can B7 be a plain old note?

So I was watching a movie from the '70s called Ben...Michalel Jackson made the song "Ben" famous. A Google search shows it having these chords:

G, D, B7, F, E, Am, C, D7

Well, I am still SUPER new and am learning chords, but I do not know many... but cant I play this song one note at a time? no chords? if so, what single note whould B7 be, what single note would Am be (A?) what single note would D7 be?

Sorry for a totally NOOB question but just curious. Thank you all!

Hi Chuck

There are only the 7 whole notes ABCDEFG and their accidentals repeated through the octaves available to any fretted single string. i.e. the typical sequence G# or Aâ™­ => A => A# or Bâ™­ => B etc, etc, accidentals notated by convention depending upon ascending or descending sequence.

[br]It'd benefit your understanding best as well as answer your question far better to go and define accurately in your own mind what a "note" by definition is. Wikipedia can help you here.

Then understand what chords are, and how they are constructed to make them major, minor, 7th, 5th, suspended etc. Far too complex or circumspect to re-explain here. But reading it through even just the once will give you the general gist.

The guitar chords you will encounter most frequently in Fundamentals are most commonly tryads or dyads. By definition, a note attainable from fretting any single string anywhere on the neck can't be either.

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Sure. You can play the melody line (what you sing or whistle or hear in your head when you sing or whistle or imagine the song) with single notes. I think you would have to figure that out by ear unless you have some guitar tab that shows you the melody line. The melody notes relate to the chords but it's not as simple as saying that a particular note corresponds to a particular chord. This is a really imperfect analogy but I think of the relation of the notes to the chords (the melody to the harmonic progression) as being similar to the relation between the path a white water kayaker chooses as he or she navigates the flow and dynamics of a river. The progressions of chords limits the options of what notes would sound good but there is still a great deal of freedom in selecting the particular notes to play over those chords. The interaction between (a) the movement of notes and (b) the flow of the chords is, in part, what gives any particular song on rendition of a song is unique character. The main point I'm trying to make is that their is not a 1-to-1 deterministic relation between a note and a chord.

Having said that, trying the note that the chord is named for would be a reasonable place to start but the melody note could be any note in the chord (which is typically built from at least 3 notes) or even a note that is not in the chord, so you just have to figure it out. To make it a little more interesting, you could see how it sounds to play the first chord of each line, and then play some melody notes after that. Like play a chord for "Ben", melody notes for each word "the two of us need look no more", then the same chord for "We" followed by individual notes for each word of the next line ("both found what we were looking for", etc.

Originally Posted by: dlwalke

Sure.

Re-editing your post a zillion times isn't making that hole you're digging any shallower.

The OP's intention from "can I play this song one note at a time? no chords?" (my bold) is abundantly clear, and no disrepect to him as he states he's a newbie, comprehending the musical venacular conventions of the terms he's using would be of benefit, hence why I've pointed him to the relevant Wiki links explaining exactly that.

However interminably inquisitive as I am only too aware of my own human frailty rendering capacity to err, if you could explain to me how I can sound a B7, Am or D7 [u]note[/u] specifically by fretting any one of the six single strings at any fret position on the neck, I'd be eternally grateful for your correcting of that gap in my understanding.

Well, I think I only edited a couple of times to add something and to edit for clarity and a type, but since we're being snarky, after reading your post and some of it's tortured verbiage (e.g., "However interminably inquisitive as I am only too aware of my own human frailty rendering capacity to err, if you could explain to me..."), I would suggest to you that a little editing is not the worst thing in the world .

In any case, I'm not sure what you are objecting to. I read your post and don't take any issue with it, and I don't see anything in my post that is at odds with what you wrote. You seem to be reacting as if I told the OP that you can play a particular chord by playing a single note when in fact I said nothing of the sort. Indeed, just the opposite. I finished the first paragraph by saying explicity that there "is not a 1-to-1 deterministic relation between a note and a chord."

The OP wants to play the song "Ben" but is having trouble getting all the chords down at this point and asked asked "cant I play this song one note at a time? no chords [emphasis mine]? As I stated, you certainly can play the melody line one note at a time. If you start in G, the first line would be the notes G A G F# G A G D D.

PS - While I regret that I won't have your eternal gratitude for telling you how you "can sound a B7, Am or D7 note specifically by fretting any one of the six single strings at any fret position on the neck" since that is not something that can be done, perhaps I can have just a minute or so of gratitude for letting you know that the correct spelling of "tryads" is "triads."

