What is the Musical Alphabet?

 

When diving into learning music theory, things can get overwhelming pretty quickly if we don’t have a definitive starting point. Let’s start with the basics. It is important to first have a firm understanding of the musical alphabet before jumping ahead to chords, scales, and especially before trying to learn songs. This practice is relevant to any and every instrument; vocalists that means you, too.

The musical alphabet is made up of a series of seven notes: A-B-C-D-E-F-G.  When talking about music, we need a way to explain which note(s) we’re referring to. We do this by using a series of letters to differentiate between these tones.  This A – G pattern repeats itself in both directions depending on the range of octaves each instrument has. Let’s look at a piano for the next few examples. It’s an instrument where each note is laid out in order or chromatically. You’ll notice that a piano has white keys or natural keys and black keys or sharps and flats. We’ll get a better understanding of sharps and flats in the Chromatics section. For now, focus on the labeled natural keys below. 

 

 

The example above starts on A, but that will vary depending on the size of the piano or electric keyboard. An 88 key piano will start on A, a 76 key piano will start on E, and a 61 key piano will start on C. Regardless of what key a piano starts on, the order of the musical alphabet remains the same. In this case, the model starts with A. We see that pattern of  A-B-C-D-E-F-G  repeating over two octaves. 

 

CHROMATICS

 The chromatic scale is the musical scale containing all twelve pitches each a half step or semitone apart. Since pianos (like most instruments with the exception of unpitched percussion instruments like bass drum, snare drum or symbols) are tuned to a chromatic scale, you’ll notice in the example above that after almost every natural key (with the exception of B and E) you’ll find a sharp key. To sharpen a note is to raise it by a half step, while flattening a note will lower it by a half step. Essentially, each black key has two functions…so it has two names. Sharps are to the right of the natural, and flats are to the left of the natural. So, the black key directly to the right of A is called A♯. However, that same key is directly to the left of B, so it’s also called B♭. Accidentals occur when changing the pitch of any given note. There are five types of accidentals in music. Sharp (♯)  Flat (♭) Natural (♮) Double Sharp (x) or (♯♯) and Double Flat (♭♭). Let’s look at one octave of chromatic notes. 

 

                                     

 

Every instrument is unique in the way that it displays these notes. I like to think of a piano as a tool that is useful for any musician. Again, you too, vocalists! I’ve found that the simplest way to teach and memorize the musical alphabet has been to demonstrate these concepts on a piano. With a piano, you can quickly determine where each natural key is by referring to the repeating pattern of sharp and flat keys. For simplicity’s sake, let’s just call them sharp keys. 

You’ll notice the groups of two and three sharp keys spanning the instrument as shown.

 

 

You can quickly find a C note by first finding the groups of two sharp keys. Now, notice that just to the left of each group of two sharp keys is a natural key. That’s the C natural or simply put, the C note. There are a total of six C notes in the example above, each of a different octave. Now, just treat the others in sequence like you would the alphabet. The key right before C would be B, and before that would be A. You can find any F note just to the left of the groups of three sharp keys, and so on. With a lot of practice, memorizing where the notes are on any instrument will become second nature. 

 

BUILDING BLOCKS

Remember, scales are built from these very notes and chords are built from those scales. Mastering the fundamentals will prepare you for any song you plan to learn. One mistake you DO NOT want to make as a musician is memorizing the shapes of chords and having no knowledge of theory. You will set yourself up for failure, especially in a band setting. Vocalists, whether your band decides to take the song down a half step, needs you to find a specific harmony, is trying to tell you that you’re singing in the wrong key, or that you’re singing a little too sharp or too flat in a specific area, you’ll need to know these basics and this vocabulary. 

Think of the musical alphabet as a tool designed to help you better understand the music, and as a language designed to help you better communicate the music. First, get a good grasp of the naturals in the musical alphabet. Let’s start on C this time. C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. This again is one octave, and happens to be the C major scale. Try it from F natural, now. The order would be F-G-A-B-C-D-E with the following F starting the next octave. Try it on your own, start from whichever natural key you’d like. As long as you always follow the same pattern of the English alphabet, you’ll always be correct. Once you’re comfortable with reciting the naturals of the musical alphabet, try adding in the sharps and flats and speak them aloud. Create muscle memory every chance that you get. 

 

WHY LEARN SCALES? 

Scales are another concept of music theory that you’ll need to spend time memorizing if you want to reach any degree of fluency with your instrument or voice. Let’s start with the major scales, simply because many musical concepts are built off the backbone of the major or ionian mode. I’ll save the seven Greek modes for another blog. For now, we’ll look at the D major scale. 

 

                    D   E   F♯  G   A   B   C♯   D

 

This scale, like the majority of the others, includes sharps and flats. The same goes for the minor scales. In order to build chords, we take the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major or minor scales to create the major and minor triads (three-note chords) that make up the very songs you aim to master. In short, Chords = songs. What about Major 7 chords? Dominant 7 chords? Augmented chords? DIMINISHED? Same idea. They’re all built from the notes of the musical alphabet.

 

IN CONCLUSION…

Virtually everything music stems from the notes of the musical alphabet. As simple a concept as it may seem, don’t rush through, get a hang of those sharps and flats, and study your scales as daunting a task as that may seem for you. It’s worth it. Then, with time, those complex chords of your favorite song will make a lot more sense. Be patient with yourself, and most importantly, practice makes permanent!