So the step between F and G is either F# or Gb, but whatever it's called, it is in fact the same note. Those blank steps are the ones that can have two different names, either "sharp" of the name below, or "flat" of the name above. These 12 notes (+ their octaves), taken together, are called the Chromatic Scale. An acoustic guitar has about 4 1/2 octaves of usable notes, an electric a little more. Look at this spiral staircase continuing up and down through three octaves to get the full picture of how notes work. The vertical distance between each step is a "semitone", or (don't let this confuse you) a "half-step". Notice that both C's are lined up in the same way, illustrating the fact they they are the same note, but one octave apart, which is represented in this analogy by the vertical distance between them. In this image, the lowest note is C (it can be any) and 12 steps later, we're back to C. The green panel encloses one octave of notes, in this case from A to A. Their names are based on the first seven letters of the alphabet: A B C D E F G and they're named from low to high. These distances between notes allow for melody and harmony and the many different qualities our ears and hearts discern when listening to music.īelow is a graphic showing showing some notes (represented by the blue ovals) rising from bass to treble. Intervals are the ruling force within the system of music.An octave is an interval a semi tone is an interval (the smallest) a whole step is an interval. The distance between any two notes is called an interval.The idea of "step" is a good analogy as notes in sequence do form a kind of staircase in pitch as illustrated below. A whole step is (obviously) two half steps, two frets. The distance in pitch between any two adjacent notes is called a semitone or half step, on a guitar: one fret.The 12 repeating notes are mere building blocks until a template is introduced, like a stack of bricks waiting for the blueprint to become a house.Notes of the same name in a different octave have a different pitch, but follow the rules as if the same note, just as February is always February, whether it's 1963 or 2013.The human ear has a range of many octaves, the guitar has a range of 3 and a half or so (electrics, almost 4). Months of the year are named from past to future notes are named from low to high. There are 12 notes which repeat, just like the 12 months of the year.Guitars make no distinction between natural notes and the #/b notes, they're all mixed in together and look the same on the fretboard. If you're at all familiar with the piano, you'll know that those '#/b" notes - sharp/flat - are the black keys on the keyboard. I find it endlessly fascinating that we can manipulate sound in the ways that we do through musical instruments, that these sounds can affect us so deeply. But it's the art of making music that I love, not the science. if that's not mathematics, I don't what is. Here's another example: The formula for determining how far apart the frets on a guitar should be is f2 = 21/12 x f1 . So, take any note, double its frequency and you have that same note an octave higher half it, and you have the same note an octave lower. The note A, second fret of the 4th string, rings out at 440 Hz the open A string, an octave lower, rings out at 220 Hz the A note on the thin string, 5th fret rings out at 880 Hz. We can hear tones from about 20Hz (very low) to 17,000 Hz (very high). The waves are measured in hertz, or 'how many waves hit your eardrum per second'. Scientifically speaking, sound is really molecules of air, moving in waves, that reach our eardrums and translate into all that we hear. Melody is the 'linear', or horizontal, way of using notes, where they come one at a time with time Harmony is the vertical way, where notes ring out together as chords. The way they blend together, and, more importantly, don't blend together is a never ending source of wonder to me, even after playing for 50 years. Notes, however, are a more exacting science. The time elements, like tempo and rhythm, are more of a 'feel' thing. Notes "or pitches" are the most absorbing of the elements that make up music.
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