Sharps
A sharp (#) is a sign, placed immediately before a note, which raises the pitch (highness or lowness) of that note by one semitone (one fret). When you see a note with a sharp sign in front of it, you should first think of where the normal note is located (in music this is called the natural note), and then sharpen it by placing your next finger on the next fret along. Here are some examples:
The use of the sharp sign introduces five new notes, occurring in between the seven natural notes which you already know. The following exercise outlines all twelve notes which occur within one octave of music. Play through it very slowly, and be sure to use correct fingering for the sharpened notes.
You will notice that there is no sharp between B and C, or between E and F. The exercise you have just played is called a chromatic scale. It is referred to as the A chromatic scale because the starting and finishing notes are A (this is called the key note or tonic). The chromatic scale consists entirely of semitones i.e. it moves up (or down) one fret at a time.
Here is the G chromatic scale:
When a note is sharpened it remains sharp until either a bar line or a natural sign (@) cancels it. Check the following notes:
Be sure to alternate in scale passages using rest stroke, i.e. line 3.
Note the use of G#s which only apply to the bar in which they occur unless indicated otherwise, i.e. line 3, bar 1.
