# The musical alphabet

*Module 1 · Lesson 1: Notes and the fretboard · BazzLow*

> Know the seven natural note names, how they repeat, and what an octave is.

Before this lesson: [0.3 Reading the diagrams](https://bazzlow.com/en/getting-started/reading-the-diagrams/)

Music has its own alphabet, and it is a short one. Learning it is the first step towards knowing every note on your bass.

## Seven letters

Western music uses seven letter names for the **natural notes**: **A B C D E F G**. After G the series starts again from A. There is no H. This series of seven names is the **musical alphabet**.

Music books usually start the series from C: C D E F G A B. The reason is that the C major scale uses only the natural notes. This course does the same.

## Solfège names

Italian, French, Spanish and other languages name the same notes with **solfège** names:

*The seven natural notes: letter names and solfège names.*

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Letter | C | D | E | F | G | A | B |
| Solfège | Do | Re | Mi | Fa | Sol | La | Si |

These are *fixed* names: Do always means C. On this site the English pages use letters and the Italian pages use solfège names.

## The octave

When the alphabet starts again, the new note has the same name and sounds “the same, but higher”. That distance is an **octave**. The higher note vibrates exactly twice as fast as the lower one.

You can hear it on your bass right now. The open A string is A1, at 55 Hz. The A an octave higher, at the 12th fret, is A2, at 110 Hz.

> **Diagram:** The A string, frets 0–12, natural notes only: A 0, B 2, C 3, D 5, E 7, F 8, G 10, A 12. The two As, at fret 0 and fret 12, are an octave apart.

## Numbering the octaves

Because the same names come back in every octave, you sometimes need to say *which* A you mean. **Scientific pitch notation** adds a number to the name:

- the octave number changes at C: B3 is followed by C4;
- middle C is C4;
- A4 = 440 Hz is the standard tuning reference, called **concert pitch**;
- the open E string of the bass is E1.

## One name, several meanings

A letter name can mean different things depending on the context: a note, a chord, a scale or a key. “C” can be the note C, the C chord, the C major scale or the key of C. The lessons that introduce chords, scales and keys make the meaning clear each time.

## What a note is made of

Every note has four qualities:

- **pitch**: how high or low it is;
- duration: how long it lasts;
- loudness;
- **timbre**: its tone colour.

Theory deals mostly with pitch and duration. This module is about pitch; duration is the subject of Module 2.

## Try it

On the A string, play A (open), then A at fret 12. Listen: they are “the same note”, an octave apart. Then say the seven letter names going up from A, and then going down.

## New terms

- natural note
- musical alphabet
- octave
- solfège
- scientific pitch notation
- concert pitch
- pitch
- timbre

Page: https://bazzlow.com/en/notes-and-fretboard/musical-alphabet/