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Music notation and theory - for absolute beginners

While the UpGuitarHill guitar course deals mainly with chords and not musical notes, or the reading of musical notes, the information below is supplied to students who want to know a little more about music notation and chord theory. My objective is to keep this complex subject as simple as possible.

1. Music Notation
2. Guitar Chords
3. Reading Music for the Classical Guitar

Theory of Music Notation for absolute beginners.

1. Staff Notation

Music is written down in a number of different ways around the world.
In the West, most instruments use a method called staff notation.

The staff (or the musical stave, as it's sometimes called) is made up of 5 horizontal lines:


Notes are placed on the lines:

and in the spaces:

This is an octave of musical notes exactly the same as if you were playing them (note by note and one note to the next) up along the piano keyboard above (or as Julie Andrews does in the film - singing them).

I.e. from the C white piano key through all the keys to the next C key an octave higher on the keyboard.
An octave can also run from the D white key (note) to the next D white key (note)
or E to E or even F to F etc.

Remember that the sound of Do may not be exactly the same as the sound of the C note on the keyboard, for example. Or even the D note.

But the relativeness of the notes in the octave will be the same. All you need to do is tune your voice to the sound of the C note and then sing or say the sound at the same pitch as the C note and your Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti do will be in tune to the octave you are playing on the piano.

I.e. Your starting Do, starts at the same pitch as the starting C note. If you then start at the D note above C you will need to restart the pitch of Do so that it now equals that of the D note. The Do, re, mi etc. verse shows us how the notes in an octave "hang together."

Without trying to get too technical the italic section below will give you a short description of the term "musical sound (or pitch)."

HERE IS A DEFINITION OF PITCH:
Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the four major auditory attributes of sounds along with loudness, timbre and sound source location. When the actual fundamental frequency can be precisely determined through physical measurement, it may differ from the perceived pitch because of overtones, also known as upper partials, harmonic or otherwise. The human auditory perception system may also have trouble distinguishing frequency differences between notes under certain circumstances. According to ANSI acoustical terminology, it is the auditory attribute of sound according to which sounds can be ordered on a scale from low to high. Or on the scale of our instrument like that of a keyboard of a piano or the fret board of a guitar.

If you remember the musical "The Sound of Music," the point made by the Actress and singer, Julie Andrews, is that with the Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do scale (which is the same as an octave of notes), you now have the building blocks to make music.

Julie Andrews gives this example:
So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re
So, do la, ti, do, re, do

Her young student says "but it doesn't mean anything."
And she replies: Yes but now we put in words. One word for each note.

So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re
"When you know the notes to sing"
So, do la, ti, do, re, do
"You can sing most anything"

Click here to hear the song from the musical

That really is the essence of music! There are an infinite number of variations in musical sounds (the relativity between selections of notes) and this is what makes the study of music so very interesting. Some variations are boring and many have been heard before. But then, once in a wonderful while, you discover that new set of sounds and together (accompained by neat words and cool sounds from instruments and a beat from drums etc. ) you suddenly have a song that becomes, as it grabs its listners, an instant hit!

Below you can find out more on the language of music and will see how it is extended from the basic octave to help musicians express all that they will ever need to, in sound.

6. Note Shapes

Here are a collection of some of the different note shapes you will find in music.

To show how long notes should be held for (or sounded for), we draw them with different shapes.

7. Crotchets

The most basic and most common length of note is the crotchet, which looks like this:
or this

It's a black note-head on a basic stem, (or stick).

A crotchet usually represents one beat.
As musicians, we can decide for ourselves exactly how long a beat should be, but a common duration for a crotchet is about one second.
Here are 4 crotchet D note's.

8. Quavers

Notes which are twice as fast as crotchets are called quavers.

They look like this:

or this

Notice that although the quaver has a black note-head like the crotchet, it also has a small tail on the right side of its stem.
Here are 8 quavers, F sharps and Gs.
A # symbol meas the note is sharpened. We will discuss this in more detail below but know that a single # symbol will make all notes on the same line or space in a bar of music sharpened. A bar is divided by lines down from the top of the staff to the bottom of the staff.
To test your understanding of this you should be able to find 4 F sharp notes below and 4 G notes.

A quaver represents half a beat.

In your head try to listen to the sound that will be made by the crotchets and quavers in the example below.
Sound out each note seperately.

To listen to the beat each time you read a note you can say TAM. i.e. TAM TAM TAM TAM etc.

