Stop 3 of 7
Whole steps, half steps and accidentals
Sharps, flats, enharmonics and the chromatic scale.
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Stop 3 of 7
Sharps, flats, enharmonics and the chromatic scale.
You now know the seven names of the natural notes. But your guitar has twelve frets per octave, not seven. What are the missing notes called? In this stop you measure the distances between notes with the handiest unit there is, the fret, and learn the signs that complete the system: sharps, flats and naturals. By the end you'll be able to name any fret on any string and play all twelve notes in a row.
Play the open 1st string and climb fret by fret up to the 12th. Each fret raises the note by the smallest step in our music: a .
Count the steps: from fret 0 to fret 12 there are twelve half steps, and you arrive at the same note an octave higher. That's the golden rule of the guitar:
A is two half steps: two frets on the same string. Hear the difference:
The half step sounds "tight", almost a rub; the whole step, more open. With these two measures, W and H, you'll build whole scales in the coming stops.
Now mark only the natural notes on string 1. Look at the gaps:
String 1, Open: E4 · 1 · Scale tone
Between most naturals there's a whole step (two frets, with an empty fret in the middle). But two pairs sit side by side, just a half step apart: E–F and B–C. The piano shows it very clearly: there's no black key between those white keys.
So what are the five notes on the "empty" frets (or the black keys) called? They're named from a neighbouring natural plus an :
| Sign | Name | What it does | On the guitar |
|---|---|---|---|
| ♯ | Raises a half step | One fret towards the body | |
| ♭ | Lowers a half step | One fret towards the nut | |
| ♮ | Cancels the accidental | Back to the natural note |
So fret 2 on string 1 is F♯: a half step above F. Fret 6 on string 5 is E♭: a half step below E.
On the staff, the accidental is written before the note and lasts until the end of the bar. If you want the natural note back within the same bar, you write a natural sign. Listen and look:
In the first bar, F goes up to F sharp and the natural sign brings it back to F. In the second, B goes down to B flat and returns to B natural. When speaking, say the letter first and then the accidental: "F sharp", "B flat".
The fret between C and D can be called C♯ (C raised) or D♭ (D lowered). It's exactly the same sound and the same fret. Two names for one sound are .
If they sound the same, why not always use sharps? Because the name tells you where the note comes from and what job it does. The rule you'll see in the major scale is that each letter appears only once. For example, the D major scale is D E F♯ G A B C♯: if you wrote G♭ instead of F♯, you'd have two G's and no F, and the scale would be very hard to read.
Enharmonics also affect the naturals. E♯ exists in writing: it sounds like F, but it's used when the scale needs the letter E (for example in F♯ major). Likewise C♭ = B. There are even double sharps (𝄪, up two half steps) and double flats (𝄫, down two). You won't need them yet, but if you see them in a score, they're not mistakes: they're the correct spelling of the note in that key.
If you play all twelve half steps in a row you get the , the scale "of every note". On the piano, every key, white and black:
On the guitar, a whole string fret by fret. This time on string 5, going up with sharps and down with flats:
Say them out loud. Going up: A, A♯, B, C, C♯, D, D♯, E, F, F♯, G, G♯, A. Going down: A, A♭, G, G♭, F, E, E♭, D, D♭, C, B, B♭, A. Notice that B–C and E–F never have an accidental between them.
Modern guitars and pianos use equal temperament: the octave is divided into twelve identical half steps, so each one multiplies the frequency by . Thanks to this, a chord or scale shape works the same on any fret. Tuners measure deviations in cents: a half step is 100 cents and an octave, 1,200. It's a compromise: some intervals end up slightly different from the "pure" ratios of the harmonics (for example, the tempered major third is about 14 cents wider than the natural 5:4), but in exchange every key sounds equally good.
Playing the whole chromatic scale is an exercise. Using two or three half steps in a row inside a line is something else: it's one of the most common devices in blues, rock and jazz for getting from one important note to another. Those passing notes don't "belong" to the chord; they're there to connect and to build momentum.
Hear the difference between jumping from G to A by a whole step and arriving through the half step in between:
The chromatic step sounds as if the line were "leaning" towards its target. A half step is so close that the ear expects it to carry on to the neighbouring note: that's why it works so well right before an important note.
This original riff on strings 6 and 5 uses the idea in both directions. It climbs by half steps to A and comes down by half steps to E:
Apply the practical rule you saw with enharmonics (sharps going up, flats going down) and watch the frets:
| Direction | Frets | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Up (bar 1) | 6:3 → 6:4 → 5:0 | G → G♯ → A |
| Down (bar 2) | 6:3 → 6:2 → 6:1 → 6:0 | G → G♭ → F → E |
Going up, the altered note is named as a raised natural (G♯); going down, as a lowered natural (G♭). Fret 4 and fret 2 on string 6 are just frets, but the name tells you which way the line is moving. Notice too that on the way down there's no fret between F and E: E–F are neighbours, and the riff uses that to end on a half step.
Goal: Play the chromatic scale on string 6 from fret 0 to 12 and back, naming every note without stopping, at 60 BPM.
On string 3, play pairs of notes from any fret: the fret and the next one (half step) or the fret and two along (whole step). Sing the second note before playing it. Then listen to these examples and decide before reading the answer below:
1 and 3 are whole steps; 2 is a half step (B–C, neighbours).
Goal: Identify by ear, eyes closed, whether a friend or the audio plays a whole or a half step, getting 8 out of 10 right.
Goal: Play the chromatic riff four times in a row at 85 BPM, cleanly, naming the altered notes out loud (G♯ going up, G♭ going down).
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