Music Theory: Notes in Music ~ Fret Beats

What is a Note?

A note is the smallest element in music or we can say it is the atomic unit of music. A note can be defined as a sound which is played at a particular pitch. A sound which is played using varying pitch might contain multiple notes. For example in the first two lines of the song "Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are" there are 14 notes: one for each sound. This is the simplest way to understand the concept of a note.

Name of Notes

Each note is identified by a unique symbol or name. In different languages or different systems of music their name vary accordingly. In Western system of music they are identified by alphabets from A to G. In Indian Classical system the notes have name like Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. In some other language they are even termed as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si.

We would stick to the Western System and Convention of music symbols. Well the first note in the Western System of music is C and not A. Hence the notes are sequentially termed as C, D, E, F, G, A and B.

Different Category of Notes

As we have seen above there are 7 basic notes, but this is not all. There are several others notes too. In order to understand them we can categorize them.

Natural Notes: The basic notes that we have seen i.e. C, D, E, F, G, A and B are the Natural Notes. The natural notes are the foundation of the music system. The other two forms of notes are the sub-set or the modified form of the basic note.

Flat Notes: The flat note derive its term because the pitch of a flat note is a bit less than its basic parent note. It is evident that to differentiate between a Natural Note and a Flat Note, a flat note is written with a symbol b. There are the following flat notes such as Ab (A Flat), Bb (B Flat) and Eb (E Flat).

Sharp Notes: The sharp notes have a higher pitch than its basic parent note. Sharp note is written with a symbol of a hash #. There are two sharp notes C# (C Sharp) and F# (F Sharp).

The Chromatic Scale of C: The term chromatic has been derived from the word chroma which means color. Here the chromatic in terms of music resembles all variant form of colors in the medium music; all twelve notes. Hence, when we talk about chromatic scale of any note; it means it would contain all other notes in succession. Thus the Chromatic Scale of C would be written as:

C, C#, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, Ab, A, Bb and B

At places you may come across notes name like D#, G# or A#. Don't worry these are not any extra note rather they have got their name changed and have become a sharp note instead of flat. For example Eb ==> D#, Ab ==> G# and Bb ==> A#. This is termed as Enharmonic Equivalent of a note.

It is very easier for you to recognize Natural, Flat and Sharp notes on a keyboard or a piano. In these instruments all white keys are Natural Notes and all black keys constitutes Flat and Sharp. See the following diagram for your reference.