Or if you are more ambitious you can sound out the relativity of the notes to each other from a point you set and according to the guidelines from the musical the Sound of Music.

and that brings up back to... do

Take the bottom note F sharp as being Do from the above musical scale.
Therefore with the example below the top staff would go like this. Do Do re re Do Do re re. The bottom staff would go Do Do Do Do.

9. Minims

Minims are twice as long as crotchets, or if you prefer, minims last for 2 beats.
Minims look like this:

or this

Notice that minims look like crotchets, but their heads are white, not black.

Here is a minim B and a minim A, in the bass clef:

(You have not come across the bass clef yet. Let me quickly explain that a bass clef is simply the music staff (or musical range) for the left hand side of the piano while the treble clef is the music staff (or musical range) for the right hand side of the piano. Think of your left hand playing the lower or bass notes on the piano while your right hand will play the higher or treble notes of the piano)

Here are crotchets, quavers and minims all together on a staff of music so you can see the relativity of their musial lengths when compared to each other:

10. Semibreves

Semibreves are twice as long as minims, or if you prefer, semibreves last for 4 beats.
Semibreves look like this:
Because semibreves don't have stems, there's only one way to draw them.
Here is a semibreve D in the bass clef:

Here are crotchets, minims, quavers and semibreves all together on a staff of music so you can see the relativity of their musial lengths when compared to each other:

11. Semiquavers

Semiquavers are twice as fast as quavers, or 4 times faster than crotchets.

Four semiquavers take up the same amount of time as 1 crotchet.
So, a semiquaver is equal to a quarter (fourth) of a beat.
A semiquaver looks like this:

or this

We can join together two or more semiquavers like this:

Semiquavers look like quavers, but they have two tails where quavers have one.
Here are some semiquavers in action:

And here is the finished product comparing all our notes against each other!

12. Bass Clef

We have already learned about our first clef, the treble clef in a little detail above.
And we quickly touched on the bass clef above.

For most low-pitched or low-toned music, (where most of the sound comes from the lower half of the keyboard (or below middle C on the piano keyboard), we use a music staff with the bass clef. (tone and pitch are really the same thing to us musicians, unless you are also a scientist ;~)

If you think of a piano then your right hand would play the treble (higher pitched) notes reading off a staff that has a treble clef sign on it and your left hand would play the bass (lower pitched) notes with a bass clef sign on the music staff.

The bass clef looks like this:

The two dots of the bass clef are placed on either side of the line where we can find the note F, so it's also known as the F clef.

This is the first F below middle C on the piano keyboard.

13. Note names for the bass clef

We can work out the other notes just like we did with the treble clef.
Here are the notes on the lines:

And here are the notes in the spaces:

The very next line above the note B in the diagram is middle C.
Middle C sits on its own little line between the base clef below and the treble clef above.
It's useful to be able to write middle C in both clefs. We use a small line for it to sit on, just like we did in the treble clef:

Middle C is on its own line above the base clef staff.

And middle C is at the bottom of the treble clef staff.

14. Rest symbol shapes

Here are a collection of rest symbols used in music.

Rests are symbols which tell you to stop playing for a while, and how long to stop for.
Remember that music also consists of no sounds as well as sounds. i.e. spaces between sounds which can help to accentuate the sounds before or after them.
Rests come in different shapes depending on how long they last for, just like notes do.
Rests take the same names as the notes of the same length.

15. Crotchet rest

1 beat = crotchet rest.

The crotchet rest is a kind of squiggle which isn't easy to draw nicely.
If you find it difficult, you might prefer to use another version, which looks like this.

16. Quaver rest

½ beat = quaver rest.

The quaver rest looks a bit like a number 7, with a circle at its tip.
If you look again at the "easy" crotchet rest, you'll notice that it is, in fact, a back-to-front quaver rest.

17. Semiquaver rest

¼ beat = semiquaver rest.

The semiquaver rest looks a lot like the quaver rest, but it's got 2 tails, just like the semiquaver note has.

18. Minim rest

2 beats = minim rest.

The minim rest is a small, coloured-in block. The minim rest sits on the middle line of the staff.

19. Semibreve rest

4 beats = semibreve rest.

The semibreve rest is the same size block as the minim rest, but its position is different - it hangs off the second line from the top.

If you find it hard to remember the positions of the 2 and 4 beat rests, remember that 4 is a higher number than 2, so a 4-beat rest is higher up the staff than a 2 beat rest.

Semibreve rests are also used as "whole bar" rests. This means that the whole bar should be silent, even if the bar doesn't contain exactly 4 beats.

