LISTEN
You may want:
- a career in music
- to actually get paid for your efforts
- fame
- to play as well as you possibly can
There's nothing better than a good song. Playing music, though, is challenging! Gain solid music theory training through this tutorial. Plus, sheet music knowledge is unrequired!
1. Music Notes
by LordAvatarZ
You know the ABC's. Music theory goes from A-G, and stops, ABCDEFG. Instrument fingerings, buttons, positions, and your own voice produce the sounds that ABCEDFG represents. Sound is very important, and music theory will structure your sound. Together, we'll attempt to improve our sound output.
Did you know there are steps, or sounds, between some of the letters? That means more fingerings (don't worry, we'll take it slow). Further down the page, these steps are explained. Example:
Half and Whole Steps
"You're a good music student, since you actually want to know about theory!"
The steps between the ABCDEFG letters are termed half steps. Half of what? I guess a whole, like from A to B. So, A to (step) is a half step, and (step) to B is a half step, also.
A to B is a whole step, with a half (step) between. Why is that important? We'll have to learn about Sharps and Flats to answer. We're talking about Sound, and we just need to label the different sound increments.
You're a good music student, since you actually want to know about theory!
2. Sharps and Flats
A Sharp is like a nail that points up. It raises a letter a half step. So the sound is going up, such as from A (step) B. Now it's called A (sharp) B. Keep going up the musical alphabet:
Don't worry about the steps I skipped, it's for a reason I'll get to later. Just know the sound is going up half steps, and some of those are Sharps. The symbol for Sharp in music is '#' (the number, or pound, or hash mark, symbol). So,
A Flat is the tire that nail punctured. Just like a flat will deflate, and bring you down too, the sound goes down a half step. B (step) A now becomes B (flat) A, as the sound is going down a half step. Keep going down the musical alphabet:
brian mcknight
We start on G because we need to reverse the direction of the sound (since our sharp nail gave us a flat). Again, the missing steps between the letters will be explained further on. Now we're down with the sound, half step style. Flat's symbol looks like a lowercase 'b'. So,
3. Wonderful Exceptions to the Rule!
kelly clarkson
Remember those Sharps and Flats? Also those Alphabet Letters? Well, the steps between the letters are not ALL half steps. Some have no steps, or in between notes, at all.
Here is the music alphabet:
Here are the steps between the letters:
Remember we can now call the steps in between the notes either #(sharp) or b(flat). So the sharps and flats fall as follows:
BC , EF:
Notice that between B and C, and between E and F, there are no steps? So this means when you are playing a B# (B sharp), you are actually playing the letter C. And when you are playing an E# (E sharp), you are actually playing an F.
CB , FE:
kenny loggins
Conversely, when you play a Cb(C flat), you are actually playing the letter B. And when you play an Fb(F flat), you really play an E. Therefore, B to C has no steps between them, and E to F has no between steps. Here's the order again:
You might remember the BC,EF exception, with the phrase: