 and 4…they are very similar looking…and go nicely with the above video

now, on with the exercise:

Play a E as a drone note

play E major scale pattern 2 — starting on 7th fret of A string.

that’s ionian mode

‘

now shift down 2 frets and play the D major scale pattern 2 —starts on 5th fret of A string,

that’s Dorian

now shift down 2 more frets and play the C major scale pattern 2–starts on the 3rd fret of the A string,

that’s Phrygian

now shift down 1 more fret and play the B major scale pattern 2—starts on the 2nd fret of the A string,

that’s Lydian

now shift down 2 more frets and you’re at open A, so instead,

just think of where Dorian was and go over 1 string to start your major scale, pattern 4 on the E string 5th fret.

that’s the Mixolydian mode

now shift down 2 more frets and play the G major scale pattern 4—starts on the 3rd fret of the E string,

that’s the Aeolian mode

now shift down 2 more fret and play the F major scale pattern 4—starts on the 1st fret of the E string,

that’s Locrian

harmonized major scales with modes chart

realinfo1 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:43:16 +0000

MODES and the Harmonized Major Scale

first off, i’d suggest you learn the 5 major scale patterns,

click here

trust me, it’ll be worth the effort.

you can transfer that knowledge to all of this modes stuff,

instead of learning like 7 modal scales in 5 different ways,

you just learn 5 scale patterns and can use those scale patterns for all of the modes all over the fret board.

so unless you’ve got a photographic memory,

i’d say memorize those 5 patterns and let your muscles do the memory work.

the Harmonized Major Scale is

the Major scale with harmonies [adding a 3rd, 5th, and sometimes a 7th]…

for example,

if you added the 3rd and 5th notes of the major scale to each note of the C major scale, you’d get

C major scale starting on the 1= C,D,E,F,G,A,B

C major scale starting on the 3rd= E,F,G,A,B,C,D

C major scale starting on the 5th= G,A,B,C,D,E,F

C major scale starting on the 7th= B,C,D,E,F,G,A

look at how they line up vertically,

those are the triads of the C Harmonized Major Scale:

if you play C,E, and G together it’s a C major chord (1,3,5), add the B and it’s a C major 7

if you play D,F, and A together it’s a D minor chord (1, b3, 5), add the C and it’s a D minor 7

if you play E,G, and B together it’s an E minor chord (1,b3,5), add the D, and it’s an E minor 7

if you play F,A, and C together it’s a F major chord (1,3,5), add the E and it’s a F major 7

if you play G,B, and D together it’s a G major chord (if you add the 7th degree of the scale [F], you’d have a G dominant chord (also known as G7) (1,3,5,b7) because in the G major scale the F is an F#, but in the C scale the F is F natural, so to G it’s a flatted 7th

if you play A,C, and E together it’s an A minor chord (1,b3,5), if you add the G, you’ve got A minor7

if you play B,D, and F together it’s a B diminished chord (if you add the 7th degree of the scale [A], you’d have a Bmin7b5 (1,b3,b5,b7)

but wouldn’t it be great to have a chart with all of these chords

for all of the scales, so you always knew the chord qualities and what modes they can represent…

that’s the chart below

but in case the word MODEs is scary to you…let’s demystify it a little bit:

check out this video on the MOdes by Vinnie Moore—

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-DbaaI4wc

this guy breaks it down pretty well in my opinion, it’s a 3 part video,

so click on the other parts too.

here’s another regular guy on youTube explaining the modes too,

very similar to Vinnie Moore, but never hurts to hear it another way

playing modes is just playing a major scale over a different chord to produce a different musical flavor:

C ionian is playing C major scale over a C chord (sounds nice and happy)

D dorian is playing C major scale over a D minor chord (sounds jazzy bluesy)

here’s a dorian example with modes explained this way by outstanding guitarist

E phrygian is playing C major scale over an E minor chord (sounds spanish and metal-esche with distortion)

F lydian is playing C major scale over a F major (sounds steve vai, joe satriani ish)

G mixolydian is playing C major scale over G7 (sounds like a happy blues)

A aeolian (natural minor scale) is playing C major scale over A minor (sad)

B Locrian is playing C major scale over Bmi7b5 (jazzy, sometimes metal)

here’s a cool Locrian mode video…to explore the jazzier side of the Locrian mode

there are a lot of kinds of major, minor, and dominant chords that you can play – like if you play a C major scale over an Fma7#11

it will be F Lydian and you’ll sound super jazzy. which can be fun every now and then.

