We have to start learning just a tiny bit of music theory. A little goes a long way, and you will find your playing improves a lot with a little understanding! Learning thebasic principles is not too hard, and we will using the information that we learn in this lesson for ever!

Video Lesson

 

The Note Circle

You can see here the "Note Circle" which shows all 12 notes that we have in western music. Each step around the circle is the same as moving one fret, and this is called a "semitone". Two steps around the circle is called a tone.

If you look at the "white notes" (ones with no # or b) you can see that that are all a tone apart, except for B/C and E/F, which are only a semitone apart.

A sharp (#) raises the pitch of a note by one semitone (one fret). An easy way to remember this is that if you sat on something sharp, you would jump up!

A flat (b) lowers the pitch of a monte by one semitone (one fret). The easy way to remember this one is that if your tyre is flat it goes down.

One term that I really liked when I was learning this stuff in high scholl was the term "Enharmonic Equivilant" which means two notes that sound the same but have different names, like A# and Bb. These two notes sound exactly the same (in our western "equally tempered" music system).

You should get into counting your semitones, if you have a friend to help you, ask them to name how many semitones there are between any two notes, and then you have to count around the circle. To start with you will probably have to look at the chart below, but try and get it into your memory as quickly as you can.

Remember that everything you learn should be placed into your memory, not left opn a page!

 

Now we are going to look at how to make your chord changes in the air in BC-153 • Air Changes.

 

HELP!!!!

If you need to ask a question about this lesson - there is a topic set up specifically to help you with this lesson. To help you find it easily you can click the following link and it will take you right the topic. You'll be able to see questions that other people had and ask your own questions! Hopefully one of the very helpful members of our community will be there to help you soon, I do go there and answer stuff too - but there are just too many questions for me to answer alone! So click this link to get help with this lesson!

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