Understand music notes with these music theory basics all guitar players should know!
View the full lesson at Understanding Music Notes | JustinGuitar
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Hi all,
just a comment on the note circle.
I was trying to memorise the circle and relate it to the fret board as in the accompanying notes i.e. A is the first letter on the circle and is the first fret etc. For some reason I just kept mucking it up until I rotated the circle one spot to the right. It instantly made it clearer and easier to remember.
It turns it into a clock face. A is the first note, it is in the 1 o’clock position and the 1st fret on the board, A# is second at the 2 o’clock and 2 on the board, all the way around to the G# at number 12 at the 12 o’clock position and 12 on the board. Now I just have to remember the order and the associated number of the clock and the fret board becomes automatic.
Anyway it worked for me , hope it helps someone else too.
cheers
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For anyone wondering about the german H, this is due to the way B flat and B interact with the note C. B flat is “softer” and B is “harder”, so they were called hard and soft B, and then B became H for hard B and Bflat is just called B in german.
see y’all around
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Is that an American thing or a Piano thing? I had a Chinese piano teach from China teach me it’s a half step because you are playing the black key instead of the jumping over to the white key.
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Welcome to the forum Thomas. It must be a piano thing because there are no Black keys on a Guitar 
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I’m a German and always use the “B”. Find the Sytstem with the “H” very strange.
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I really appreciate the guitar lessons, especially the ones on music theory! A couple of days ago, in the “Music Theory live class” on Tuesday, Justin talked about the origin of the “H” note name in German music theory, mentioning a “monk mistake” story.
Also in the beginner course, Grade 1, Module 5 (https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/understanding-music-notes-b1-504, Minute 0:54 in the video) he says the very same.
While I agree that using “B” is generally recommended worldwide, I wanted to share some additional findings of my own.
Apparently, the “H” notation wasn’t just used in German-speaking countries, but across many Central- and North- European countries, including those in Scandinavia, the Baltics, and in West Slavic countries.
Regarding the “Monk Mistake” theory:
- In addition to “H”, a separate “B” exists and is used for “B flat”. If a monk simply mis-spelled a symbol or letter, where did the “B” then come from? The existence of both “H” and “B” implies intentionality in my opinion.
- It seems unlikely to me that such a mistake would persist unnoticed for centuries.
- I’ve done some reading, and other explanations of the origin of the letter “H” exist. Some sources point to the historical development of both a “hard B” (â™®) and a “soft B” (â™) in early medieval music. The symbol for the hard B looks similar an H with a crossbar, and they say it’s possible this visual connection led to the usage of “H” as the note name. That’s at least how I understand how these authors explain it and hope that my summary is correct.
My simple recommendations:
- I would not mention the monk mistake story any more.
- Regarding the geographical origin / former usage, I would refer to Mid-, East-, and North European coutries, and not to German-speaking countries alone.
- Justin uses the sentence: “I don’t recommend learning it as H. Since the rest of the world uses B”. See the URL above. I would limit “world” to “western world”.
I spent a couple of hours on this topic, but because I’m really a beginner in music theory, I wonder if this is accurate and if you share my suggestions. Could this be looked into?
Let me tag the moderators @Richard_close2u @LievenDV @DavidP
Many thanks,
Franz
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I give you a good recommendation for the effort 
greetings
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As I understank @franzek it was indeed not really a mistake but a fork in the road in the evolution of notation.
It is a very cool story and well told by this excellent chap:
David Bennett Piano: (He has an interesting channel, also if you are not into piano but enjoy exploring the practical application of theory!)
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easy way to remember which 2 notes don’t have an accidental between them: Be Cause Everythings F-word (fine, far, fire, forked, anything that makes you remember
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One Mnemonic that helped me remember which notes have no flats or sharps between them is “Big Cats Eat Frogs.” No sharps or flats between B and C, and none between E and F.
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very helpful but confusing as well. isn’t F the first note on the fretboard with the biggest string? open is E, 1st fret is F, then f# up until the 12th fret which is E?
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Hi Chris, this lesson on the note circle is not specific to the guitar, but applies to all music, so it started on the first letter of the musical “alphabet” of A to G. If it makes it easier, you could apply it to the 5th string that has an open A note and then follow the note circle as you go up the frets.
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Hey everyone! Actually, in Portugal (where I born and live) the music notes system is different. All music schools, including the guitar ones, teach without the A, B, C, D, E, F and G notation system. Here we use the solmization system: Do (C), Re (D), Mi (E), Fa (F), Sol (G), La (A), Si (B). When I talk to my friends that learned music, they seem to recognize the english system, but they prefer to use the solmization one.
We can see in Portuguese music, like Fado of Coimbra, some instrumental musics with the Portuguese Guitar (12 chords guitar in pairs) are named with the notes, like “Variações em Lá menor” (in English should be “Variations in A minor”)
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That was interesting. So I try to remember that there is no sharp/flat tone between B and C and E and F. Great!
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