try Phrygian mode….

many times in metal, songs are in the key of E minor,

and guitarists solo over them with notes from the C major scale which yields the “Phrygian Mode”, refer to the harmonized major scale chart.

another trick with Phrygian mode is to listen to the sound of the C major scale over an E minor chord,

you will hear a distinctive spanish sound.

another scale to mention is the

Harmonic Minor Scale (which is natural minor scale with a raised [instead of natural] 7th).

so like an A harmonic minor scale would be A, B, C, D, E, F, G#,

just like the C major scale, except that it’s written as starting on the A note, and then the 7th note (G) would be sharped.

the A phrygian scale would be A, Bb, C, D, E, F, G

watch this video and look at the chart

…he goes through several different modes but you can understand what he’s talking about if you use the chart below.

you can hear what each mode sounds like…to get a feel for the flavor of each mode.

he starts on E and plays E ionian mode, which is just the E major scale. then he moves to E dorian,

if you look for E in the Dorian (handwritten) column below, you will see that the home key is D,

so you’d play notes of the D major scale but usually, starting and ending on E

…E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D. he plays E phrygian after that, which, if you look in the Phrygian (handwritten) column below and find E, you’ll see that the home key is C. so you’d play the notes of the C major scale, starting and ending on

E…E, F, G, A, B, C, D. then he plays E Lydian, again, look down the Lydian column and find E, you’ll see that the home key is B -

therefore, you’ll play notes of the B major scale but begin and end on E…E, F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#. see if you can figure out the rest by watching and using the chart….

in the context of a song, some call the harmonized major scale a ”scale-wise progression“:

go up the major scale with the chords from the chart above. you can hear this in songs like ”here there every where” - beatles, ”lean on me” - bill withers, ”like a rolling stone” – bob dylan

some IMPORTANT SUBSTITUTIONS for the harmonized major scale chords:

often times the iii is replaced by a I / III (1,3)for example, in the key of C, you would have C/E instead of an E minor as the 3rd chord in the C harmonized major scale. and oftentimes, the 7th degree of a harmonized major scale, rather than being diminished will also be replaced by a “slash” chord, in this case will be a V/vii, (5/7), for example, in key of C, the 7th chord in the harmonized major scale would be G/B.

NOTE: also, don’t be confined by the harmonized major scale, you can always breakout of it and should do so. but many times, you will be a few steps ahead of anyone you are accompanying by being familiar with the harmonized major scale. switch keys, and get crazy and create something original. however, it will serve you very well to know the harmonized major scale for it will be applied in most every western hemisphere song you ever play. if you play music written in India, Japan, China, this won’t necessarily help you ;p

IN BETWEEN CHORDS:

if you study Jazz at all, you’ll hear in tunes like ”ain’t misbehaving” ”tip toe through the tulips”, “glory of love” and many tunes by mills brothers will include some in-between steps (which are just diminshed chords) – I, #I dim, ii, #ii, i/iii or I, #I dim, ii, V,

in C, you would hear C, C#dim, Dmi, D#dim, C/E or C, C#dim, Dmi, G7

the ending of that 2nd change there is Dmi – G7 and leads back to C, now that’s called a ii-V- I, a very popular jazz motif, using the ii, V, and I from the chart above.

LINK to more Harmonized Chord CHARTS Like the one above for Major, and a couple of Minor scales

halo piano intro for guitar

realinfo1 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:36:22 +0000

Halo – piano intro

bar index finger….

e—9————9———–9———–9———9————

b——–10———-10———-10———–12—————-

g—–9——9—-9——9—–9—–9—-9——————–

d————————————————————-

a——————————————————–

e—————————————————————

e—10—————10—————-10——9——-9^10^9—————-

b————12—————12———————————–12–10—-

g——-11——-11——11—–11——–11—–11———————–

d—————————————————————————–

a—————————————————————————————-

e—————————————————————

F#mi

e—————————————————————–

b——————-10—————10———–10-12-10——–

g———-11—————-11————-11—————-13——-

d——11——11——-11—–11—–11—–11——————–

a—9—————————————————–

e—————————————————————

e——————————————————————–0—-

b——————–10—————10————–10—————-

g———-11—————11—————-11———-13/11———

d——12—-12——-12—–12——–12—–12————–

a——————————————————————

e–10————————————————————–

teTra_cHords – making scales easier?

realinfo1 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:53:50 +0000

let me be honest. i find the 5 patterns a much easier way to remember how to play scales…but others suggest the use of TetraChords. especially jazz peeps. and they know a lot of stuff…

so maybe they are on to something….either way…the more ways you know a scale, the more likely you are to remember it! it may also help you create some cool runs. and they can be fun to play once you memorize them.

