Using sharps you can now play five extra notes, which occur between the seven natural notes you already know. The following example uses all twelve notes which occur within one octave. It is an example of a Chromatic Scale. Chromatic scales consist entirely of semitones (i.e., they move up or down one fret at a time) and the start and finish notes are always the same (the keynote or tonic). The chromatic scale uses all twelve notes used in western music and can begin on any note. Note that there are no sharps between B and C, or E and F. This is because they are a semitone apart and there is no room for an extra note between them. Play the following exercise slowly and steadily, making sure you use the correct fingering.
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 on the same note.
A sharpened note stays sharp until either a bar line or a natural sign (@) cancels it as in the following example.