Guitar chord forum - chordie — okay maybe this is a stupid question....

Re: okay maybe this is a stupid question....

null@example.com (Altex) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:30:23 +0000

Yeah, I know but I learnt it in my piano theory exam.

Re: okay maybe this is a stupid question....

null@example.com (jerome.oneil) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:18:36 +0000

Altex wrote:

And now to really confuse you here are some names for different notes of a certain notes major scale.
Root(1st)=tonic
2nd=supertonic
3rd=mediant
4th=sub dominant
5th=Dominant
6th=Sub mediant
7th=leading note
8th=(octave) tonic.
Ah, piano theory lessons. haha.

That's not just piano. That's straight up music theory. It's the same no matter what instrument you're playing.

Re: okay maybe this is a stupid question....

null@example.com (HannahBeth) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:48:30 +0000

thanks James
I'd never heard of any of those untill i read altex's post (i took a teensy weensy bit of piano and my dad plays) then it started sounding familiar... so thanks to both of you for this information

Re: okay maybe this is a stupid question....

null@example.com (Altex) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 07:05:40 +0000

And now to really confuse you here are some names for different notes of a certain notes major scale.

Root(1st)=tonic
2nd=supertonic
3rd=mediant
4th=sub dominant
5th=Dominant
6th=Sub mediant
7th=leading note
8th=(octave) tonic.

Ah, piano theory lessons. haha.

Re: okay maybe this is a stupid question....

null@example.com (James McCormick) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:59:21 +0000

Hi last-rebel - it is not a stupid question. The lingo of music is confusing because there are multiple words for the same thing.

A semitone is one-half step - that would be one fret.
A whole step is two half steps - that would be two frets.

Now, just to further delight your curiosity here are some other terms for musical intervals:
Root = tonic = the starting note of a scale or chord
b2 = flatted second = 1 half step above the root
2 = second = 2 half steps above root
b3 = flatted third = 3 half steps above root
3 = third = 4 half steps above root
4 = fourth = 5 half steps above root
b5 = flatted fifth = 6 half steps above root
5 = fifth = 7 half steps above root
b6 = flatted sixth = 8 half steps above root
6 = sixth = 9 half steps above root
b7 = flatted seventh = 10 half steps above root
7 = seventh = 11 half steps above root
octave = 12 half steps above root

okay maybe this is a stupid question....

null@example.com (HannahBeth) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:35:44 +0000

I know that when you look up a song here on chordie that you can move it up or down by 'semitones'. Maybe this is a stupid question, but im unfamiliar with this term, is a semitone a whole or half step??