Chapter Three: Tutorial; The Musical Alphabet; Anders Mouridsen

I was going through "The Musical Alphabet" and can follow the tab to play the notes, but it doesn't mean anything to me.  I don't understand how memorizing where D is, allows you to know where all of the othe notes are on the fretboard without using rote memory for all of them?

Also,  in the example given for the tutorial (attached), the G note is found on more than one string, at more than one fret position?  On the top, the "G" is on the 8th fret of the B string, on the bottom it on the 5th fret of the D string.  Can you explain and clrify this for me...sorry, but I'm a newbie and yes, you'll have to take me by the hand and walk me thorough this.

"I don't understand how memorizing where D is, allows you to know where all of the othe notes are on the fretboard without using rote memory for all of them?"

This tutorial is simply an introduction to the musical alphabet.  Anders is only introducing you to the musical alphabet and how it works on the guitar fretboard in one location, that set of notes in the tablature. 

"Also,  in the example given for the tutorial (attached), the G note is found on more than one string, at more than one fret position?"

Yes, all notes of the musical alphabet repeat over & again all the way across the guitar (and every musical instrument).  But keep in mind Anders is only introducing you to this idea.  Even when he gets to the final lesson of that tutorial, he's just introducing you to that idea.  You aren't expected to know them all right away.

Keep in mind there are only 7 letters A through G, and 5 accidentals in between some of them.  That a total of 12 notes that repeat over & over again.  So, it seems like a lot when you are just getting started & every thing is overwhelming!  But it's actually a small list & you can learn it a little at a time.

If you are interested in learning more about the pattern the musical alphabet makes on the fretboard you might find this set of lessons helpful.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson/11078

I also have this individual lesson that shows a method for gradually learning the pattern musical alphabet makes on the fretboard.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson/11526

Hope that helps!

Thanks Chris,

At this point, believe me, everything and anything helps and I appreciate every bit of useful information I can find!

DJ

You're welcome.  Please let me know if you have more questions.  Best of success!

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Hi Chris,

Here's where I'm having trouble.  When I practice the scale thats in my original email, it's the typical do-ray-me-fah-so-lah-ti-do, you would expect, but then I come to the 2nd G, 5th fret, D string and it's like, where did this come from???  It sounds like a note that was just stuck in there as some kind of "filler" and then it takes of fine from there...I'm missing something?

Thanks,

DJ

No, you aren't missing anything.  This is just an introduction to the idea that you can continue the scale or alphabet lower than the note you start on (or higher!).  The scale extends for as far as the instrument goes.

Think of it like this:  Anders shows you how to play these notes:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g-a

That's because those are the basic letters we use in music.   Then he says, and as go higher in pitch on the guitar, the letters just start repeating:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g-a-(b-c) . . . and so on.

See the notes in parentheses are the same letters we already used but they are higher in pitch.

And we can also go below the first note, lower in pitch:

(g-)a-b-c-d-e-f-g-a-(b-c) . . . and so on.

See the G note is just a repeat, but it is lower in pitch that the other G.

The entire point here is that Anders is introducing you to the idea that we keep using the same 7 letters over & again all across the guitar, even though we go higher or lower in pitch.  These are repeating octaves.

So on any music instrument you have:

a-b-c-d-e-f-g-(a-b-c-d-e-f-g)-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-(a-b-c-d-e-f-g)-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-(a-b-c-d-e-f-g) . . . and so on, for as low and high in pitch as it is possible to play on the instrument.

Anders is just showing you a little bit of how that works to get you started on the idea.

Make sense?