Essential Video Collection

This booklet will help prepare you to get the most out of your video. It will introduce the guitar fingerboard, the basics of reading standard music notation, guitar tablature, chord diagrams and guitar neck diagrams. All of us at the National Guitar Workshop and Alfred wish you lots of fun and fulfillment as you learn to play guitar.

The Guitar Fingerboard

Half Steps and Whole Steps Our first order of business is to understand how the guitar fingerboard works and to learn how to find or name all of these notes on the neck. This is easy if we know about half steps and whole steps. A half step is the distance from one fret to the next on the guitar. For instance, the distance from the 1st fret to the 2nd is one half step. This is the smallest interval (distance between two notes). Two half steps equal one whole step, which is a distance of two frets on the guitar. For example, the distance from the 1st fret to the 3rd fret is a whole step. The arrangement of whole steps and half steps in the musical alphabet is as follows:

A W

B H

C W

D W

E H

F W
W H

G W

= Whole step = Half step

Here is where all of the notes in the musical alphabetthe natural notes are found on the guitar.
Whole Step Half Step
E B G D A E F C A E B F G D B F C G A E C G D A B F D A E B C G E B F C D A F C G D E B G D A E

1st string

6th string 12

10

11

Open Strings

Frets

You have probably noticed the blank, unnamed frets on the fingerboard in the diagram on page 1. These are filled with sharp and flat notes, also called accidentals or chromatic tones. When a sharp is placed in front of a note, the note is raised one half step (one fret). For example, F is one fret higher than F. When a flat is placed in front of a note, the note is lowered one half step (one fret). For example, G is one fret lower than G. Notice that F and G fall on the same fret. Two notes which sound the same (played on the same fret) but have different letter names are termed enharmonic equivalents. Every sharped or flatted note has an enharmonic equivalent.
Whole Step Half Step
E B G D A E F C G /A D /E A /B F F /G C /D A E B F /G G D A /B F C G G /A D /E B F /G C /D G /A

Here are the notes on the staff using the G clef:

w w w w w w &w w w w w
D E F G A B C D E F G

Enharmonic Equivalents
A E C G D A A /B F C /D G /A D /E A /B B F /G D A E B C G D /E A /B F C C /D G /A E B F /G C /D D A F C G D D /E A /B F /G C /D G /A D /E E B G D A E

Ledger Lines The higher a note appears on the staff, the higher it sounds. When a note is too high or too low to be written on the staff, ledger lines are used.
1st string

&
6th string 12

10

11

C A B C D E

Open Strings

Frets

E F Ledger lines

Music Notation: Pitch

Notes Music is written by placing notes on a staff. Notes appear in various ways.

Guitar music actually sounds one octave lower than it is written. We write music an octave (12 half steps) higher than it sounds strictly for reasons of convenience and easy reading.

Stems

j
Note heads

Flag

Beams

Music Notation:Time
Measures and Bar Lines The staff is divided by vertical lines called bar lines. The space between two bar lines is called a measure. Measures divide music into groups of beats. A beat is an equal division of time. Beats are the basic pulse behind music. A double bar marks the end of a section or example.
One measure or bar Double bar

The Staff and Clef Treble clef The staff, which is read from left to right, G has five lines and four spaces. At the beginning of the staff is a clef. The clef G line w dictates what pitch (exact degree of highness or lowness) corresponds to a Note particular line or space on the staff. Guitar music is written in treble clef , which is sometimes called the G clef. The ending curl of the clef circles the G line on the staff.

&

Staff

&4 4
Time signature

Bar lines

Ledger lines

Note Values As you know, the location of a note relative to the staff tells us its pitch (how high or how low it is). The duration, or value, is indicated by its shape. w = 4 beats Whole Note
Half Notes

Ties When notes are tied, the second note is not struck. Rather, its value is added to that of the first note. So, a half note tied to a quarter note equals three beats. Notice the numbers under the staff in these examples. They indicate how to count. Both of these examples are in time, so we count four beats in each measure. When there are eighth notes, which are only half a beat, we count & (and) to show the division of the beats into two parts. When a counting number is in parentheses, a note is being held rather than struck.

=
+ 1

3 beats

h q e e q e e

= 2 beats

Quarter Notes

q e e

q e e

= 1 beat

4 &4
1 2 & (3) & 4 In some cases, consecutive eighth notes are beamed together.

