Reading Notes: Staff Symmetries

The natural key symmetry of the diatonic treble staff is an interesting counterpart to the symmetry of the same diatonic key on the fretboard. We have examined the fretboard's symmetry in a number of posts. Now we are seeing how the specific patterns of notes on the staff have their own rules of symmetry. Whereas on the guitar fretboard (and the piano keyboard) the central note is D, on the treble staff, B is the central note - or fulcrum around which other notes are arrayed.

The symmetry of the fretboard is based on the intervals within the key. The pattern of half-steps ascending from D is a mirror image of the intervals descending from D. On the treble staff, the note B is the central note from a graphical or visual perspective.

When we look at the staff, there is no indication where the whole-steps and half-steps are to be positioned. Just a set of five lines and the spaces between them;

The seven notes of the key of the natural key, ABCDEFG, are assigned to these lines and spaces, sequentially from the bottom up;

Notice that the note in the space below the staff is D and the note in the space above the staff is G, and that B is the central note on the staff. 

Additional notes are added above and below the staff when higher or lower notes are to be played. Short lines (leger lines) are used for individual notes;

Remember that you always have a reminder of where the note G is on the staff, because the clef itself is actually a stylized letter G. The belly of the clef encircles the G line on the staff;

Since the notes are alphabetical, it's only logical that we tend to think of them in that order. The ascending scale is usually the first exposure we have to music theory. Chords are thought of as starting with the root note and rising from there. Of course, scales descend as well, and chords don't have to be played from the lowest note first. Notes can be played in any order at any moment.

Here's another way to look at the way notes are arrayed on the staff; instead of a linear progression, you can think of the staff as a symmetrical array with the note B as the fulcrum.

If we look at the staff from the center first, the symmetry emerges;

Look carefully at the diagram above. study the symmetrical relationships of the notes from the center up and down. Study the positions of the note B, then the notes A/C, then D/G, then E/F. B forms its own symmetry, A and C are symmetrically arrayed - C is one leger line below the staff, A is one leger line above ... A is two leger lines below the staff, C is two leger lines above. D/G and E/F follow the same principle.

Below is another version of the same diagram. The notes are connected by dotted lines which clarify the symmetry;

Learning these connections will help you identify notes on the staff more quickly.

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Reading Notes: Those G-D notes

Here is the staff symmetry for G and D;

The reciprocal relationships of these two notes is clear. They are in opposite positions, equidistant from the center line of the staff.

The solid colored  D  and  G  are the notes of the open 4th and 3rd strings, respectively. But these same two note pitches are also found elsewhere on the fretboard. The diagram below shows all the D and G positions from the open strings to the 12th fret;

The pattern is highlighted to bring out certain symmetries. The notation represents those same symmetries so you can connect the note positions on the fretboard with the notes on the staff.

Because of the interval relationships of G and D, they align on the same fret positions in most instances. The are a perfect 5th ( G -A-B-C- D ) or a perfect 4th ( D -E-F- G ), depending on which note you count from. Since this is the interval tuning of most of the guitar's strings, these two notes are aligned except between the 2nd and 3rd strings, where the tuning is a major 3rd - thus the D and G are skewed one fret apart.


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Reading Notes: E-F-ing

The lowest note on the guitar in standard tuning is an E. Always one fret away from E is, by a happy coincidence, the next letter of the alphabet; F. It's also a happy coincidence that these two letters are similar in appearance, because - like A&C - they are symmetrically distributed on and around the staff;

The four Es and Fs in the diagram above are shown in all their color coded glory on the fretboard in the diagram below;

As you can see, the symmetry of these notes on the staff has a fairly straightforward relationship with the note positions on the fretboard. Notice how each of the three shaded diagonal blocks connect the same sets of notes. Also notice that the block furthest to the right (block 3) spans an additional fret. This is due to the difference in tuning between the 2nd and 3rd strings. The block of notes which does not cross between those two strings has a slightly different geometry than the other two, both of which cross the 2nd and 3rd strings.

As with the two previous note reading exercises, play through these patterns slowly and say the note names out loud as you play.


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Reading Notes: AC Current

A and C The positions of these two notes on the staff is symmetrically reciprocal. In other words, moving away from the center line of the staff (B), A and C are in opposite positions. C is in the space below the center line, A is in the space above the center. C is the first leger line below the satff, A is the first leger line above;

The distribution of these notes on the fretboard - from the open strings to the 13th fret - is shown below, along with notation. The notes have been color coded to clarify their geometric relationships;

Reading music is not all about scales. Using symmetrical relationships, you can learn to identify wider tonal ranges. Get to know the positions of these two notes, naming them out loud as you play them. Try connecting them in different ways.

Reading Notes: The Importance of B

When we think about music theory, we usually start with the letter C, which is the tonic of the key of C, which is the 'natural' key - having no sharps or flats. But if the key of C begins with C, it ends with B.

