The Chromatic Scale
Using sharps you can create five new notes, which occur between the seven natural notes you already know. The following example demonstrates all twelve notes which occur within one octave of music. It is an example of a chromatic scale.
Chromatic scales consist entirely of semitones (i.e., they move up or down one semitone at a time) and the start and finish notes are always the same (called the keynote or tonic), although they are an octave apart. The chromatic scale uses all twelve notes used in western music and can be built on any note. In this example there are no sharps between B and C, or E and F. These are the ones that are a semitone apart so there is no room for an extra note between them. Try singing this scale, naming each note as you go.
The chromatic scale can be built on any note. Here is the D chromatic scale:
The Natural Sign
This is a natural sign.
A natural sign cancels the effect of a sharp or flat for the rest of that bar, or until another sharp or flat sign occurs within that bar.
A sharpened note stays sharp until either a bar line or a natural sign (@) cancels it:
This example contains both sharps and natural signs. Write the names below the notation. Singing music which contains many semitones is difficult at first. Listen to the recording while watching the music and imitate the guitar melody with your voice. The most important thing for now is to become familiar with the symbols and know what they mean.
To improve your knowledge of sharps and natural signs, write the names of these notes below the notation.
