![]() ![]() A sharp, flat, or natural sign is used to designate the accidental notes (by raising or lowering them one step so that they are out of key). The reason for this though is a close relationship between the two. However, the sharp, flat, and natural signs need a common name, so they get called accidentals as well. Officially, an accidental is really a note that is out of the said key you are playing in (B natural would be an accidental if you are playing in the key of F). So when reading key signatures apply the appropriate sharps or flats to the notes you play, unless they are: It just so happened that it landed in the sharps diagram. The key of C has neither sharps or flats so don’t think of it as either. The keys notated with sharps are shown here: A key signature goes at the beginning of a line (see “the staff” above) and is a preloaded amount of accidentals that tell you what notes are altered all the way through the song (or parts of). ![]() So somebody clever came up with a key signature. It would be a pain to have to read those note-altering signs all of the time. Here are the three accidentals in front of some notes (sharp, flat, natural): ![]() There is also a natural sign that returns an altered note to it’s natural state. A flat sign looks like a weirdly proportioned lower-case b and lowers the note a half step (one fret). A sharp sign looks like a pound sign: # and is instructions to raise the note a half step (one fret). But by adding these special signs (accidentals) to the left of a note, we can reach all of the in between notes. So far we’ve only covered natural, or non-altered (the C major scale), notes. The extra natural notes (more on that in a bit) would look like this:Īccidentals – Sharps, Flats, and Naturals: Those extra lower ledgers are handy if you are notating a low-G tuned ukulele. If you add more ledger lines on the bottom, you start going into the bass clef range, but it’s still is easier to add a few ledger lines below then to work with the top 1/4 of the bass clef. This helps fit everything on the staff easier. As you can see, some notes have their stems pointing up and others, down. The names of the spaces repeat starting with the D above the second ledger line. The notes in spaces are (starting with D in between the C ledger line and staff): D F A C E G (above staff) B (above first ledger line). If you added more ledger lines, the notes on the lines would continue with A and C (after C it all repeats, even with more ledger lines). The notes on the lines – starting with middle C on a ledger line below the staff – from bottom to top are: C E G B D F. If room runs out on the staff, extra lines can be added above or below to show more notes that would otherwise require a different staff. Notes are represented on the staff as dots. This has several options too (see below). This shows how the song is counted and how many notes fit in each bar. To the right of both the clef and key signature is the time signature. If it looks like there isn’t a key signature, the piece is in the key of C major which has no sharps or flats to display. There are 12 key signatures, each made up of different amounts of either sharp or flat signs. This shows which notes in the music are modified to fit the key. To the very right of the clef is the key signature. A treble clef ends in a curl around the G note line so you can always find where you are. ![]() Because the uke’s high range fits onto this staff easily, there’s no need to use an additional bass staff. The treble clef is used for ukulele music. The clef can be several things, but the most common type is the treble clef and bass clef, sometimes together (when shown together they are known as the “grand staff” and the treble clef is on the top5 lines and the bass clef is on its own 5 lines below). It is made up of 5 horizontal lines that run along the page.Īt the beginning of every staff is the clef. The staff is the framework that all music notation sits on. Looking for how to read tab? The Musical Staff I don’t feel that knowing how to read music is necessary to becoming a good ukulele player, but a little time and effort in this area will open a lot of doors to resources that already exist in standard notation. ![]()
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