The Beginners' Definitive Guide to Learning Music Theory – Understanding Whole Steps
Learning music theory can seem like a daunting task. However, it is a vital part of learning the guitar. Here I will outline the basics of guitar theory that you will need to get started on your road to guitar mastery.
Whole Steps -- In music theory, a whole step or a tone refers to the increments that occur between the natural notes of the music alphabet. There is a whole step between all of the notes except for B and C, and E and F, which are half-steps or a semitone. On the guitar neck, a whole steps refers to 2 frets and a half steps refers to 1 fret. How does this translate into playing it on the guitar?
Practical --If you had to play open low E string (thickest) you would be playing the E note. If you had to move one fret up the neck, a half step, you would be playing the F note. If you had to move up 2 frets, now on the 3rd fret, you would be playing the note G. What if you were to move up only one fret from here? The next natural note, A, is a whole step (2 frets) up the neck, on the 5th fret.
Well, the short answer would be that you would be playing either a sharp (#) or a flat (b) note. The longer answer would be that each whole step from A to B, D to E and F to G, contains 2 half steps or semitones. These half steps are represented by either a sharp of the note you are ascending from or a flat from the note you are descending from. Let's for instance take the two notes G and A. There is a wholes step (2 frets) between these two natural notes. A whole step from the G note would be the A note .The wholes step has two half-steps (1 fret) between the natural notes. A half step(1 fret) from the G note up will be G#(4th fret) and a half step down from the A note would Ab. The G# and Ab notes are in actual fact the same note. So if you had to play the low E string on the 5th string on the 3rd fret, you would play the G note. Moving up a half-step on the neck, 1 fret, you would be playing the G#/Ab note. Moving one more half step up the neck, you would play the A note.