Music charts
Almost nothing a musician has to learn early on is difficult. It is invisible, which is a different problem: which notes the key signature carries, where the same shape sits three frets up, how long a dotted quaver actually lasts. A sheet on the wall answers that without the instrument leaving your hands, and that is the whole difference between looking something up and losing the thread.
Three kinds of sheet sit under this tag. Theory that does not change — the circle of fifths, note values, intervals. The geography of an instrument — the notes along the fretboard, the layout of the keyboard, first chords for guitar and ukulele, the pentatonic box, scale fingering, and the alternate tunings from drop D to open C. And two working references for anyone who records rather than only plays: which instruments occupy which part of the spectrum, and where things usually sit across the stereo field.
They are made for a practice room, the wall above a piano, or the space beside a desk in a small studio. A3 is the sensible default; A4 only if it hangs within reach of the stool.
MICROPHONE POSITIONS
where to place a mic around an acoustic guitar and how each spot sounds — after Shure’s guides
AUDIO CONNECTORS
analog, digital, and speaker wiring · pinouts and balanced signals
AUDIO CARRIERS
seven carriers over a century at one scale, and what each one brought first
BARRE CHORDS
two shapes, twelve chords each
KINDS OF BASS
eight instruments at one scale · what each is about and how it sounds
BIT DEPTH
how many steps the level is cut into, what a bit adds, and why floating point is not the next row
CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
12 keys · key signatures · relative minors
CURWEN HAND SIGNS
one hand for each degree of the scale, with the mental effect John Curwen gave it
DECIBEL SCALES
what stands at zero on each of them, and why −10 and +4 are not fourteen apart
DI, REAMP AND PREAMP
three boxes on one ruler of levels — where each one leads from and to
DRUM KIT NOTATION
where every drum and cymbal sits on the staff — per the Percussive Arts Society standard
THE ELECTRIC GUITAR PICKUP
one coil or two · six builds · where it sits along the string, and how high above it
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT
how many cents each interval misses the pure one by, and why exactly that much
AMP MIC POSITIONS
where to place a mic in front of a guitar cab and how each spot sounds — after the Shure chart
ARPEGGIOS ON TWO STRINGS
major and minor in one position · the bare triad, no octave
ARPEGGIOS ON THREE STRINGS
major and minor in one position · a whole octave on three strings
ARPEGGIOS ON FOUR STRINGS
major and minor in one position · exactly an octave, one note per string
ARPEGGIOS ON FIVE STRINGS
major and minor in one position · an octave and a fifth from the root
ARPEGGIOS ON SIX STRINGS
major and minor in one position · two octaves from the root
ACOUSTIC BODY SHAPES
what each one was made for · from the front room to the stage, at true scale
FIRST CHORDS
15 chords every beginner starts with · standard tuning E A D G B e
NOTES ON THE FRETBOARD
standard tuning E A D G B e · first twelve frets
THE PENTATONIC
three positions · the root is marked
STRING MATERIALS
what they are drawn from, how one wrap differs from another and what of that is audible
TONEWOODS
density, hardness, export · what is measured kept apart from what is taste
LOUDNESS ON DELIVERY
integrated loudness, true peak and the room between them — from the documents, not from hearsay
MICROPHONE TYPES
what picks the sound up and where it stays deaf — five patterns from one formula
INSTRUMENT FREQUENCIES
fundamentals and overtones · 20 Hz – 20 kHz, logarithmic scale
THE STEREO FIELD
what stays centred · what is spread · why the low end is not panned
MUSICAL DYNAMICS
the loudness marks from pp to ff, crescendo and diminuendo hairpins — and how the piano got its name
THE SEVEN MUSICAL MODES
the same white keys · a different root
NOTE FREQUENCIES
the fundamental of every note in hertz · equal temperament, A = 440 Hz
NOTE VALUES
from whole to thirty-second · how many fit a 4/4 bar
C MAJOR FINGERING
right and left · one octave and two
B FLAT MAJOR FINGERING
right and left · one octave and two · two flats · B flat and E flat
D MAJOR FINGERING
right and left · one octave and two · two sharps · F sharp and C sharp
F MAJOR FINGERING
right and left · one octave and two · one flat · B flat
G MAJOR FINGERING
right and left · one octave and two · one sharp · F sharp
THE KEYBOARD
three octaves · every key and its note on the staff
THE SOPRANO RECORDER
all 27 notes from C5 to D7 in the Baroque and German systems — and how to tell which one you hold
SAMPLE RATES
what band each one describes, how much it leaves the filter, and what a minute weighs
SNARE DRUM RUDIMENTS
the forty international rudiments of the PAS · four families · the Standard 26 marked
DADGAD
D — A — D — G — A — D
DROP D
one string down · everything else unchanged
HALF STEP DOWN
every string down a semitone · same shapes
OPEN C
the deepest of the open tunings
OPEN D
the open strings are already D major
OPEN G
the open strings are already G major