MAURICIO ZAVALA THEORY LESSON

MUSICAL NOTATION

Part 1

The Staff: The staff (or stave) is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each one representing a different musical pitch. It is on these lines and spaces where place the various musical notes and symbols, depending on the intended effect. The absolute pitch of each line of the staff is determined by the placement of an appropriate clef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left-hand side of the staff. The treble clef, also known as G clef is the one we will use for writing and reading music for guitar. It is placed upon the second line (counting upwards). In the example below, you can see the staff, the G clef, and the notes each line and space represents.

Ledger Lines: A ledger line or leger line is musical notation to notate pitches above or below the lines and spaces of the regular musical staff. We will use them only when they are necessary.

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8ve: When there is a musical phrase or passage with too many ledger lines representing higher or lower notes, an 8ve up or 8ve down symbol will be used. Then, you must play what it is written an octave higher or lower, depending on the symbol. This way we avoid confusing the player with too many ledger lines, and makes reading easier.

Important remark: The guitar is one of the many transposing instruments that exist. This means that written notes are read at a pitch different from the sounding note, in fact, its sound is one octave below what it is written. This may seem a mistake but it does not affect neither the reading nor the playing.

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Measures in Music: If we want music to be coherent, rhythm is essential. Rhythm in music depends on a number of beats of a given duration. These beats are based on a time signature, which can be 4/4, 6/8, 2/2, 12/8, and many other combinations. The number of beats in a measure is specified by the top number of the time signature, while the bottom number indicates what kind of note per measure there are.

A measure with a time signature of 4/4 (four quarter notes) is divided in four beats. In order to be able to identify the beginning and ending of each measure, we must recognize and count the stressed and unstressed beats between bars (also called strong and weak). Look at the diagram below:

The third beat is considered the second strongest beat in the measure since the beats before and after it are weak. Otherwise, we would not be able to recognize beats 2, 3, and 4. Each of these pulses can be subdivided so we can have more notes per beat.

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Bar-lines: Used to separate measures. Bar lines are extended to connect the upper and lower staffs of a grand staff.

Double Bar-line: Used to separate two sections of music. Also used at changes in key signature, time signature or major changes in style or tempo.

Bold Double Bar-line: Used to indicate the conclusion of a movement or an entire composition.

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Notes and Rests: One important aspect of music is rhythm and the specific duration a note can have. Different notes shapes determine the lengths of sounds in music. This is not to be confused with the speed (tempo) you can play something. The tempo can be given by the conductor, a metronome, backing track, etc. The names of the notes and rests correspond to how much of a beat the note or the rest is to last. A rest is an interval of silence in a piece of music, marked by a sign indicating the length of the pause. Each rest symbol corresponds with a particular note value. See below to review the duration of the various musical shapes.

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Dotted note: Placing dots to the right of the corresponding note-head lengthens the notes duration by one-half. For example, if a quarter note had one dot alongside itself, it would get one and a half beats

Tied notes: Indicates that the two (or more) notes joined together are to be played as one note with the time values added together. For example, if a quarter note is tied to an eighth note, it would last one and a half beats, and if a half note and an eighth note were tied, they would last two and a half beats.

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Combining Rhythm notes: In order to make rhythms and music richer and more entertaining, we can combine different notes, always taking care of the top number in the time signature. For example, In a 4/4 time signature, an eighth note of a measure could be replaced by two sixteenth notes. Here are some more combinations:

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