Remember that a staff of music is made up of sections or divisions between lines that run from the top of the staff to the bottom. Each section, filled with notes, is called a bar. There are many bars or equal length found on a piece of music.

20. Dotted Notes

What Do Dots Do?

All notes and rests can have their lengths increased if we add one or more dots.
For the music theory here, you only need to understand what happens when we add one dot.
Dots are always placed on the right side of the note head.
A dot makes a note (or rest) longer by 50%. Or, in other words, a dotted note is equal to itself plus half of itself.
Crotchet/Quarter note=1 beat

Dotted crotchet/quarter note=1 + 1/2 beat = 1 and a half beats

Minim/Half note=2 beats

Dotted minim/half note=2 + 1 = 3 beats

Quaver/Eighth note=1/2 beat

Dotted quaver/eighth note=1/2 + 1/4 = three quarters of a beat


If you find it difficult to think in numbers, try something more refreshing, like an orange!

One whole orange is like one whole beat, or a crotchet/quarter note.It's the same size as ...
...two half oranges (quavers/eighth notes)or even

If you add a dot to a note, it's like adding a smaller bit of orange to the bit you've already got.
One whole orange plus half an orange would be called a "dotted whole orange"!
One half orange plus one quarter orange would be a "dotted half orange

21. Beaming Notes

We have already learnt that notes which are smaller than one beat - quavers and semiquavers - have tails. To make music easier to read, we normally group these small notes together in complete beats. To do this, we join the tails together, making them into a straight line. We call this line a beam

Making Beams

Notes with one tail (quavers and dotted quavers) have one beam. Semiquavers have two tails so they have two beams, which are drawn quite close together.
Here are some examples.


Quavers can be joined to semiquavers like this:

We can also join dotted quavers to semiquavers with beams, like this:

Notice that the lower semiquaver beam is quite short. This is a cut-off beam.

22. Cut-off Beams

We find cut-off beams when a single semiquaver is joined to a quaver.
Cut-off beams are quite short - they should be about as wide as the note-head.
They can point in either direction, depending on which side of the quaver they are on. Here's another example:

23. Grouping Notes with Beams

We use beams to group notes together in whole beats.
So, semiquavers are grouped together in fours:

We also usually group quavers in fours, making two beats:

24. Beaming and Rests

We can include rests inside a group of beamed notes. Rests themselves are never beamed - we simply insert them between the notes.
We can change their horizontal position on the stave if we need to.

The semiquaver rest has been moved downwards a little bit so that it doesn't get mixed up with the beam.
Sometimes we need to beam together notes which are quite far apart on the stave.
How should we beam these two notes?

Keep in your mind the fact that beaming exists to help us read music quickly. Beaming should follow the general direction of the music, from left to right.

25. Angling Beams

If the music is getting higher, the beam should point upwards; if it's getting lower it should be downwards. If the pitch of the beamed notes is the same, the beam should not slant at all.
In our example above, the music is getting higher, so the beam has to slant upwards.

26. Stem Direction - Beaming Two Notes

Now we have to choose whether to make the stems point up or down: Which one looks better to you?

To work out which way to draw your stems when beaming two notes, first you need to work out which note is furthest from the middle line.
In our example above, the bottom D is further away from the centre line than the top D is.
The note which is furthest away from the middle line tells us which way we should draw our stems.
The bottom D has its stem pointing upwards, so that's the direction we should use with our beaming:

If we had to beam the following -
we would draw our stems the same way round.
Here, the bottom D is still further away, so we follow this D's stem direction:

However, if we change the notes to Fs, you will notice that we have to change to stems down, because the top F is further from the middle line than the bottom F:

27. Stem Direction - Three or More Notes

When beaming together groups of three or more notes, we need to look at all the notes in the group and see how many are above the middle line and how many are below it.
If there are more notes above the middle line, stems will point downwards. If there are more notes below the middle line, stems will point upwards. Here's an example:

There are three notes above the middle line, so the stems point downwards. If there is an equal number of notes above and below the middle line, use the note which is furthest away from the middle line as your guide.

The furthest note from the middle line is the F, so we use stems up.

Sometimes you might find that you have to break the rules in order for your music to look ok.
Don't worry if that's the case - these are really guidelines rather than rules. Use them where you can but don't be afraid to try something different if it makes the music clearer and more easy to follow and understand!

Wow that was pretty overwhelming. But, you may ask, how does this affect me as a beginner guitarist.

The above is information that explains to you exactly what music notation is.

If you stick with me then, in the next section we will start look at chords (which are a collection of notes) and then in the final section we will pull it all together as we look at a piece of music.

