Plain-language reference

Music Terms

The theory and banjo vocabulary used throughout Banjo Lab. Examples begin in G major whenever possible, because a five-string banjo is commonly tuned to open G.

The building blocks

Notes & scales

Note: A named musical pitch, such as G, A, or B. The same note name repeats higher or lower in different octaves.
Half step: The smallest distance in the common Western note system. On a banjo, moving one fret raises or lowers a note by one half step.
Whole step: A distance of two half steps, or two frets on the same banjo string.
Sharp: Raises a note by one half step. F♯ is one fret higher than F.
Flat: Lowers a note by one half step. B♭ is one fret lower than B.
Natural: Cancels a sharp or flat so the note returns to its unaltered letter name.
Enharmonic: Two names for the same pitch, such as F♯ and G♭. The spelling changes to fit the key or musical context.
Scale: An ordered collection of notes. A G major scale is G–A–B–C–D–E–F♯–G.
Diatonic: Notes or chords that naturally belong to a seven-note major or minor scale. The diatonic chords in G major use only notes from the G major scale.
Pentatonic: A five-note scale. The major pentatonic uses scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6; the minor pentatonic uses 1, ♭3, 4, 5, and ♭7.
Blues scale: A minor pentatonic scale with an added flat fifth. That extra “blue note” creates tension between the fourth and fifth.
Mode: A scale family made by changing which note feels like home within a particular pattern of whole and half steps.
Dorian: A minor mode with a natural sixth. Its formula is 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, 6, ♭7.
Phrygian: A minor mode with a flat second. Its close half step above the root gives it a dark, tense sound.
Lydian: A major mode with a raised fourth, creating a brighter and more spacious sound than the major scale.
Mixolydian: A major mode with a flat seventh. It is common in fiddle tunes, blues, and music built around dominant chords.
Locrian: A minor mode with a flat second and flat fifth. Its unstable sound makes it useful for studying musical tension.
Harmonic minor: A natural minor scale with a raised seventh, creating a strong pull from the seventh degree back to the root.
Melodic minor: A minor scale that raises the sixth and seventh while ascending. Classical practice often lowers them again while descending.
Major: A scale or chord quality often heard as bright or settled. A major chord contains a root, major third, and perfect fifth.
Minor: A scale or chord quality often heard as darker. A minor chord lowers the major chord’s third by one half step.
Interval: The distance between two notes. A third, fourth, and fifth are interval names counted from the starting note.
Octave: The distance from one note to the next note with the same name, such as G up to the next G.
Perfect fifth: An interval spanning five letter names. G up to D is a perfect fifth and is the relationship that organizes the circle of fifths.

How notes work together

Keys & harmony

Key: The tonal home of a piece of music. In the key of G major, G feels like the main point of rest and the music mainly uses the G major scale.
Key signature: The sharps or flats normally used in a key. G major has one sharp, F♯; F major has one flat, B♭.
Scale degree: A note’s numbered position in a scale. In G major, G is 1, A is 2, and D is 5.
Roman numeral: A label for a chord’s position in a key. Uppercase usually means major, lowercase means minor, and a degree sign means diminished.
Tonic I: The home note or chord of the key. In G major, the tonic chord is G major.
Subdominant IV: The fourth scale degree and its chord. It moves harmony away from home; in G major, the subdominant chord is C major.
Dominant V: The fifth scale degree and its chord. It creates tension that strongly wants to return to the tonic; in G major, the dominant chord is D major.
Relative minor: The minor key that shares a major key’s notes and key signature. It begins on scale degree 6; E minor is the relative minor of G major.
Relative major: The major key that shares a minor key’s notes and key signature. G major is the relative major of E minor.
Chord: Two or more notes sounded together. Most chords in these exercises are three-note major, minor, or diminished triads.
Triad: A three-note chord built from a root, third, and fifth. G–B–D forms a G major triad.
Diminished: A tense chord quality made from a root, minor third, and lowered fifth. The vii° chord in a major key is diminished.
Chord progression: A sequence of chords. I–IV–V–I in G major means G–C–D–G.
Circle of fifths: An arrangement of keys by perfect fifths. Moving clockwise adds sharps; moving counterclockwise adds flats.

On the instrument

Banjo & practice

Open G tuning: The common five-string banjo tuning g–D–G–B–D. Strumming all open strings produces a G major chord.
Alternative tuning: A tuning other than standard open G. Double C, sawmill, and open D change open-string pitches to suit different keys, chords, or modal sounds.
Reentrant tuning: A tuning whose strings do not run from lowest to highest in order. The short fifth string is the highest-pitched open string on a standard five-string banjo.
Cent: A small unit of pitch measurement. One half step contains 100 cents; the tuner treats a note within 5 cents of its target as in tune.
Concert pitch: The reference used to calculate note frequencies. A4 = 440 Hz is the standard setting in the Banjo Lab tuner.
Open string: A string played without pressing a fret. In tablature it is shown with the number 0.
Fret: A position on the fingerboard. Each fret raises the string’s pitch by one half step.
Chord shape: A left-hand fingering pattern that can be moved to make different chords. This site uses the common barre, F, and D major shapes.
Barre shape: A movable chord shape made by holding several strings at the same fret, often with one finger laid across the neck.
F shape: A movable major-chord fingering based on the first-position F chord shape. The chord’s root appears on strings 1 and 4.
D shape: A movable major-chord fingering based on the first-position D chord shape. Its root appears on the second string.
Tablature (tab): A notation system showing which string and fret to play. The lines represent strings and the numbers represent frets.
Roll: A repeating right-hand picking pattern using thumb, index, and middle fingers to create an even stream of notes.
Measure: A group of beats. In 4/4 time, one measure contains four quarter-note beats.
Tempo: The speed of the music, commonly measured in beats per minute.
BPM: Beats per minute. A metronome at 80 BPM clicks 80 times in one minute.
Downbeat: The first and usually strongest beat of a measure. The Banjo Lab metronomes accent it with a higher click.