What Are Notes in Music?
At the most basic level, music is made of notes.
A note is simply a sound with a specific pitch.
Some notes sound low, some sound high — but each one has a name so we can talk about it, remember it, and use it again.
You can think of notes like letters of the musical alphabet.
Just as words are built from letters, songs are built from notes.
The 7 Main Notes
In Western music, there are 7 basic note names:
A – B – C – D – E – F – G
After G, the notes repeat again, starting back at A — just higher or lower in pitch.
So a piano, guitar, or voice might play many A notes, but they’re all versions of the same note name, just in different ranges (called octaves).
These 7 notes are the foundation of almost all Western music.
The 12 Notes (Including Sharps and Flats)
Between some of those 7 notes, there are extra notes in between.
These are called sharps (♯) and flats (♭).
For example:
Between C and D, there’s a note called C♯ (or D♭ — same sound, different name)
Between F and G, there’s F♯ (or G♭)
When you include these in-between notes, you get 12 total notes before the pattern repeats.
Here are the 12 notes in order:
A – A♯/B♭ – B – C – C♯/D♭ – D – D♯/E♭ – E – F – F♯/G♭ – G – G♯/A♭
After that, it starts again at A.
Think of this like a clock with 12 positions — music moves around these same 12 notes over and over.
Why Do We Talk About 7 Notes So Much?
Even though there are 12 possible notes, most music uses only 7 at a time.
That’s because:
Scales are made by choosing 7 notes out of the 12
Those 7 notes become the “home set” for a song
This keeps music from sounding random and helps it feel organised and intentional.
How Notes Become Scales
A scale is simply a group of notes chosen from the 12, played in order.
For example:
The C major scale uses these 7 notes:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B
No sharps or flats — just a clean, simple selection.
Scales give music a mood and flavour:
Major scales often sound bright or stable
Minor scales often sound sad, moody, or reflective
How Notes Become Chords
A chord is when you play multiple notes at the same time.
For example:
A C major chord uses three notes:
C – E – G
Those notes all come from the C major scale.
So:
Notes are the raw materials
Chords are small groups of notes stacked together
How Notes, Scales, and Chords Create a Key
A key is like the home base of a song.
When a song is “in the key of G” or “in the key of A minor,” it means:
The song mainly uses one scale
The chords are built from that scale
One note feels like “home” or the resting point
So a key is really just:
A set of notes,
turned into scales,
used to build chords,
that shape an entire song.
