Chapter 3

Basics of Music Notation

A Glimpse of History
Early in the 11th century a Benedictine monk named Guido of Arezzo wished to assist his church
choir in their singing of Gregorian chants. This led to his invention of a method of writing music that
is the basis of the notation system that we use today.

Developed by musicians over almost one thousand years, staff notation is the universal mode for
representing music.

The two most important elements of music notation are pitch and duration. First we will discuss
pitch notation: that is - names of notes, their symbols and how they are represented:

Notes
Notes are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet:

ABCDEFG

Notes are placed on a staff (the higher the pitch, the higher it is placed on the staff)
using a symbol called the notehead.

The notehead can be either:



1. a hollow oval:
2. or a filled-in oval:

The Staff
The staff is a five-line graphic matrix that notes are placed in:

Treble Clef > 

The guitar uses the treble clef to notate music for the guitar. The treble clef is placed at the beginning
of each line of music and fixes the note "G" on the second line of the staff:

Treble Clef >  

G (This G is the note the 3rd string is tuned to.)
Additional Elements of Music Notation
On this page you will find a few more commonly encountered elements of music notation.

Double Bar
A double bar signifies the end of the composition or a portion of it:
double bar


 

Repeat Signs
A repeated section of music is indicated by a double bar with added dots.
(If there is no "start repeat" sign it means to repeat to the very beginning of the music.)

  
repeat the music in between

Start repeat here. End repeat here.

First and Second Endings

Sometimes a repeated passage has a different closing when played for the second time.
The 1st ending is played only the first time. When playing the repeat do not play the
1st ending, rather skip directly to the bracketed music that shows the 2nd ending.

  
1. 2.
  
1st ending 2nd ending

A Hint about Working with Music Notation

This chapter illustrates the most essential elements of music notation. Use this section as a reference
when you wish to identify a symbol or element of music notation you are working on.

What you study in this chapter is applicable to music for any instrument or voice. Used in conjunction
with Chapter 4 on Guitar Notation, over time it will become second nature for you to pick up any guitar
piece and just begin to play.
The Tie

A curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch is called a tie. Only the first note of a
tie is played, the value of the second note is added to it. The arrows below point to the ties that
lengthen the initial notes:

tie tie tie tie

              
1 2 3 4 1 2 & 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

Dotted Notes
A dot placed after a note adds to the time value of the note by half its value:

     
Dotted Note     

    
Equivalent Value
        

Triplets
Three notes of equal length in one beat is called a triplet. A triplet can be applied to any note value.
Here below are a few of the most common triplets:

                    
 
1 2 3 4 1 2 & 3 4 & 1 2 3 4

3 3 3 3
3 3

The triplet is shown with the number "3" centered above or below the three note group.
The triplet can be notated with or without accompanying brackets.

Mastering Rhythmic Structures

All elements of rhythmic notation are mastered through practice. When you are ready, begin to study
Chapter 13, called Basic Rhythm Exercises. It will guide you to a deeper understanding of all the
elements of rhythm notation introduced here.
Measures and Bar Lines
Music is divided by vertical lines called bar lines into portions called bars or measures. Both words
mean the same thing.

a measure


bar lines

Time Signatures
A time signature consists of two numbers shown at the beginning of the music. The upper number tells
how many beats are in each measure. The lower number indicates the kind of note that gets one beat.

2 beats in a measure 6 beats in a measure


   
each quarter note gets one beat each eighth note gets one beat

Beams and Flags

Notes with flags may be joined together with beams. The flag and corresponding beam have the same
rhythmic value:

beams flags flags beams

       
                 

Rests

 
Each note has a corresponding rest which is counted in the same way as the note.

          
Whole Half Quarter Eighth 16th

 
             
 Time Value of Notes
The mapping of durations, or the time value of notes, is another crucial aspect of music notation.

A Common Misconception
Many novice musicians feel that they lack "rhythm ability" because of the time required to master
rhythm notation. Yet almost everyone has an innate sense of rhythm. Musical rhythms are reflections
of how humans breathe, move, laugh, speak, and sing.