Eighth Notes

= beat

Sixteenth Notes

xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx

= beat

4 &4 J
1 & (2)

J
& (3) & 4

Rest Values Every note value has a corresponding rest. A rest indicates silence. A whole rest indicates four beats of silence, a half rest is two beats of silence, etc. = 4 beats Whole Rest

Half Rests = 2 beats

Quarter Rests

= 1 beat

Ties are a convenient way to notate notes that begin off the beat (on an &).

Eighth Rests

= beat

Sixteenth Rests

= beat

Time Signatures Every piece of music has a pair of numbers at the beginning, called time signatures, that tell us how to count time. The top number represents the number of beats per measure. The bottom number represents the type of note receiving one count. Sometimes a c is written in place of time. is often called common time. = Three beats per measure = A quarter note q equals one beat = Six beats per measure = An eighth note e equals one beat = Four beats per measure = A quarter note q equals one beat

Dots A dot increases the length of j j r j a note by one half of its = . = . = . original value. For instance, a 2 + 1 = 3 1 + = 1 + = half note equals two beats. Half of its value is one beat (a quarter note). So, a dotted half note equals three beats (2 + 1 = 3). A dotted half note is equal to a half note tied to a quarter note.

. Dotted notes are especially 6 . . &3 4 8 important when the time 1 2 3 1 & a 2 & a signature is , because the longest note value that will fit in a measure is a dotted half note. Also, dotted notes are very important in time, because not only is a dotted half note the longest possible note value, but a dotted quarter note is exactly half of a measure (counted 1 & a 2 & a).

Triplets A triplet is a group of three notes played in the time of two.

Reading TAB, Scale and Chord Diagrams

TAB Tablature is a system of notation that graphically represents the strings and frets of the guitar fingerboard. Each note is indicated by placing a number, which indicates the fret to play, on the appropriate string.
1st string, 10th fret 2nd string, 10th fret String numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6

&2 4
3 3

3 3 4 4

Eighth-note triplet (evenly divides one beat, the time of two eighth notes.)

Quarter-note triplet (evenly divides two beats, the time of two quarter notes.)

T A B

10 10 5

3 0 0 0 2 3

Beaming Notes that are less than one beat in duration are often beamed together. Notice the couting numbers: since there are four sixteenth notes in a beat, they are counted 1 e & a, 2 e & a, etc.

4th string, 5th fret Open G chord

&2 4 4 4
1 e & a 2 e & a 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Beamed sixteenth notes

Beamed quarter notes

Scale Diagrams The top line of a scale diagram represents the 1st (highest) string of the guitar, and the bottom line the 6th. The vertical lines represent frets, which are numbered.
Frets Left hand fingering 1st string 1 1 1 Root 3

Rhythmic Notation Rhythmic notation is common in guitar music. It is a system of slash marks with stems and beams that notate specific rhythms without specific pitches. Rhythmic notation is usually used to show a rhythm guitar part.

4 4

6th string

6
Fret numbers

10

Scale tones

4 &4 |
Count: 1

Whole note (4 beats)

Half notes (2 beats)

Quarter notes (1 beat)

|
2 3 4 1 2

|
3 4

1 2 3 4

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Eighth notes ( beat)

Chord Diagrams Chord diagrams are similar to scale diagrams, except they are oriented vertically instead of horizontally. Vertical lines represent strings, and horizontal lines represent frets.
Mute or dont play this string Play open string Left-hand fingering

Swing Eighths Jazz frequently sounds a bit different than notated. The swing or shuffle rhythm is very commonly played even when regular straight eighths are written. Swing eighths sound very much like eighth-note triplets in which the first two notes are tied together.

x032 11

F/A

Chord name

4 &4

Written: Swing 8ths

Played:

Fret numbers

1 2 3 4
6 5 4 3 2 1

Indicates a barre chord Fingered notes

Strings

Roman Numerals Here is a review of Roman numerals and their Arabic equivalents.

I or i................1 II or ii.............2 III or iii...........3 X or x...........10 XI or xi.........11 XII or xii.......12

IV or iv..........4 V or v.............5 VI or vi...........6 XIII or xiii....13 XIV or xiv....14 XV or xv.......15

VII or vii........7 VIII or viii.....8 IX or ix...........9 XVI or xvi....16 XVII or xvii..17 XVIII or xviii..18

Some Terms and Signs

..
0 9

Repeat. Return to the beginning or the nearest play again. Half Step. A distance of one fret on the guitar.

..

and

Whole Step. Equals two half steps, distance of two frets on the guitar. Flat. Lower the note one half step (one fret). Sharp. Raise the note one half step (one fret). Natural. Cancels a sharp or flat.

b # n