Basic Music Theory #4
This Music
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When you look at a music staff, you will see a number of symbols.
For those of you that play bass guitar, there will be what looks like a half a heart,
commonly drawn for Valintines day. Next to it will be two dot about and below the line indicating where the F is placed on that stafff. ( Remember F major is the only flat key without a flat in it's name. It has one flat it is B b or B flat.)
The space below it is for the key of E and the Line below that space is for the key of D. The space below that is for the key of C. The line under that is for the key of B. The sace under that is for the Key of A. The Line under that is for the key of G and since there are only 5 lines in a staff the bottom space under the last line is for the Key of F. This is not the same Key of F you would hit on the Piano. It is called an Octave below. If you hit one key of F on the Piano and went 8 keys down, it would be another F note but in a lower tonality. Going back and starting from the Key of F between the two dots and going up the staff; The next note would be the G. Above that would be another line for the key of A. The top space would be for B. Now to indicate what is called middle C on the piano, (dead center on the Piano key board.) would be a note with a line going thur it's middle. It's not attached to the staff. It's a demarcation. Above it would be another Music staff used for those playing a regular guitar. It is signified by a G Cleff. At the end of the fancy line where it curves on the second from the bottom line indicates the key of G. ( G major has one sharp, and it is F sharp.) So from middle C the space above that would be the space under the lowest line on the staff for the Key of D. The first line would be for the key of E. the first space actually on the staff itself is for the key of F. ( Hint all the spaces going up spells FACE. To remember the order of lines just remember the saying "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge." The lines going up are G B D F in order.) As musicians instead of saying going up on the music scale we say. " Acending." Instead of saying going down on the music scale we say, "Decending."
Now on the Bass scale ( for the bass guitar and "treble scale " for the G cleff scale) you will see what looks like little f major cleff signs without the two dots following them. They look like half hearts with stems on them or little lower case b letters. On the Treble scale when you see the flats it indicates which notes will be taken a half step down. This is also done so the little flats do not have to be placed after every flatten note on the scale. Hence, If you see one flat at the start of the scale, you know you are in the key of F major and it has one flat: B b (B flat) when you see the B note on the scale and it doesn't have a little half heart with a stem, that's alright, it still goes a half step down, because it was indicated at the start of the staff. They are arranged and go in the same order every time. From our First music theory lesson (Sponsored by Mike's Garage in Augusta Maine.) We already have the formula for memorizing the sharps and flats of a major scale. So if we see four little lower case b letters, we know that we are playing in the Key of A b (A flat)
major and it has four flats. They are: B flat E flat A flat and D flat. ( Written as B b, E b , A b, and D b.)
For the G cleff scale, we would see the symbol of the tic- tac-toe sign or the number sign used on touch tone telephones. (#) If we see none, we know it is the key of C major, because C major has no sharps or flats.
(C b major has all notes flatten, and C # major has all sharp notes.) So if we see 4 #'s, we know it is in the key of E sharp, and it has four sharps. They are F #, C #, G #, and D #. ( F sharp, C sharp, G sharp and D sharp.)