The Rudiments of Music
The musical alphabet consists of 7 letters:
Music is written on a staff, which consists of 5 parallel lines between which there are 4 spaces.
Music Notation
The Treble Clef
This symbol is called a treble clef. There is a treble clef at the beginning of every line of guitar music.
The Treble Staff
A staff with a treble clef written on it is called a treble staff.
This clef indicates the position of the note G. (It is an old fashioned method of writing the letter G, with the center of the clef being written on the second staff line.)
Notes On The Staff
This music note is called a quarter note. A quarter note lasts for one beat.
Ledger Lines
Extra notes can be added by the use of short lines, called ledger lines.
When a note is placed on the staff its head indicates its position, e.g.:
When the note head is below the middle staff line the stem points upward and when the head is above the middle line the stem points downward. A note placed on the middle line (B) can have its stem pointing either up or down.
Bar lines are drawn across the staff, which divides the music into sections called bars or measures. A double bar line signifies the end of an important section of music, while a final bar line is written at the end of a piece.
Time Signatures
At the beginning of each piece of music, after the treble clef, is the time signature.
The time signature indicates the number of beats per bar (the top number) and the type of note receiving one beat (the bottom number). For example:
Thus in * time there must be the equivalent of 4 quarter note beats per bar, e.g.:
* is the most common time signature and is sometimes represented by this symbol called common time.
The other time signature used in this book is Three Four Time, written ^.
^indicates 3 quarter note beats per bar, e.g.:
