Music Education

Learning Banjo - Easy Bluegrass Picking

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Go ahead and give it a shot. Don't be bashful about singing. Keep the rhythm smooth and be sure to tap your foot.

Let 'er rip!

Hey! You just played a song!

Play through that a few times and then we'll talk about why these barre chords work.

When you made a barre chord on the fifth fret you were making a C chord and at the seventh fret you were making a D chord. The way this works is actually pretty simple.

In Western music (and when I say "Western" I don't mean cowboy music. It refers to Western civilization there are twelve different notes. The twelve notes are named after the letters A through G with a note or half-step between each pair of letters except between B and C and E and F:

Your half step is either a sharp (#) or a flat (b.)

The half step between A and B can be called either A# or Bb.

A# means that the A note is raised one half step higher. Bb is the B note lowered one half step. A# and Bb are the same note and the other half steps follow the same pattern.

So with all twelve notes laid out you have the chromatic scale:

Once you understand the idea of half steps you can just write out your chromatic scale like this to save space and make it a tad clearer.