If you got a friend joining you on your journey - you can test each other. Great practice and more fun than doing it alone!
View the full lesson at Note Circle: With A Jam Buddy | JustinGuitar
I don’t have a jam buddy, so this is what I have been doing…
Go to https://namepicker.net/ and paste the following:
A,A#,Bb,B,C,C#,Db,D,D#,Eb,E,F,F#,Gb,G,G#,Ab
I set the options to 2 and click the button. This returns two random notes for me to figure out how many semitones apart they are. Then I check myself against the printed note circle.
After a week of that, I knew the note circle pretty well. Now I am using the same tool, but I play the first note on the the 5th (A) string, count the semitones, then play the second note. This is helping me to memorize where the notes are in relation to each other on the fretboard.
Just thought I’d post this method in case anyone else finds it useful.
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Hi! I have a question, if you say Gb to B should I count it counter clockwise or clockwise because if I count it counter clockwise I get 7 semitones while clockwise I get 5 semitones. Which is the right way to count it? Hope someone could help.
@backtolearning
Unless specified otherwise, the convention for counting intervals (jumps) between notes is ascending in pitch = clockwise around the note circle.
I hope that helps.
Richard
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Thank you, Richard
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Using the note circle makes it very easy to determine the number of semitones between C and B flat going up in pitch, 10 semitones (music theory test question 16). But I wanted to make sure I could apply it to the guitar neck, so I found C on the 6th string 8th fret and found B flat on the 6th string 18th fret, still 10 semitones, of course. But what about going from C to B flat using a different string for each note, is it still 10 semitones? I’m not quite sure how to make it 10 semitones going from C on the 6th string 8th fret to B flat on the 5th string 1st fret, if that’s even a valid comparison.
Part two of my question, how do we describe the same note on different strings such as an A on the 6th string 5th fret and the A on the 3rd string 2nd fret? Or am I getting ahead of things I’ll learn later in the theory course?
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Yes. The interval between two notes remains the same when they’re on different strings. But the answer is a bit more nuanced when we take pitch (octaves) into account.
In the examples you gave, the note B flat is not the same pitch because they’re an octave apart. That’s where your confusion is arising from.
In the first example the note C has the lowest pitch.
C on string 6, fret 8 = C3
Bb on string 6, fret 18 = Bb3
In the second example the note Bb flat has the lowest pitch.
C on string 6, fret 8 = C3
Bb on string 5, fret 1 = Bb2
The note Bb2 is an octave lower than the note Bb3.
In short:
C3 + 10 semitones = Bb3
C3 - 2 semitones = Bb2
There’s another Bb3 on string 5, fret 13. That’s 10 semitones higher than the C3 on string 5, fret 3.
There’s another Bb2 on string 6, fret 6. That’s 2 semitones lower than the C3 on string 6, fret 8.
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Always, everywhere.
B flat on 5th string fret 1 = B flat on 6th string fret 6.
It is two semitones lower than your starting note of C at 6th string fret 8.
Octaves.
Diving slightly deeper, aren’t those notes referred to as A2 and A3? I know they are not often called that (except maybe on your electronic tuner).
Numbering the notes in absolute terms is not much of a guitarist’s thing but it is a thing.
Read this post for more:
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Excellent responses, thank you all!
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