Pickup Music

Rhythmic single-note lines often heard in R&B and funk music.

Bubble picking

An examination of how individual notes in a chord change and relate to each other throughout a chord progression

Voice Leading

An interval of four staff positions/four notes higher in a diatonic scale

4ths

A symbol that indicates a note is not in the given diatonic key

Accidentals

Any tuning outside of the standard EADGBE guitar tuning

Alternate tunings

A dominant 7th chord with added extensions b5, #5, b9, and/or #9

Altered dominant chords

Arpeggio

Articulation

A chord shape that requires you to lay a single finger (often the index finger) across your fretboard

Bar Chord

Pushing a string up or pulling it down in order to manipulate the pitch

Bend

A minor pentatonic scale with an added b5

Blues Scale

A musical dialogue where a phrase is played or sung in direct response to one that precedes it

Call & response

A device that clamps guitar strings down across a single fret, which transposes the open tuning to a different key.

Capo

Chicken pickin'

The single note scale associated with a given chord. The scale contains the chord tones as well as its upper extensions.

Chord Scale relationship

A visual representation of a guitar neck that displays the strings, frets, and finger numbers required to play a given chord.

Chord diagram

A sequence of half-steps derived from the chromatic scale, which consists of all 12 notes found in Western music

Chromaticism

A musical symbol that indicates the pitch of notes written on the staff.

Clef

Diatonic

A chord composed entirely of minor third intervals – root, b3, b5, and bb7

Diminished chord

A dissonant-sounding scale that alternates between half steps and whole steps (or vice versa)

Diminished Scale

A triad with an added flat seventh above the root.
Root, 3, 5, b7

Dominant 7 chord

Dorian

Playing two notes simultaneously on guitar

Double stops

Picking or strumming the strings in a downward motion

Down stroke

The loudness of the notes you are playing

Dynamics

A note that is played for one eighth the duration of a whole note

Eighth note

Extensions

The numbers assigned to fretting- and picking-hand fingers

Finger numbering

A method of guitar playing that incorporates individual fingers to pluck and strum strings instead of a pick

Fingerstyle

Pattern based on the order of fingers used to play a rhythmic phrase.

Fingerstyle pattern

Applying a flat symbol (♭) to a note lowers the pitch by one half step

Flat

The 7th degree of a scale lowered by a half (b7) or whole (bb7) step

Flat 7 (diminished 7th, b7)

The buzzing sound a note makes when a string isn't properly fretted.

Fret buzz

When you bend a guitar string, and the fret chokes off the sound of the note / prevents it from sustaining

Fretting out

A device that wraps around your guitar neck / strings and dampens the vibration

Fret wrap

Half diminished

A note that receives half the value of a whole note

Half note

A semitone or a one-fret change on the guitar.

Half step

A guitar technique where a fretting-hand finger presses a string hard enough to cause it to emit sound without help from the picking hand.

Hammer on

High-pitched notes created by shortening the string's vibrating length

Harmonics

Harmonic Minor Scale

A type of guitar pickup commonly found on Gibson guitars.

Humbucker

A picking technique that combines the use of a pick and fingers.

Hybrid picking

Interval

Reordering a chord’s notes so a pitch other than the root is on the bottom

Inversion

A group of accidentals that indicate the key of the song

Key signature

An indication that notes are to be played in a smooth, flowing manner

Legato

The fourth mode of the major scale. A major scale with a #4

Lydian

A chord composed of a root, third, fifth, and seventh

Major 7 chord

Major 2nd interval

Major 3rd interval

Interval spanning four whole steps and a half step

Major 6th interval

Interval of a major 7th (5 whole steps and a half step)

Major 7th interval

A chord composed of a root, major 3rd, and 5th

Major chord

A commonly used diatonic scale containing 7 notes

Major scale

Line segments dividing a staff into equal increments to display time

Measure

A natural minor scale in jazz with a raised 6th and 7th

Melodic Minor scale

A device used as a practice tool that provides a steady beat.

Metronome

A chord composed of a root, flatted 3rd, and 5th.

Minor chord

A chord made up of a root, b3, 5th and 6th

Minor 6 chord

Minor 7 chord

Minor 2nd interval

Interval that spans one whole step and a half step.

Minor 3rd interval

Minor 6th interval

Minor 7th interval

Mixolydian

A written method used to convey musical ideas

Music notation

A scale with a flatted third and sixth, also known as the Aeolian mode.

Natural Minor Scale

Notes are assigned corresponding letters A,B,C,D,E,F,G as a way of communication. With accidentals, there are 12 notes in Western music.

Note names (on the staff)

An interval spanning 8 notes in the major scale, reaching the next occurring version of that note.

Octave

A guitar chord played in the lowest position on the guitar neck, utilizing a combination of open strings and fretted notes.

Open-position chord

A string played without fretting on the neck

Open String

A technique where you place the palm of your picking hand against the strings while playing in order to deaden or shorten notes

Palm muting

A five-note scale common to rock and blues improvisation

Pentatonic Scale

Interval spanning two whole steps and a half step

Perfect 4th interval

Interval spanning three whole steps and a half step

Perfect 5th interval

Letters assigned to picking-hand fingers with classical guitar fingerstyle technique

PIMA

A two-note chord made up of the root and fifth

Power chord

Pulling your finger off a string to sound a note without picking it.

Pull off

A note that is one quarter the value of a whole note.

Quarter note

The note order relative to the first scale degree of a given key.

Scale Degree

Applying a sharp symbol (#) to a note raises the pitch by one half step

Sharp

A raised 5th. In a chord, a #5 makes the chord augmented

Sharp 5 (#5)

A raised 4th used as an upper extension in a chord

Sharp 11 (#11)

A type of guitar pickup common on Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars.

Single coil

A metal or glass tube worn over one of the fretting fingers, used to slide along the string

Slide

A triad where the notes are not all within the same octave

Spread triad (broken triad)

An articulation where notes are short and broken up

Staccato

A five-line, four-space figure where music is notated

Staff

In standard tuning, the guitar strings are named after their open pitches

String names

Shifting or displacing the beat by emphasizing the weak beats

Syncopation

Tempo

A number value given at the beginning of a piece of music displaying how many beats are in a measure and which note value receives one beat.

Time signature / meter

Taking a song or musical phrase and moving it to a different key

Transpose

An interval that’s an augmented fourth or diminished fifth from the root (three whole steps.)

Tritone

Three-note chords built from a root note, third, and fifth

Triads

On the guitar, tuning is the method of raising or lowering a string's pitch until it perfectly matches the desired note

Tuning

A chord progression occuring at the end of a song that’s used to lead back to the top of the form