END OF FIRST SECTION

The Theory of Guitar Chords for Absolute Beginners

1. Lets start at the very beginning...

At the simplest level students of UpGuitarHill need to know that a chord is actually a collection of notes found on the guitar fretboard and which are played together. (If you look up you will note (;~) pun intended) that Section One above was dedicated to notes).
Put another way, if certain notes are played together then these are referred to as a chord.

Obviously you cannot play just any notes together because if notes are jumbled together in any order they will, in all probility, sound like a terrible noise.

So the following simple rule is used to find the notes of a chord and the rule is based on our octave that we learned about in the section above:

The rule is this:  If you have an octave of notes (remember that an octave means eight notes next to each other), and let's say that you are starting your octave on middle C of a piano which is shown in the piano keyboard picture's below (i.e. the yellow note in the diagram)...





...and you now move upwards along the keyboard playing each of the white keys in order.

Then these notes will go from YELLOW C - GREEN C
I.e. YELLOW C, then D, E, F, G, A, B and finally to the GREEN key on the keyboard in the diagram above.

To form a chord all you need to do is find the first note and third note and fifth note of an octave of notes and the chord will be named after the root note that you started from, in this case middle C.

So the C chord is made up of the notes C, E and G as is seen below. Remember that the 0's at the top of the chord diagram show that the open strings are also sounded!



If you play this on the guitar this is how it will look.

In the chord diagram above all strings are sounded.

Looking at the C chord diagram below you will see that the top string has an X next to it.



If a string is not sounded (and does not have a finger pressed on it) then the chord diagram will have an X in place of the O as is shown above.  Note that the two C Major Chord diagrams are different in this aspect.

This means that the musician, who designed the chord diargam, believes that the C chord must be played, but without sounding the top base string.

This point (should the top string be sounded or not) is debatible and there are probably as many guitarists who think that the top string should be sounded as those that do not. 



Above is a diargam that uses notation residing on an image of the guitar fretboard to show us finger placement for the C Major chord. 

Below is the C Major chord pressed with a hand.



Note that this C Major chord is a beginner C Major chord. I.e. it is more simple than the full C Major(improved chord) below which has an extra finger added, pressing down on the top string. This fuller (improved chord) can be seen in the diagram above.

The point that I am making is that all these diagrams are trying to show you the same thing.  I.e. the C Major chord and all are simply guides to assist the guitarist and must be viewed as such I.e. a guide.

2. OK. Now let's look at this again but from a slightly different angle.

Major Chords

By far, the major chord is the most used type of chords in popular music. They carry an upbeat, hopeful, full sound. They lack any hint of mystery, sadness, fear, funkiness or anything of the like.  But there are also other types of chords called minor chords, diminished chords, augmented chords etc.

We are able to figure out the position of every major chord based on our intervals iof 1st, 3rd and 5th from our root note the 1st or starting note. The root note is what defines the chord. So, a C chord will have C as the root, B chord has B and so on. Very simple.

The Major chord family

The Major chord family can consist of many chords. The main thing is that the chord has a Major 3rd in it. A Major 3rd is an interval between two notes where a note is two whole steps above the tonic.  i.e. the 3 or 1 - 3 - 5.  A Major 5th is the 5 or 1 - 3 -5.
This is what makes the formation of notes a major chord.

The structure of the chord is, as we have said above, quite simple.

The major chord formula is:

1 - 3 - 5

So the root is 1, it tells you what chord letter to assign like A, B, C, D , E, F or G. The root is also called the "tonic".

The 3 is a major third above that (Dont worry about the sharps that you find next to some of the notes below. I will explain why this is so further down):

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

And the 5 is a perfect fifth above 1 or the "tonic":

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

So together the Major Chords are made up as follows:

Major chord guitar charts

Remember that the same chords (the C Major chord for example) can be played all over the guitar fret board as they can be played all over the piano keyboard. As one moves up the keyboard from middle C to a C higher up it will have a higher pitched sound of C then one played lower down. The same applies to the guitar fret board. Therefore A Major on the 2nd fret is a slightly lower sounding A Major than that found on the 5th fret.

Below are a number of chord diagrams for Major Chords.

A Major Chords
B Major Chords
C Major Chords
D Major Chords
E Major Chords
F Major Chords
G Major Chords

The chart below shows the pattern for all of the tonics (1) - the 3rds and the 5ths on the fretboard.