PPS - In the interest of Full Disclosure, I note that I edited this post to change "If you start in B" to "If you start in G."

Correcting grammar in forums or usenet or fidonet of yore is the resort of those who have no argument but ego's umbrage. It's also considered poor form akin invoking Godwin's Law. That notwithstanding, it's also fraught with a fool's folly.

For instance, your rigid assertion of the correct spelling for tryad, or dyad that they must be spelled with an "ia" is erroneous. Both are alternative and acceptable forms.

Whilst you're playing at Mr. Petty the grammar policeman, best hurry back to your original post and edit it yet again for your misuse of "their" (sic) in lieu of the applicable correct form, there.

Paragraphing never hurts readability or to assist comprehension either, although in your case, it's unlikely to help much.

However, I do extend my sincere sympathy to you for my exercising of erudition and literacy beyond your 'ken or comfort. It wasn't my intention to highlight your own inadequacies, yet another misinterpretation on your part.

Cheers 😎

ManXCat,

Nobody cares. Really...they don't. But touché on noticing that I mispelled "there." I noticed that too but thought I could get away with it. Damn!!

As long as you are so into re-reading my posts, please note that I did NOT say that dyad was spelled incorrectly. I said that triad was spelled incorrectly (it's not tryad according to any dictionary I've seen or anyone other than you spelling it that way), so "there!" Again though, nobody cares. I only pointed it out because your unprompted combativeness raised my hackles. But this thread is not about any of that. The OPs question was what it was. Can you play "Ben" using single notes instead of chords to which I replied "sure" which for some reason seemed to set you off. The OP has presumably seen both of our replies and I'm happy to leave it at that. As I said before, I don't think there is any conflict between them and based on your most recent post which did not disagree with the substance of my response, I suspect you now realize that.

You assume far too much.

In any case, substituting this in lieu in good faith of a better outcome of forum interaction, I immediately deleted a reply I posted briefly a moment or so ago upon wiser reflection of its superfluousness to either the OPs enquiry, or our further exchanges being conducive to serving any positive continued conversational purpose.

Thank you all for your awesome advise!! No worries on edits of my origional post, rephrasing it, etc... I get it... I played Clarinet all through Grade School and High School, I under stand notes, I understand the clefs, I even understand chords, and how they all build on seceral other notes to create the harmonic. I am also a broadcast engineer and deal with harmonics in the electronic world lol. I also know sharps, flats, accidentals, naturals and all of that as I am also learning piano and learned this on Clarinet.

I am about to tackle chords on the piano as well. Clarinets do not do chords lol but I can play by ear on clarinet and piano, as well as by reading sheet music... so I just was trying to shortcut that particular song by just fretting the melody and try to just get a better feel for playing the guitar as a whole. I am on the the beginner Lisa courses... I know I think 6 of the "simple" chords. [br][br]I think after the excersise of this thread and the explinations (which I found TOTALLY VALUABLE BY ALL OF YOU no matter how you phrased it), is that I just need to learn the fret board. On piano, I know where middle C is, I know how to do the scales, I know how to play a flat or a sharp depending on the key, knowing that oh yes, it is a flat in one key but a sharp in another, I know the naturals and when to play them.

On Piano, I just have not yet learned chords, that is in a few lessons up the road on the app I am using to learn...

but Guitar, I just have not taken the time to learn the fret board... I know the open strings are

EADGBE

I just have not learned how and where the rest of the notes are, how to do a sharp and a flat, and learning the relationship of the frets, the strings and the notes (flats, sharps, etc) that can be obtained, let alone using a capo to totoally change it up lol

SO, thank you to all and please do not argue on my part hahaha you all are awesome and being an engineer and an IT guy I have to decipher all kinds of texts... forums included, so rephrasing and restating is awesome.

In fact when I tackle a subject... Computer Programming for example, which I am self

taught, I buy books on the subject by other authors for the exact reason to read it from that authors perspective, or more to the point, how they phrased the subject.

SO.... SO MANY THANKs to all of of you! I hope this thread helps others :) :)

Hi Chuck,

I found 2 spelling mistakes in your response. Please try harder next time

Will!

Originally Posted by: William MG

Hi Chuck,

I found 2 spelling mistakes in your response. Please try harder next time

Will!

DAMN YOU! lol