Music Theory - Notes

In this lesson we will cover some of the more basic assumptions of music theory and answer the following:

- What is music theory?
- What is a note?
- Why is it important?

Lets begin...

Music theory, or as it is more accurately named "note theory" is the study of music as it is written.

Note Theory uses a set of written symbols (notes) which represent tones, durations, pitches, and volumes. Thus music/note theory is made up entirely of notes and other symbols, along with their meanings.

What is a note?

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines a note as being "a written symbol used to indicate duration and pitch of a tone by its shape and position on the staff."

Lets also look at some other definitions of the word:

-something (as an emotion or disposition) like a note in tone or resonance

-a condensed or informal record,

-a brief comment or explanation,

-a printed comment or reference set apart from the text.

So we can assume that a written note is a brief, condensed, and printed, explanation of a tone, pitch, duration, and emotion set apart from music.

Then from this we are able to derive that music/note theory (being made up of these written symbols) is a brief, theoretical, condensed, and printed, explanation of music, set apart from itself.

Therefore this theory should be regarded not as an absolute rule but as a means by which musical ideas can be communicated in the form of text.

So what makes it so important?

Through communication and sharing of ideas we can help each other progress as musicians. We could always do this by recording ourselves, but that takes a lot of equipment that some people don't have access to, and in most cases, is less convenient.

Now on to the basics of music theory...

Earlier we established that music theory in made up of notes, and that notes represent tones, pitches, duration etc, and that each of these is defined by the shape, and position of the note on the staff.

Notes/pitch- Pitch is defined by frequency, the higher a notes frequency, the higher the pitch, and vice versa. Each note is given a letter by which it is classified, starting with A and ending at G.

These pitches make up scales and chords, which create melodies, and harmonies,

What is a scale?

A scale is a series of notes played in succession of each other.

For instance the C major scale= C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

What is a Chord?

A chord is a series of notes played in unison.

For instance a C major chord= C-E-G

What is melody?

Melody is a series of notes played in succession of each other, and is perceived as a single entity or phrase. Melody can be made up of one or more phrases, which are often repeated throughout a song.

What is harmony?

Harmony can be a series of notes played in unison, like a chord, it could also be a series of notes played in succession, over a melody, or harmony is often a series of chords played in succession over a melody

In order for notes to harmonize they have to create a contrast with the notes around them. In other words, an A played on lead guitar does not harmonize with an A of the exact same frequency played by a second guitar, but if the second guitar plays a C, or even an A one or two octaves above or below, it creates contrast, thus it is a harmony.

Whether the contrast creates consonance or dissonance does not influence whether it is harmony or not, dissonant contrast creates tension, and consonant contrast relieves it, both of which are equally important in composition.

But just having a sequence of notes is not enough to create an actual melody, you must also have note value or duration.

Notes/duration- Duration is the amount of time given to any note. It is classified in music theory as a whole, half, quarter, eighth, or sixteenth note (it actually goes on and on getting smaller and smaller but these are the most common values). These notes duration though have a direct relation to tempo, which is measured by the beats per minute.

In any given song, a melody contains notes of many different durations, we commonly use a certain pattern with duration in order to structure a phrase, and repeat it with a different sequence of notes. This is called grooving, and most improvisation is done by knowing which pitches to play and with which groove.

In order to give a song texture, you have to add dynamics, which is affected by volume.

Notes/volume- Volume (the most relevant use in our case is dynamics) is defined by amplitude, which is measured in decibels. Each note has its own volume, dynamics are defined by adjusting this volume from note to note, sustaining it over a period of time, or gradually increasing or decreasing over a phrase.

Dynamics accent specific notes or beats in a phrase, we typically use these accents to emphasize tonality in a phrase. By doing so we give a little more groove to the song and it helps to engage your listeners.

And last but not least tone,

Notes/tone- Tone is defined by timbre, which is created by a series of overtones (frequencies that are too high for the human ear to perceive as pitch). Timbre is classified as the difference between a note played on the guitar and a note with the same exact frequency, played on the piano.

Timbre isn't just different from one type of instrument to another though, some models of guitar have features that change the timbre of the instrument so that two guitars have different tonality. This is important when selecting a guitar cause some have better sound quality than others and some of the equipment with the guitar is better for one style of playing than another.

Carlton Heywood is a music enthusiast, to view more lessons like this one visit E-Z Guitar Lessons and check out some of our free video lessons or sign up for our completely free guitar tutorial by clicking here.