TAN= the tonic or 1
BLUE= the 3rd
RED= the fifth

If you can find the tonic you can find the distance from the 3rd and 5th. So any combination of these 3 notes on the fretboard creates a major chord for that tonic. Look at the chart and try to figure out as many possible fingerings for a major chord as you can. If you look at the chord charts above, you see them in the chart below.

Now lets look at the minor chords:

Minor Chords

Playing and using minor chords

Minor chords can be used for a variety of reasons. But for the most part, they express a feeling that sounds more intimate than the major chords. I tend to gravitate towards the use of minor chords. Some of the feelings I try to get across though this type of chord are sadness, reflectiveness, mystery, longing, desire, and others.

The structure of the chord is also simple.

The minor chord formula:

1 - (flat or b)3 - 5

So the root is 1, it tells you what chord letter to assign like A, B, C, D , E, F or G.

The 3 is a minor third above that:

A = C
B = D
C = Eb
D = F
E = G
F = Ab
G = Bb

And the 5 is a perfect fifth above 1:

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

So together the minor Chords are as follows:

A = A - C - E
B = B - D - F#
C = C - Eb - G
D = D - F - A
E = E - G - B
F = F - Ab - C
G = G - Bb - D

Minor chord guitar charts

The chart below shows the pattern for all of the tonics (1) - the minor 3rds and the 5ths on the fretboard.

If you can find the tonic you can find the distance from the minor 3rd and 5th. So any combination of these 3 notes on the fretboard creates a minor chord for that tonic. Look at the chart and try to figure out as many possible fingerings for a minor chord as you can. If you look at the chord charts above, you see them in the chart below.

3. Now lets dig a little deeper into the range of notes that we can make chords from

If you remember, for piano we have the base clef staff which deals with the left hand and which a pianist uses when he or she plays the left hand side of the piano. And we also have the treble clef staff which is used by the pianist when playing piano with the right hand and on the right hand side of the piano.

Note this is a very general description of how to use the music staff's when playing a piano because a pianist can play the left side of the piano with the right hand (and vice versa) if they want to.

But the point is simply that the piano keyboard has a large range of notes from which one can play notes and collections of notes i.e. chords.

The image below shows the treble clef symbol on the left and the base clef symbol on the right.

In music these two clef's are found above and below each other with the treble clef at the top and the base clef at the bottom. The two images below give you an idea of how the treble clef and bass clef relate to the piano keyboard.



And here are all the notes and their musical positions on the treble and bass clef's.



The note Middle C is exactly between the two clef's.
Here is the C note across both the treble clef staff and the base clef staff.
See if you can identify the notes in between the C notes.
Remember that an octave exists between each C note.

4. As we are not pianists, but rather guitarists

It is important to note that the treble clef staff is the main staff that a guitarist uses to play the guitar.

This is because the guitar does not have the range of notes of a piano and the treble clef staff is enough to handle the range of notes of a 6 string nylon guitar.

Note. The treble clef symbol below has been hand drawn and is quite idealized.


You can see the E, A, D, G, B, E between the tuning pegs of the guitar fret board in the drawing above. These notes can also be seen circled in the treble cleff staff above the fret board diagram. These red notes are the sounds of each of the open guitar strings. i.e. without any other notes pressed.

Below is a treble clef staff shown again and in more clarity than that of the hand drawn staff above (note that it definitely has less range of notes on the left hand side than on the right if we take the full range across the treble and bass clef's).

Notes can also extend above and below the treble clef staff to give it more range as you have seen from the hand drawn treble clef staff above.

5. Now jump in the deep end with this music piece and find the E note (top open base string of the nylon guitar) in the music

If three lines are inserted below the treble clef staff and you play the note below the third line (this is part of the top of the base clef) you will be playing the lowest note on a 6 string nylon guitar which is an E note or the top base string played open as you hold the guitar.

This open E note appears two times in the last two music clef's of this next guitar piece (musical staff's are broken up into bars and the E note can be found in bars 17 and 21).

See if you can spot them.



Remember that the short line for Middle C is exactly between the treble clef staff and the bass clef staff.

As such the E note (open and top 6th string) that you had to find in the question above is in fact using the first two top lines of the top of the bass clef and is found sitting under the second line from the top of the bass clef. Or the note in the space under the third line counting down from the short middle C line.

In classical guitar we do not refer to the bass clef but incorporate lower notes found on it by extending the treble cleff down further using additional smaller lines called ledger lines.

6. The 10 string classical guitar (as opposed to the 6 string) is like a piano because it has a much wider range than a 6 string guitar.

