Understanding Notes

There are eight notes that are named after the first eight letters of the alphabet:

But there are twelve different notes in music. How does that work?

Between some, but not all, of the letters is another note. This is where sharps and flats come from. So it actually looks like this:

"But wait," you may saying, "you just showed seventeen different note symbols! "How'd you go first from eight notes, then to twelve, and then to seventeen."

Let's slow down and take a look at the note between A and B. The symbol is A#/Bb, but that symbol represents the one note. I know, what genius thought to give the same note two names?

There's actually a method to the madness. When you're playing a melody and moving from lower to higher notes, you catch the '# (sharp)' better than you do the 'b (flat)' because the '#' says "go up", which is the direction you're moving. Likewise, if you're going down in a melody, then the 'b' catches is easier to understand because it says "go down," which is again the direction you're going.

So that "different name, same sound" bit is much like the difference between 1/2 and .5 -- they mean the same thing but are used for different purposes.

A few more things about notes:

• Intervals:

The step between A and B is called a whole step. The step between A and A# is called a half step, because it's half the way up to the next step.Be careful, though, because the step from B to C is a half-step even though it moves from one letter to the next.Understanding this will be important when we begin talking about keys and chords.
• Octaves
Most instruments have a range that supports more than twelve notes. The naming procedure stays the same, meaning that once you move from A to G# you start over again at A. The second A is one octave higher, but the tone is the same. This is very hard to explain, but you'll know it when you hear it.

Know enough about notes? Return to music theory!