Category: Music Theory for Guitar

Rhythm and Duration

The shape of a note indicates how long it should be held, or its duration.

• Whole Note 𝅝: Held for four beats.
• Half Note 𝅗𝅥: Held for two beats.
• Quarter Note 𝅘𝅥: Held for one beat.
• Eighth Note 𝅘𝅥𝅮: Held for half a beat.

A time signature, like 4/4, tells you the rhythm of the music. The top number indicates how many beats are in each measure (the space between two vertical bar lines), and the bottom number indicates which type of note gets one beat. In 4/4 time, there are four beats per measure, and a quarter note gets one beat.

Key Signatures and Accidentals

A key signature is a set of sharps (♯) or flats (♭) placed after the clef at the beginning of the music. It tells you which notes are to be played sharp or flat throughout the entire piece (or until the key changes). The key signature determines the key of the music, which is the central note and scale around which the piece is built.

An accidental is a sharp, flat, or natural sign that appears within a measure and applies only to the note it precedes.

• Sharp (♯): Raises a note by a half-step.
• Flat (♭): Lowers a note by a half-step.
• Natural (♮): Cancels a previous sharp or flat, restoring the note to its original pitch.

An accidental affects only the note it’s placed next to and any subsequent notes of the same pitch within that same measure. It doesn’t carry over to the next measure unless specified by another accidental.

The circle of fifths is a visual representation of the relationships between the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale. It organizes all 12 major keys (and their relative minors) in a circular pattern, showing the number of sharps or flats in each key signature. Moving clockwise around the circle, each new key is a perfect fifth above the previous one, and you add one sharp. Moving counter-clockwise, each new key is a perfect fourth above the previous one (or a perfect fifth below), and you add one flat.

How to Understand and Build the Circle

The circle is best understood by starting at the top with the key of C Major.

Moving Clockwise (Sharps)

Starting at C Major, which has no sharps or flats, you move clockwise to build keys with sharps. Each step is a perfect fifth up from the previous key.

• C has 0 sharps.
• The key of G is a perfect fifth above C. It has 1 sharp: F♯.
• The key of D is a perfect fifth above G. It has 2 sharps: F♯ and C♯.
• The key of A is a perfect fifth above D. It has 3 sharps: F♯, C♯, and G♯.
• The key of E is a perfect fifth above A. It has 4 sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯, and D♯.
• The key of B is a perfect fifth above E. It has 5 sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, and A♯.
• The key of F♯ is a perfect fifth above B. It has 6 sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, and E♯.
• The key of C♯ is a perfect fifth above F♯. It has 7 sharps: all seven notes are sharp.

A helpful way to remember the order of the sharps is with the mnemonic: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.

Moving Counter-clockwise (Flats)

Starting again at C Major, you can move counter-clockwise to build keys with flats. Each step is a perfect fourth up from the previous key.

• C has 0 flats.
• The key of F is a perfect fourth above C. It has 1 flat: B♭.
• The key of B♭ is a perfect fourth above F. It has 2 flats: B♭ and E♭.
• The key of E♭ is a perfect fourth above B♭. It has 3 flats: B♭, E♭, and A♭.
• The key of A♭ is a perfect fourth above E♭. It has 4 flats: B♭, E♭, A♭, and D♭.
• The key of D♭ is a perfect fourth above A♭. It has 5 flats: B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, and G♭.
• The key of G♭ is a perfect fourth above D♭. It has 6 flats: all except C♭ are flat.
• The key of C♭ is a perfect fourth above G♭. It has 7 flats: all seven notes are flat.

The mnemonic for the order of flats is the reverse of the sharps: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father.

Why the Circle of Fifths is Important

The circle of fifths is a powerful tool for musicians and composers. It helps you quickly determine the key signature for any major key. It also shows you which keys are closely related to each other (adjacent keys on the circle) and which are distant. This is incredibly useful for understanding harmony, writing chord progressions, and transposing music from one key to another. The inner circle of the diagram often shows the relative minor keys, which share the same key signature as their corresponding major keys.

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Musical notation relies on the grand staff to accommodate instruments with wide pitch ranges, such as the piano, organ, or harp. The grand staff is created by combining a treble clef staff and a bass clef staff. These two staves are connected by a vertical bar line and a brace, which signals that both staves are for the same instrument.

Clefs and Their Functions

Treble Clef (G Clef): This clef is used for higher-pitched instruments and voices, and it typically notates pitches above middle C. The clef’s inner curve circles the second line from the bottom of the staff, designating that line as G4, or the G above middle C. To remember the notes on the lines (E, G, B, D, F) the mnemonic “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” is often used, while the notes in the spaces (F, A, C, E) spell out “FACE”.

Bass Clef (F Clef): Also known as the F clef, it is used for lower-pitched instruments and voices and generally notates pitches below middle C. The bass clef’s two dots surround the fourth line from the bottom, which is designated as F3, the F below middle C. Common mnemonics for the notes on the lines (G, B, D, F, A) include “Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always,” and for the spaces (A, C, E, G), “All Cows Eat Grass”.

Middle C and Ledger Lines

Middle C (C4) serves as the central point of the grand staff, connecting the treble and bass clefs. It is written on the first ledger line below the staff in the treble clef and on the first ledger line above the staff in the bass clef. This dual notation represents the same pitch, and its placement often indicates which hand should play the note on a keyboard instrument. Ledger lines are short, horizontal lines that extend the staff’s range to notate pitches above or below the standard five lines. Excessive use of ledger lines can make music difficult to read, so composers may use clef changes or octave displacement symbols like 8va or 8vb to improve legibility.

The Guitar as a Transposing Instrument

The guitar is a transposing instrument, meaning its notes sound one octave lower than they are written on the staff. This convention allows guitar music to be notated primarily in the treble clef, preventing the need for an unmanageable number of ledger lines for its lower notes. For example, when a guitarist reads a written C4 (middle C), the note they play will sound as C3. The standard tuning for a six-string guitar is E-A-D-G-B-E, which corresponds to the scientific pitches E2–A2–D3–G3–B3–E4. The written notes for the open strings on a treble clef are:

• Low E (E2 sounded) is written as E3, located in the space below the third ledger line.
• A (A2 sounded) is written as A3, located on the second ledger line below the staff.
• D (D3 sounded) is written as D4, located in the space below the first ledger line below the staff.
• G (G3 sounded) is written as G4, located on the second line of the staff.
• B (B3 sounded) is written as B4, located on the third line of the staff.
• High E (E4 sounded) is written as E5, located in the fourth space of the staff.

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