A classical 10 string nylon guitar has much more range than a 6 string nylon guitar and, as such, makes use of the lower musical range of a base clef staff.

But you should also know that this type of guitar is very difficult to play. It could take you decades before you fully master the 10 string guitar. The way to the 10 string guitar is to learn to play classical guitar on the 6 string nylon guitar. And the way to learn to play classical guitar is to start with the 15 step UpGuitarHill program offered here and simply start off playing songs.

7. The Neck Chart

Below is a neck chart so you can see each of the notes on a guitar neck or fretboard.

8. Sharpened and flattened notes

I would like to continue the discussion on notes (and how they are used to make chords) we have started above, but now to explain what are sharpened and flattened notes and why some chords have sharps in them:

Before we start please realise that a sharpened note is exactly the same note as a flat note.  To understand thsi see the diagram below.   I.e. A Flat is also D Sharp and etc.  It just depends on wheather you are going up the keyboard or down the keyboard.  I.e. to sharpen a note is to go up (or to your right on a keyboard) and to flatten a note is to go down (or left on a keyboard).  The same logic applies to a guitar fretboard.

The C note (on the left of the diagram above) has a black key between it and the next white note on the piano. This is either C# or D flat. depending on which way you are looking. But again C# and D flat are exactly the same note.

A rule to learn and remember is this:
All notes are either sharpened or flattened (depending if you are going up or down) except E to F and B to C. Look at E - F above and you will see no black key between them. i.e. there is no # or flat between E - F. The same applies to B - C. The rest of the notes all have a # or flat.

On the guitar a single fret is the same as a single key on a keyboard. If you are starting on the bottom open string for example then the string played open is an E note. The first fret is a F note. i.e. no # or flat. The second fret along the fret board, under the bottom string is an F#. The third fret is a G note. And so on. Consult the image of the guitar neck above to varify this for yourself.

While the rule of 1st, 3rd and 5th applies to many Major chords, some of the notes that you land on will also need to be sharpened (#).

9. Are you sharp enought to figure out what makes up the D Major Chord?

To illustrate the above lets start on the D note on the keyboard.

This is the note just right of middle C (yellow note) on the keyboard diagram above.

This D note now becomes your new root note (or tonic) of the chord D Major.

As such, applying our rule of 1st, 3rd and 5th, starting at the root, the chord of D Major will include the notes D (1), E(2), F(3), G(4), A(5), B(6), C(7) and D(8 - and an octave higher than the root note D).

The D Major chord is comprised of notes 1 + 3 + 5 of an octave or D, F and A.

Here are two different examples of the the D Major chord in diagram form:

(Note: where you see X on the diagram means that the strings of the chord are not played - sometimes musician's feel that two strings should not be played and others only one needs not be played for the D chord.) (To orientate these two chord diagrams remember that X also points to the left hand end of the guitar fretbord i.e. next to the tuning pegs):



But notice that the F note of the chord is sharened in the chord diagram i.e. F#.

Why this happens can be explained by music theory.
Let's give it a whirl and see if you can figure out the gist of it.

Take a look at the music scale of D Major below:
The scale of each chord is worked out by a complex process which is handled in depth in the FAQ of UpGuitarHill called The Circle of 5th.

At the moment I want you to accept that the diagram below is the D Major scale.

(The W's and H's are whole steps - without sharps - and half steps that have sharps)

You can see above that the # (sharp) symbol appears 2 times in the D Major scale.

If we go up from the first note on the left (which is the D note or root note of the scale and also the D Major chord) then it can be seen that the first note D is not sharpened.
Neither is the second note E. But the third note, which is F, is sharpened.
Then continuing, the 4th note is not sharpened and neither is the 5th note which is A.

As such the chord D, if played on the piano keyboard, consists of the first white note or D, then the third note of the chord (according to our scale for D Major) which is F and this cannot be the white note because it is sharpened so it must be the black note to the right of this note i.e. F# (or F sharp).
And finally to complete the chord of D Major the fifth note of the chord will then be the white note A.
This note, according to the scale above, is also not sharpened.

Remember: The black note on a piano always sharpens the white note it is next to (if it is on the right of the white note) if played, and as long as there is a black note above the white note, that note is then the sharp of the white note to its left. Remember also that some white notes cannot be sharpened i.e. E F and B C notes.

Therefore, because we are looking at the D Major chord we will need to consult the D Major scale and see if it contains a # (sharp) on either the 1st, 3rd or 5th notes. If it does then you will need to adjust your rule of 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from the root note to find a chord and if required play that note (which shows it is sharpened on the scale) as a sharp.

