Glossary of terms
Plain definitions for the words that come up most, from notes and intervals to chords, scales, and the marks on the staff. No jargon.
Note
A single musical sound, with a name (like C) and a pitch (how high or low it is).
Octave
The step from one note to the next of the same name, higher or lower. Also used for how high or low a sound is set, as in the octave picker.
Interval
The distance between two notes, counted in steps: a third, a fifth, and so on. Intervals are the building blocks of chords and scales.
Accidental
A sharp, flat, or natural sign. A sharp raises a note, a flat lowers it, and a natural cancels either one.
Enharmonic
Two names for the same sound. F sharp and G flat are the same key on the piano, spelled two ways.
Root
The note a chord or scale is named after. C major is built on C.
Chord
Two or more notes sounded together. Chords are the harmony under a melody.
Triad
A three note chord: root, third, and fifth. The most common chord there is, and where most people start.
Seventh chord
A triad with one more note stacked on top. It adds colour and a little tension that wants to resolve.
Suspended chord
A chord where the third is replaced by the note just above or below it, giving an open, unresolved sound.
Diminished chord
A tense, unstable chord built from stacked minor thirds. A short burst of drama.
Augmented chord
A chord with a raised fifth. It sounds unsettled and does not belong to any one key.
Inversion
The same chord with a different note at the bottom. Same notes, new shape under the hand.
Arpeggio
The notes of a chord played one after another instead of all at once.
Progression
A sequence of chords played in order. Most songs are built from a handful of them.
Scale
An ordered set of notes that a melody or a key draws from. Play it up and down and you hear its shape.
Scale degree
The position of a note within a scale, counted from the root: 1, 2, 3, and so on.
Mode
A scale that starts on a different note of a parent scale. Same notes, new centre, new mood.
Key
The set of notes a piece sits in, and the one note that feels like home.
Tonic
The home note of a key, its first degree, the note a piece settles on.
Dominant
The fifth degree of a key. A chord built on it pulls strongly back toward the tonic.
Relative minor
The minor key that shares a major key's signature. A minor is the relative minor of C major.
Transpose
Move a chord, scale, or song to a different key, keeping its shape and changing only the starting note.
Staff
The five lines that notes are written on. The higher a note sits, the higher it sounds.
Clef
The sign at the start of a staff that fixes which lines are which notes. Treble for higher notes, bass for lower.
Key signature
The sharps or flats that belong to a key, written once at the start of the staff.
Notation
How notes are named and written. English calls a note B, German calls the same note H. You can switch styles in Settings.
Fingering
Which finger plays which note. Good fingering makes a scale or chord smooth to play.