THE MUSICAL ALPHABET (FOR BEGINNERS)

There are only 12 different notes in music. These notes make up what is known as the Musical Alphabet.

Let’s explore it and put it together from the ground up.

For this lesson, I want you to grab a pen and paper and follow along.

Download the worksheet below to work though the information:

12 Notes

First, let’s start off by drawing out numbers from 1 to 12, like so:

Natural Notes

Next, let’s insert the Natural Notes. The Natural Notes are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Notice, they go from A to G. They fit into our table like so:

B and C, E and F = Best Mates

Now, if you study the placement of each of the natural notes we’ve just written in, you’ll notice that there is a space between all of the notes, except for between B and C, and between E and F. And this is something you need to remember.

• B and C are best mates (always together).
• E and F are best mates (always together).

Accidental Notes – Sharp (#) notes and Flat (b) notes

Next, let’s fill in the Accidental Notes. Accidental notes are either Sharp (♯) notes or Flat (♭) notes. Let’s start off with the Sharp Notes. They are:

• A♯ (A Sharp)
• C♯ (C Sharp)
• D♯ (D Sharp)
• F♯ (F Sharp)
• G♯ (G Sharp)

Sharp (#) Notes

Sharp Notes are always one step HIGHER than their relevant Natural note. So, where there is an A, the next note up will be an A sharp. Let’s fill that into our table:

Next, we have a B, but there is no B sharp as B and C are always together! C will always be the next note up from B. So essentially, there isn’t a B♯. The next note up from B is C.

From the C, the next note up is a C♯. Let’s write that in:

Hopefully, at this stage you can now see the pattern that is emerging, so let’s insert all of the Sharp notes.

By the time you’ve done this, your table should look like this:

Flat (b) Notes

Now that we’ve filled in all of the Sharp notes, let’s look at the Flat notes.

“Ah, but there’s no space left for the flat notes!” I hear you say. Well, this takes us on to another element we need to understand.

In music, some notes (the Accidental Notes) have TWO different names. You’ll see how this works in a second. For now, let’s get to know the Flat notes a little better. The Flat notes in music are:

• A♭ (A Flat)
• B♭ (B Flat)
• D♭ (D Flat)
• E♭ (E Flat)
• G♭ (G Flat)

Whereas Sharp notes are always one step higher than their relevant Natural note, Flat notes are always one step LOWER than their relevant Natural note. So, where there is a G, the next note down will be a G Flat. Let’s insert the G♭ into our table:

Notice that I’ve written the G♭ in the 10th column, one step below the G. That’s because F♯ and G♭ are exactly the SAME NOTE. It’s just that this note can be called either an F sharp or a G flat.

I hope that makes sense.

Next, let’s fill in the E♭. We’ll do that by finding the E note and then moving one step below it. Let’s do that now:

Notice again that D♯ and E♭ are the same note, just with a different name.

Double notice again that there are no flat notes between B and C or E and F – remember Best Mates.

Let’s fill in the rest of the flats now. We’ll keep working backwards, remembering that a Flat note is always one step lower than its relevant Natural note.

The Musical Alphabet – Complete

Once you’ve filled in all of the flat notes, you’ll have completed the Musical Alphabet, and it will look like this:

So now, hopefully, you can see which notes of the Musical Alphabet have two different names:

• A♯ is the same note as B♭
• C♯ is the same note as D♭
• D♯ is the same note as E♭
• F♯ is the same note as G♭
• G♯ is the same note as A♭

Notice that it’s all of the Accidental notes that share two different names.

Octaves

Now that you’ve completed your Musical Alphabet, we need to understand what an Octave is. An Octave is simply the distance between two notes of the same type.

For example, take the A note we have in column 1 and climb up 12 steps. When you land on that 12th step, you arrive back at another A – the same note, just higher in pitch. That distance, from one A up to the next A, is an Octave.

We can show it on the exact same chart we’ve been building. Notice the A we started on in column 1, and the A we land on after climbing all 12 steps:

And here’s the neat part: once you reach that A, the whole Musical Alphabet simply starts over and repeats (notice how the count goes back to 1). The 12 notes we’ve just learnt are the only notes there are — they just keep cycling round and round, climbing higher each time you go up, and dropping lower each time you come back down.

The Rules to Remember

So remember these rules:

1. There are 12 notes in the Musical Alphabet (7 natural, 5 accidentals).
2. It goes from A to G.
3. B and C are best mates.
4. E and F are best mates.
5. Sharps (♯) go one step up.
6. Flats (♭) go one step down.

If you can memorise the rules above, you should now be able to recite the Musical Alphabet from memory.

In the next lesson, we’ll take everything you’ve learnt here and start finding these notes on the guitar.