In keeping with the basic principle of Fretography®, we'll look at how notes are arranged symetrically on the staff, and examine how the staff's symmetry relates to the fretboard.

B is the central note on the staff. The B line is the middle of the five lines. And going up or dawn an octave from the middle B will bring you to a space equidistant from the center of the staff;

These three Bs have more than three positions on the fretboard;

To memorize these note positions, it will help you to understand how they are related to each other, rather than just treating them as separate isolated positions. Look at the lowest (burgundy) B. Notice that its two positions are a span of 6 frets, from the 2nd to the 7th fret.

Now look at the middle (black) B. From the open 2nd string, there is a 5 fret span to the next position on the 4th fret. Then a 6 fret span to the 9th fret, and another 6 fret span to the 14th fret.

The high (brown) B starts on the 7th fret of the 1st string and there's a 6 fret span to the next B on the 12th fret of the 2nd string, then a 5 fret span to the 16th fret of the 3rd string.

As you can see, the 5 fret spans are always between the 2nd & 3rd strings, and the 6 fret spans fall between the other adjacent string pairs. This pattern of fret spans is true for every note on the fretboard, but only the note B is positioned so symmetrically on the staff.

Reading notation requires that you can easily connect the notes on the page with their positions on the fretboard. So understanding the unique geometric character of each note is very helpful.

In the next posts, we'll look at symmetrical pairs of notes.

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Reading Notes: Arpeggios

One of the daunting tasks guitar students face is learning to connect notes on the staff to positions on the fretboard.  It is particularly difficult when the notes are not scale based, since there may be an irregular pattern in both the notation and the fretboard.

The notes shown on the staff in the diagram below – including the a few notes above and below the five lines of the staff which are attached to short additional lines (called leger lines) – are the notes which will be used in the exercises which follow;

The notes are simply in alphabetical order from the bottom up as you go from line to space to line to space; C-D-E-F-G etc.

The lowest note shown here (C) can be played on the 3rd fret of the 5th string, or the 8th fret of the 6th string. The highest note (B), can be played on the 7th fret of the 1st string or the 12th fret of the 2nd string;

One way to open the door to reading non-scale patterns is by reading arpeggios, which are simply chords which are played note by note. The simplest chord forms are just sequences of 3rds; C-E-G-B etc.

This exercise covers a wide span of the fretboard, from the 8th fret of the 6th string - across to the 1st fret of the 1st string and ending on the 5th fret of the 1st string.

By positioning a series of 3rds starting with C in such a way that the notation and the strings of the fretboard align, you can see the relationship between the staff and the fretboard note positions. The total set of notes comprise a C major 13th chord arpeggio. Notice that all the notes fall on lines of the staff, not the spaces. Whenever you play a series of 3rds, they will all be on either lines or spaces, depending on the specific set of notes - but there will never be a mix of lines and spaces.

Follow the fingering  (italic numbers) carefully;

The grey numbers below the fretboard are fret positions. Numbers in squares are chord degrees; R is the chord root, 3 is the 3rd above the root, etc. The piano keyboard shows the sequential relationship of the notes from left to right. (If you play piano, you'll notice that the notation for the guitar sounds an octave lower than the same notation written for the piano.)

Memorize the positions of these notes on the staff and the fretboard. Say them aloud as you play them They can serve as reference points to find other notes.

Here's a similar exercise based on D, the second step in the key of C major;

This is a D minor 13th arpeggio. Notice that all the notes are in spaces on the staff, not lines.

An interesting thing about these arpeggios, is that each contains all seven notes of the key of C.  Hopefully these two examples will give you some insight into the relationship between standard notation and the fretboard. More to come.

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Parallel 3rds (Symmetrical Pattern)

This pattern divides the 3rds of the key of C into two zones within the top four strings. One lower zone spanning from the open strings to the 5th fret and another higher zone from the 5th to the 10th fret. Each 3rd in the pattern comprises two notes separated by one string and one fret. This is an easy pattern to remember due to its clear symmetry.

The lower zone runs in a descending order from the Tonic 3rd (C-E on the 2nd and 1st strings, respectively) to the IV (F-A on the 4th and 3rd strings). The upper zone ascends from the Tonic (C-E on the 4th and 3rd strings, respectively) to the V (G-B on the 2nd and 1st strings).

In the diagram below, fingering is shown below the notation as italic numbers. The Roman numerals are the corresponding scale degrees. The green bars are major 3rds / The purple bars are minor 3rds. Notice all the connected notes in the pattern between the 2nd and 3rd strings (B-G) are minor, and the rest are major.

Once you have practiced the pattern as written, try reversing direction, playing the first part as an ascending sequence from IV up to I, and the second part descending from V down to I.

(Fretboard note positions outside the notated pattern (grayed out) are shown in the diagram for reference.)

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