What does take effort and plenty of patience is learning to interpret the notation for rhythm. When we
contemplate the miraculous precision of rhythm notation, and its capacity to map rhythm structures for
every style and combination of instruments, it should be no surprise that fluency in reading rhythms is a
precious journey shared with all other trained musicians. It does not happen in a blink of an eye.

Even if the top innovators of Google or Microsoft decided to produce the ultimate instruction book on
musical rhythm, every person would still have to learn by doing. If you remember learning to ride a
bicycle, your success was not based on what someone told you, or reading a book. You kept trying
until you got the hang of it. Then it was easy. Rhythm notation is just like that.

How Rhythm is Notated

Rhythm is notated using symbols that are attached to or next to the symbols for pitch. The chart below
names the basic symbols, shows what they look like, and gives the number of counts that each symbol
gets.
Kind of Note What It Looks Like Number of Counts
Whole Note ---------------------------- w 4 quarter note counts

Half Note ------------------------------ h 2 quarter note counts

Quarter Note -------------------------- q 1 count per quarter note

Eighth Note ---------------------------- e 2 counts to a quarter note

Sixteenth Note ------------------------- x 4 counts to a quarter note

Thirty-second Note ---------------- y 8 counts to a quarter note

The example below illustrates notes with different rhythmic values placed on the staff:

                 
Whole Half Quarter Eighth Sixteenth 32nd

          

       
Accidentals
The signs which raise, lower, or alter the pitch of a note are called accidentals. Accidentals modify the
pitch of the note they come before by 1/2 step:

 < This is a flat:

 < This is a sharp: It raises the note by 1/2 step or 1 fret.
It lowers the note by 1/2 step or 1 fret.

 < This is a natural: It removes the sharp or flat of the note.

A A A A A

     

Key Signatures
Sharps and flats at the beginning of a piece are used throughout the piece. This is called the key
signature. The key signature can indicate either a major or a minor key.

Further study of music theory will help you determine which key, major or minor, is associated with a
given key signature. Below are examples of common key signatures that the guitar plays in:

G major D major A major E major F major

  
  
    
the note F the notes F & C the notes F, C & G the notes F, C, G & D the note B
is sharped are sharped are sharped are sharped is flatted

The Octave
The octave is the interval spanned by two notes, where the higher note is twice the frequency of the
lower note. The sound of both notes is so close to being identical that they are given the same letter
name. This is why the seven letter names of the notes (A > G) are repeated as they cycle throughout
the staff.

Staff notation has a unique position for each note we play. Study the example below and observe each pair
of notes. The boxed pairs show octaves created with the notes named E. Visually the octave always
is written with one note in a space, and its octave pair on a line, with 2 and 1/2 spaces between them.


Octave pairs on the guitar:
 
E

  
C D


A B

    
G

  
E F G A B C D E F

       
     E F G A B C D E
  G A B C D
E F
Notes on the Staff
The notes are placed on the lines or in the spaces of the musical staff:

E F G A


B

C

D

E
F
    

Many find it helpful to divide the notes within the staff to notes on lines and notes in spaces.

notes on lines: notes in spaces:

 F  

E G B D F A C E

     
Every Good Boy Does Fine. The notes in spaces spell the word FACE.
The notes on lines can be memorized using
the mnemonic above.

Ledger Lines
Notes that are higher or lower than the staff are notated with small lines, called ledger lines, that
in effect extend the staff just for that note:

  < notes above staff with ledger lines


< ledger lines

 < ledger lines


  < notes below staff with ledger lines

Musical Intervals
In music the term interval means the musical distance between two notes.

The Half-Step
The smallest interval is called the 1/2 step. On the guitar a half-step is formed between any two notes
on adjacent frets of a string. Also, a 1/2 step is formed between any open string and the first fret of
that string.

 
E F B C

  
1/2 step 1/2 step