Tetra(4) Chord – means that you play a pattern of the 1st 4 notes of the scale, then you can shift up 2 frets and play that pattern again and that will be the complete scale. so, you only have to memorize 1 tetraChord (series of four notes) shape per scale pattern.

let me tab it out, play it and you will see the simplicity of it all…remember it’s broken up into 4 note patterns.

middle, pinky, index, middle, [shift]

——————————————————————————

——————————————————————i–m————

—m-p-i–m————————————m-p————4-5————————

———2-3—-then shift up two frets—-5-7———————————————————–

—-3-5————————————————————————-

once you get down with that first octave, you start over on that note to continue into the next octave…AND, you have to shift on the B string…

middle, pinky, index, middle, shift m p i m

—————————m-p——————————-i–m————–7-8-/10—-

———–m-p-i–m—————shift-up one fret-7–8——-8-10——–

-m————–4-5——7–9—————————————————

-5———5–7——————————————————————–

————————————————————————————

——————————————————————-

the one above is in G major – starting at a point that resembles, pattern 4….

now, here’s one with the same starting point as pattern 3, in A…

——————————————————————————————————

————————————————(s)7-9-10—————————————————-

———————————–4-6-7–/–9————————————————————–

——————4-6-7——-7—————————————————————————-

—-2-4-5–/–7——————————————————————————————-

–5—————————————————————————————————-

here’s a pattern 2 in C…

————————————————————7–8—————————————

————————————-(s)5-6—-/—8—10—————————————————–

————————4-5—–5-7———————————————————————-

——-2-3—-/–5–7————————————————————————————-

–3-5————————————————————————————————–

—————————————————————————————————–

here’s one based around pattern 5′s starting point in G…

——————————————————————————8-/-10——————

———————————————————–(s)8—-8-10-12————————–

——————————————5-(s)7–9–11——————————————–

————————–5——-5-7-9———————————————————

———–3-(s)–5-7-9——————————————————————————-

—-3-5-7———————————————————————————————-

summary:

memorize how to play scales using tetraChords [series of 4 note patterns] starting in 5 different positions. you will get to know the neck better and have a new angle with which to approach your playing

let’s rock!

realinfo1 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:02:44 +0000

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lesson 1: the musical alphabet

realinfo1 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:25:24 +0000

in all of music there is 1 alphabet, the musical alphabet.

it is just like the regular english alphabet, except that it only goes to G, then it just starts over.

in between most of the notes there are sharps (indicated with #) and flats (indicated with b)

so the basic musical alphabet looks like this…

Natural notes: A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B…etc….

now add in Sharps after each note (sharp means higher in pitch):

A A# B B# C C# D D# E E# F F# G G# A A# B B# C C# D D# E E# F ….

notice that i scratched out the B#’s and E#’s, these notes can exist, in certain contexts but for now, let’s just think of the musical alphabet being,

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

it will make more sense this way, now instead of #’s let’s add in flats (b)…

A Bb B Cb C Db D Eb E Fb F Gb G Ab A Bb B Cb C Db D Eb E Fb F….

again, notice that i crossed out the Cb’s and the Fb’s, for the same reason, these notes can exist, in certain contexts but for now,

let’s just think of the musical alphabet as;

A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B C Db D Eb E F….

now, vocabulary word: Enharmonic – basically mean two notes (pitches) that sound the same, but are spelled out differently,

some examples of enharmonic pitches are:

A# and Bb

C# and Db

D# and Eb

F# and Gb

G# and Ab

also…

B# and C, E# and F

and

Cb and B, Fb and E

but don’t worry about B#, Cb, E#, and Fb right now, just act as if they don’t exist

QUICK REVIEW:

Musical Alphabet…

like regular alphabet but starting over after G (no H, I, J, K, etc…in music)

looks like:

A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B C Db D Eb E F

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

why do we call the same note by 2 different names?

these enharmonic pitches are called by different names depending on what key we are playing/reading our music in…