Important terms for everybody.

Here is a re-post of a few important, practical theory terms.   Some terms we can wait to study but to not understand these terms is to handicap our understanding in a way that affects our sound.  Conversely, understanding these terms can make us sound better even before our physical skills get up to speed by helping us organize our information and choose our notes better.  In the long term this is even more important as we get a stronger foundation to build on and a better understanding of what is happening.  Bass notes first:


In music theory, the bass note of a chord or sonority is the lowest note played or notated. While the bass note is often the root or fundamental of the chord, it does not have to be, and sometimes one of the other pitches of the chord will be found in the bass. See: inversion (music).

What is a root note?  I am going to quote from studybass.com

"A root note is the main note on which a chord is built. It is the foundation, or root, of the chord. For example, the three notes G, B, and D form a G major chord. The note G is the chord's root note.

These are the starter definitions for these important terms.  As we learn more we may extend the definition...

Note  A musical sound

Beat      The steady pulse of music that we respond to when we tap our feet, nod our head, tap with our hands etc...

Tempo   Speed of the beat.

Pitch      The relative highness or lowness of a note


Chord   Three or more notes sounded (played) at the same time.



The following terms are used in notating sheet music.  We will use them early on if we are learning chord strumming and accompaniment (playing along with a singer or other soloist) and/or using chord charts.   We will need to understand time signature even before we read any music as it will help us count.

Measure, bar  A unit of musical measure. Wikipedia says: "In musical notation, a bar (or measure) is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats"  We will usually have four beats per measure in the music we play at first.

Bar line   The line that divides measures in a piece of sheet music. 

Time signature   Two numbers placed at the beginning of a piece of sheet music, one on top of the other, that tell us how many beats each measure gets and what type of note gets the beat.   It's important to know this term because the time signature tells us how to count the music which helps us with the rhythm of a piece.  "four-four" for example, is a common time signature and tells us that we will be counting to four a lot!