On the guitar you would need to move 1 fret higher to sharpen your note and on the piano this will always be the black note to the immediate right of the white note that must be played to sharpen the note.

10. WOW, ok, lets have another example using the G Major chord

Here is the G Major scale:

The bottom note is the root note for the G scale which is the note G.

G(1), A(2), B(3), C(4), D(5), E(6), F(7) and G(8 - and octave above the root note of G)

Looking at the G Major scale it seems that only 1 note is sharpened. This is the top note F. Therefore to find out the notes of the G Major chord we start at the root note: I.e. The 1st note is G and is not sharpened. The 3rd note is B and is not sharpened. The 5th note is D and is also not sharpened.
Therefore the G Major chord is comprised of the notes G, B and D. None are sharpened!
And as you can see from the chord diagram no notes need be sharpened.

The Chord Table

With the information you have been given above you should now be able to understand the Major Chord section of the table below. Note that Minor chords, 7th chords and Augmented chords are formed using a slightly different method and will not be gone into now.

Remember: All chords are formed by finding the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes from the root or tonic note.

But, because of music theory, you need to refer to the major scale of that root note and look at the number and positions of the sharps in the scale in order to see if they are in the same position as the 1st, 3rd or 5th notes.

If they are then they will need to be sharpened when you form your chord. But for Minor, 7th and Augmented or Aug(+) chords their scales are worked out differently from the Major chords and as such the sharps and flats will be in different positions.

Here is a summary of all the scales with their notes sharpened:

In the western culture, the musical system has 12 notes: C, C#(Db), D, D#(Eb), E, F, F#(Gb), G, G#(Ab) A, A#(Bb), B - Thus we have 12 major scales originating from each one of those 12 notes. Those scales will look like this.

1. - C step D step E ½ step F step G step A step B ½ step C

2. - Db step Eb step F ½ step Gb step Ab step Bb step C ½ step Db

3. - D step E step F# ½ step G step A step B step C# ½ step D

4. - Eb step F step G ½ step Ab step Bb step C step D ½ step Eb

5. - E step F# step G# ½ step A step B step C# step D# ½ step E

6. - F step G step A ½ step Bb step C step D step E ½ step F

7. - F# step G# step A# ½ step B step C# step D# step E# ½ step F#

or the notes can also be flattened.

7A. - Gb step Ab step Bb ½ step Cb step Db step Eb step F ½ step Gb

8. - G step A step B ½ step C step D step E step F# ½ step G

9. - Ab step Bb step C ½ step Db step Eb step F step G ½ step Ab

10. - A step B step C# ½ step D step E step F# step G# ½ step A

11. - Bb step C step D ½ step E# step F step G step A ½ step Bb

12. - B step C# step D# ½ step E step F# step G# step A# ½ step B

For deeper insight on this you can click here to take a look at the Circle of 5th's. (or get to it later via the FAQ switchboard)

It would possibly be a good idea to do this later, after you have finished this section. Just remember that the Circle of 5th's shows you how these scales are derived and gives you a way to remember their construction and to use the information when playing the guitar.

The table below gives more details showing notes used to create the Major, Minor, 7th and Augmented (+) chords:

11. In Conclusion

While the above information is of theoretical interest, guitarists find the best way to learn what notes make up chords, is by learning the popular chords diagrams that accompany the songs they learn to play.

The D Major Chord for example:


By playing many different songs, each with new chord diagrams that you will need to learn, you will automatically be arriving at the same place that we have arrived at through our theoretical discussion described above. But isnt it nice to know why and to now have some theoretical background!

Remember that a chord can be played on many different places on a guitar fretboard, just as you can play a chord on many different places on a piano keyboard. But if played higher up on the keyboard or higher up on the fret board the chord will sound the same as the original but have a higher pitch.

12. And bottom line...

Learn each of the new songs, with the new chords, that you will be doing as you walk step by step up the 15 steps to the top GuitarHill and you will, over time, automatically be learning to recognise and play the formation of many different chords. This is an easy to achieve goal which is your foundation to more advanced guitar.

But if you try to get into guitar by other routes you may find yourself overwhelmed, or worse still confused and lost. Just keep at it on the path I have laid down an follow my lead and soon, before you know it, you will be at the top and UpGuitarHill!  This is a big jump on your journey into the nylon string guitar!

END OF SECOND SECTION.

