Piano

Four ways to name a note

Every diagram in attunr can label its notes four ways. They answer different questions, and switching between them is one of the quickest ways to learn a key. Pick one here and every keyboard and neck on this page (and the rest of the site) follows.

• Note names (C, E, G): which note it is. Fixed: a C is a C in every key.
• Intervals (R, ♭3, p5): how far the note is from the root, counted in semitones and named the way a chord formula is.
• Scale degrees (R, ♭3, 5): the note's place in the key, with the root written R, written against the major scale, so ♭3 means “a semitone below the major scale's 3rd”.
• Solfège (Do, Me, Sol): the same degrees as singable syllables, one syllable per note.

Intervals, degrees and solfège are all relative: they describe a note by its job in the key, not by its pitch. Move to another key and the names change, but the relative labels stay put. That is why a melody that is “Do Re Mi” is the same tune in any key.

Solfège

attunr uses movable do: Do is always the tonic of the key you pick. In C major Do is C; in E♭ major Do is E♭. The seven notes of the major scale are Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti (Ti is sometimes written Si, from the older Italian names). Tap a key to hear it.

Many countries (France, Italy, Spain, much of Latin America and Eastern Europe) use fixed do instead, where Do is simply the name of C, Re is D and so on: there solfège is a set of note names, not a relative system. Both are correct; they just answer different questions. Fixed do is the “Note names” option above in different words.

All twelve notes

Notes outside the major scale change their vowel. A raised note ends in -i (Di, Ri, Fi, Si, Li); a lowered one ends in -e(Ra, Me, Se, Le, Te; Re lowered becomes Ra because Re is taken). So ♭3 is Me (“may”), ♭5 is Se (“say”) and ♯4 is Fi (“fee”): the same key on the piano, named for the job it does. ♭5 is never Sol; Sol is always the perfect 5th. Click a row to hear the note against Do.

Which spelling a page shows depends on the scale: Lydian raises the 4th, so its 4th is Fi; Locrian lowers the 5th, so its 5th is Se. Both are the same key on the piano, six semitones above Do.

Minor keys

There are two traditions for minor. Do-based minor keeps Do on the tonic and lowers the 3rd, 6th and 7th: Do Re Me Fa Sol Le Te. La-based minor starts the minor scale on La, so natural minor is La Ti Do Re Mi Fa Sol, the same syllables as its relative major. attunr uses do-based minor, the same way it writes degrees: the tonic is always Do and R, and every mode is read against the major scale. That makes the colour of each mode easy to see: Dorian is minor with La, Phrygian is minor with Ra, Mixolydian is major with Te. Compare them on the scales page.

Piano vs guitar

On a piano every key has one place, so note names come first: you see the white and black keys, and each key you play in has its own pattern of them. C major is all white keys; E♭ major needs three black ones. The relative labels are what make two such different patterns sound like the same thing.

On a guitar the same note sits in several places and every shape is movable: slide it up the neck and it plays in a new key with the same fingering. So guitarists tend to think in intervals and degrees first and note names second: a shape is a set of jobs (root, 3rd, 5th), wherever you put it. Solfège works the same way and adds a sound you can sing.

Switch the labels above between Note names and Solfège and watch the two instruments trade places: on the piano the names stay easy and the pattern changes; on the guitar the pattern stays the same and only the names change. Learning both views is what lets you play a tune by ear in any key on either instrument. To see the same idea on the whole neck, open the scales and the CAGED pages.