The Letters Of The Musical Alphabet

Posted by Mike Schumacher

Let’s look at some letters of the alphabet, shall we? The next letter is definitely not what you would expect to find here! This one goes up instead of down, and it is not an F or a Q either! It takes place over five months, not three. And this letter does not begin with A like our first one did.

Its name is actually going to surprise you – it is called “G!” Why do we have a word that begins with the same sound as the second most popular song after the Star-Spangled Banner?

Well, let us look more closely at the lyrics for this little ditty:

The words I am about to read are very familiar, but something about them seems unusual. They seem too perfect to be true, almost as if someone had written them before and then erased them. That is why they make me wonder… could these words really describe a thing? Or are they totally made up?

I will now recite both the original version and the new modified version just like the song. Be ready to see how different each verse becomes once I add my own special touch to them!

Become a 'Drummer 4/4 Life' with our exclusive JA t-shirt!

Show your dedication to rhythm with our unique 'Drummer 4/4 Life' t-shirt. Proudly display a music staff with the 4/4 time signature, the heart of most popular music beats. This piece of Jam Addict attire not only makes a bold statement about your passion for drumming, but it also lets you be a part of the JA community, a team dedicated to fostering musicians for years.

Jam Addict T-Shirt

Original Version: The words I am about to read were inspired by a story that happened long ago.
A boy was walking home from school one day when he noticed a girl sitting on the ground crying hysterically.

Letter D

what letter comes after g in the musical alphabet

Let’s look at some examples of the letter D in the musical alphabet, shall we?

The first example is from the song “Happy Birthday!” which is set to the note F. The lyrics say, “I know what you want – a A-D-G or an F-E-D.”

So what does this mean? You can probably figure it out if you are very familiar with the notes of the guitar. But just for fun, let us take a closer look here:

F = First finger (index)

A = Second finger (middle)

D = Third finger (ring)

G = Fourth finger (little)

And now, what do these letters refer to? They refer to chords!

If you remember our chapter about chord structure, we discussed how songs often use parallel bass/chord structures. In those cases, the bass plays the same tone (or note) throughout the whole verse, then moves up one step as the chorus comes around.

That is why there is a rising pulse in music — the rhythm shifts up slightly each time the bass drops by one note. This creates a smooth feeling for the listener because the beats feel natural and steady.

In the case of the song mentioned above, the bass stays the same while the treble part changes.

Letter C

what letter comes after g in the musical alphabet

Let’s look at some examples of letter c in music!

The first example is from the song “Clap Your Hands” by Justin Bieber, where he writes about wanting to love you like he loved me.

In the second line, he uses the letter c to show how his lover should be spelled. He puts an emphasis on the last word, so it becomes a special effect.

He spells your name wrong but that’s okay, I will fix it because I am smart and good with spelling.

It should be Candice, not Candy.

I know this because I worked on our school’s student council while I was in high school, and my friend who helped run the organization took care of business paperwork and research. I also have proofread many documents for other departments since middle school including this very article!

Also, just because someone else mispells a word does not give you permission to do the same. It is rude and annoying and makes people feel bad. No matter what anyone says, we are all allowed to use correct spellings of words.

Letter B

what letter comes after g in the musical alphabet

Let’s look at some examples of letter B!

The second most common letter is ‘B’. Many people may not know what this letter stands for, but you already have!

It is called the baryum (or potassium) atom which is used to create many solid materials such as baking soda, salt, and chocolate.

When these materials are mixed together, they form denser substances that we call compounds or salts. These new compounds contain K and A atoms so they also refer to themselves as ketone-type molecules.

These types of molecules are neutral, or balanced, due to the presence of an equal amount of electrons. This means that they do not attract other particles easily. It is their slight positive charge that makes them stable.

So how does this relate to music? Well, when musicians add reverb, echo, or distortion effects, those are using density materialism to achieve this. By adding these features, the equipment being used is creating an environment for sound to reverberate in.

Letter A

what letter comes after g in the musical alphabet

The next letter is called letter A, which some say comes after g because it starts with the sound of ga, like gap or gag. Others believe it gets its name from the first vowel in the word gate, agate, or account. Still more think that it’s the first lettered syllable in aloof, aisle, or academy.

All true, but there is no definitive answer as to what letter A actually is!

That makes sense though, doesn’t it? If we know the meaning of the word “A” then maybe we can figure out the rest of the letters in the alphabet!

Good luck for you! (I don’t have any for you today, sorry.

Letter H

Let’s look at some other letters that are one position away from the letter g. The letter h is one position below g, making it the next lower case letter of the alphabet.

The most familiar shape for the letter ha occurs after the word gate. In this case, the vowel o gets elided (dropped) so that the sound becomes just a silent hiatus. This is how we get something like gates-as in gatesway or twilightgates.

A less well known ha happens when the mouth form of the consonant h is used as the basis for the spelling of another unvoiced consonant. For example, the voiceless nasal consonant n is derived directly from the written form of the phonetic value of the hm sound, which is also sometimes spelled mn or mi. We get things like sniffle, paunchy, and moonbeam.

Another instance where an f makes its appearance here is the name Fidel. Here the l drops out to create a new syllable called efidel.

Letter J

what letter comes after g in the musical alphabet

The letter of the musical alphabet that comes after G is called a semitone. A semitone is just like a whole tone, but it is one step down from a major third or a minor seventh.

A semitone can be used to create a variety of sounds. For example, the sound for the word before was found by taking your voice one note lower. When you are speaking at a normal volume, use an F one octave higher than your current voice key to speak the word before.

The word before sounded different! Semitones are similar to how some whistles have two notes with one being one half as high as the other. Two notes that are one way apart is our knowledge of music terminology we mentioned earlier.

Letter I

what letter comes after g in the musical alphabet

Let’s look at some letters of the alphabet! The first letter is called “I”.

Letter K

what letter comes after g in the musical alphabet

Let’s look at some other letters that begin with the letter g! The next one is actually not used very often, but it’s pretty cool!

The letter k comes right after g in the alphabet. But instead of starting with a vowel, like o or e, this new letter starts with a consonant!

That means the first sound in the word will be a hard c, making it kind of funny to say. For example, when we said “garage,” the sound was acar-ge.

But here’s the interesting part — you get to choose which vowel goes directly before your k!

So if you wanted to say something like grocery store, you would only need to pick a p-, v-, or i-.

envelope linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram