Enharmonics/ Accidentals

Hi Sean.

It’s difficult to explain in a few short sentences but I’ll try 🙂

First and foremost, these note names are correct, but if you don’t read music then don’t worry about it. Read the note exactly as it says. # is up one semitone, ## is up two semitones, b is down one semitone, bb is down two semitones.

Semitone = Half step = one fret on the guitar, just so we’re clear.

If you see B#, it’s the same note as C, i.e., one semitone up from B. Here’s a few more.

E# = F

C## = D

Fb = E

Fbb = Eb

It seems a very stupid way to do something doesn’t it? Well, it is and isn’t. The problem is when you get into theory and music notation, it just makes much more sense. Music notation puts the seven musical notes, A to G into specific lines and spaces on a musical staff, depending on which clef is used. We then use accidentals to say whether any note is flat or sharp. For someone who reads music, we need things to stay consistent and clear. Let’s look at the notes in the key of Ab major.

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G

All the C notes (3rd of the scale) will go on the “C” lines or spaces. If we now have a melody which uses the B and flat third (Cb) quite often, we have two choices, either keep C on the same line and call it Cb or call it B. If we call it B then we will need to put it on the B staff lines and call it B natural which will not only make the B staff lines messy, it can mess with the musician’s thinking. When you get used to always calling something a Flat third, it gets messy when you need to start thinking about that same thing as a sharp 2nd.

That’s the short version, but essentially it. Hope it makes sense. Keep asking if not and we’ll get there in the end.

Thank you. That’s a big eye opener and a great help in being able to practice correctly. I was wanting to learn to read & write at some point. I knew a girl who played clarinet in college and although at the time I asked her to play something for me she hadn’t played in years literally, She got out her instrument and a standard music notation song book and proceeded to absolutely shock me with her brilliant/beautiful/fluent playing. It sent the strongest message that a musician that can read & play fluently is something special. One more question. I heard a player say the right way to solo is to do it in the keys relative minor. But I think I read in your theory section something more general? Also is a scales relative minor always the 6th scale degree?

The major scale’s relative minor is the 6th degree. The relative minor refers to the natural minor scale. Look at two scales.

C major: C D E F G A B

A natural minor: A B C D E F G

If you start the C major scale from the 6th degree, the order of notes become A natural minor. They are relative because they share the same notes. In reverse, the 3rd degree of the natural minor is the relative major.

The “right way to solo” is NOT by using the relative minor. In certain styles of music it is a trick that often works, nothing else. Example: If a song is in the key of C major, a lot of musicians might use A minor pentatonic for the guitar solo. Two reasons:

1: C major pentatonic and A minor pentatonic share the same notes.

2: The minor pentatonic scale for guitar is easy to play and most of us have a lot of experience with it.

If they are the same notes, it’s easy to play, then it makes sense to just use that instead … up to a point.

The only problem with this is if we spend a lot of our time playing the minor pentatonic then we become very good at making something sound minor-ish. If we then start using a bunch of very minor sounding licks over a major key, things can sound a bit wrong, or predictable.

In essence, there is nothing wrong with it but I personally would spend a lot of time practicing over a major key while avoiding thinking about minor scales. You’ll just come up with different sounding ideas.

With that said, I do personally use the major / relative minor trick quite a lot if I’m playing live and don’t have much time to think about what I’m doing.

This is quite a complicated subject and takes a lot of time and experience to grasp. It took me forever to understand it all properly.

I don’t know if you have my theory book (only on Kindle at the moment) but I go into a lot of detail about this. It gets pretty involved in parts though.

As for reading music, go for it. I can read music but I’m not a sight reader: big difference! 🙂

Yes I purchased both and am reading theory now. I can already tell a difference in my playing just 30 minutes into the book. Im not kidding. This is powerful material. Reading it with my guitar in my hands is how I like to practice and study. Keep the books coming Lee!! I like your style & I haven’t had this much fun in ages….