3. Reading Classical Guitar Music for the beginner guitarist

Classical Guitar is based primarily on reading music and then playing the sounds represented on the music sheet or music score or song sheet etc. you are working on (seeing and decifering the notes with your eyes and brain), and then applying these with your hands and fingers on your fretboard of the guitar and then sounding them.

1. The reading guitar music myth

But the truth is that only extremely gifted people (I personally dont know any who can do this) will be able to read new guitar music right off the bat. What guitarists actually do is spend many hours decifering the music notation they find in sheet music (in fact are involved in a dedicated exercise of working the music out extensively first) before they are able to play it direct from the music notation.

I say work out music what the music notation means first because with guitar, as the instrument is not like a piano which has all the notes laid out systematically before you, each note for the guitar must first be found on the fretboard before it can be used and learned in the configuration it is shown in via the sheet music.

In guitar we have to carefully work out exactly where each and every one of the notes are played in a guitar piece, and play it over many times, before we can say that we can read the music for that piece.

Remember that notes above each other in a music staff are chords. These chords will also need to be decifered and each note's position found on the guitar fret board (what fingers must be used etc.) and the position learned before you can say that you have learned what the music notation means and can read it and play it.

In a very difficult classical guitar piece like Recuerdos de la Alhambra (translation: Memories of the Alhambra) a classical guitar piece composed in 1896 by Spanish composer and guitarist Francisco Tárrega, for example, there are a number of chords at the 8th, 9th and 10th frets of the guitar that can take many days to weeks to perfect (I.e. form correctly and also from jump to jump of different chord progressions).

Not to mention that a tremelo is also being played by the right hand at the same time which is a unique classical guitar technique that will take years to perfect! Click here to listen to, and appreciate, this magnificent classical guitar piece.

In piano a chord can be pretty easy to find as all the notes are laid out systematically in front of you and also in ascending order from very lowest (on the left) to very highest (on the right).  But in classical guitar the chord will have to be especially formed by finding all the correct notes (including sharps or flats) and then placing your fingers on the fret board in the formation required to produce the chord sound.  Some chords on piano are hard or even impossible to be played on a guitar because of the difficult stretches involved between different fingers of left hand!

Often your hand will look like an "inebriated" spider as your fingers stretch here and there to move into the correct position required for the chord formation. Imagine jumping to a complex chord half way up the fret board.

The only way is to really learn the chord and perfect the jump to it is to train yourself over and over (like an acrobat) until you can do it proplerly each and every time, and for the piece you are working on.

When you have the music piece under your belt you will find that you can play the piece from the music as if you were reading it, but only being able to do so because you have trained yourself over many hours to know where you are within the particular piece and can then "follow along" as it were to the music.

The music in fact reminds you of where you are in the piece and what your are doing in that particular section of the music score and your brain responds to what you see, giving the impression that you can fluently read the music.

2. Our Rich Tradition of Guitar Music

Guitarists have a rich tradition of guitar music that has been handed down through the Centuries and many new music scores are being added to this vast collection by talented guitarists each year.

3. And tell me about TAB that is found below the music notation...

Rather focus your effort to complete the 15 step UpGuitarHill program first as this is "first and foremost, lots of FUN" which is what you need when you start guitar.  This will ensure you keep playing. And the 15 step UpGuitarHill program will give you a solid grounding for Classical Guitar (or other styles) into the future, but only after you have put the effort in, and learned the lessons required, to get you to the top of UpGuitarHill.

I do, in fact, also include some Classical exercises and small pieces of TAB with corrosponding music notation in the 15 step UpGuitarHill program, so you will get exposed to a little formal (classical) guitar and music theory as well in the course. But I do this in the exercises so it is optional for you to do or not, as you choose. Many people will be content just to learn to play songs and this s also totally ok!

In fact, if you dont want to take guitar too seriously, you can simply decide to stay just with chords, strums and fingerpicks and when you get to the top of UpGuitarHill you will gain access to all my songs from the MORE SONGS and MORE SONGS WITH BACKING TRACKS section of the UpGuitarHill web site.

You are also welcome to look for songs wider afield in music books, or obtain songs from friends or download them off the internet. But beware as many songs from other sources may not be well worked out so you may have to do a lot of fishing, and may be forced to throw some back, before you get a good catch.

That's that for a brief introduction to music notation and chords for the nyon guitar.
I hope you enjoyed it.
If you feel motivated then check out the Circle of 5th's FAQ for more guitar theory.
But only if you feel up to it!

END OF THIRD SECTION.





Click the folder above for your own copy of MusicTheoryForBeginners. (Zipped pdf )

Always remember; your guitar is your very best friend for life!