| Accent |
Phrasing |
An emphasised note |
| Accidental |
Theory |
A symbol that's used to lower or raise the pitch of a note in moststandard notation. These symbols are a sharp (♯), a flat (♭), or a natural sign (♮). |
| Aeolian |
Modes/Scales |
The Aeolian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the natural minor scale. On the white piano keys, it is the scale that starts with A. Its ascending interval form consists of a key note, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step. |
| Aeolian b5 |
Modes/Scales |
The Aeolian b5 scale is the 6th mode of the melodic minor scale. The scale can be thought of as the Aeolian scale with a b5 taken from the Blues scale. This scale works well over a m7b5 chords and for building tension over minor tonalities in general. |
| Altered Chords |
Chords/Harmony |
An altered chord is a chord that replaces one or more notes from the diatonic scale with a neighboring pitch from the chromatic scale. By the broadest definition, any chord with a non-diatonic chord tone is an altered chord. |
| Altered scale |
Modes/Scales |
The altered scale is a dominant scale where all the non-defining chord tones are altered. The three essential notes that define any chord are the root, the third, and the seventh (dominant chord = root, major third, flat seventh). Any note that isn't the root, the third, or the seventh can be altered. |
| Altered Tuning |
Misc |
Tunings other than the standard EADGBE on a six string guitar. These can be achieved by changing the tuning of any or all of the strings. |
| Alternate Picking |
Technique |
Picking in alternate directions (down-up-down-up). |
| Arpeggio |
Fretboard Knowledge |
A succession of chord tones, usually played evenly low to high and back again. |
| Arrangement |
Progression/Song Form |
The setting of an original or standard tune for a given solo instrument or group of instruments |
| Articulation |
Phrasing |
Articulation is a fundamental musical parameter that determines how a single note or other discrete event is sounded. Articulations primarily structure an event's start and end, determining the length of its sound and the shape of its attack and decay. They can also modify an event's timbre, dynamics, and pitch. |
| Artificial Harmonics |
Phrasing |
The harmonics of a note produced on a stringed instrument by lightly touching a stopped sounded string. |
| Augmented |
Theory |
Augmented chords are major triads with a sharp fifth |
| Augmented Fifth |
Theory |
It is one semitone wider than a perfect fifth and enharmonically equivalent to a minor sixth. |
| Backing track/ Jam Track |
Misc |
A backing track is an audio recording on audiotape, CD or a digital recording medium or a MIDI recording of synthesized instruments, sometimes of purely rhythmic accompaniment, often of a rhythm section or other accompaniment parts that live musicians play along with or sing along to |
| Bar |
Theory |
A segment of written music in which there is a designated number of beats. Sometimes called a measure. |
| Barre Chord |
Chords/Harmony |
From the French term barré. The technique of placing the fretting hand index finger over two to six strings in the fingering of a chord. |
| Bass Note |
Theory |
The lowest note of a chord |
| Behind the nut bend |
Technique |
A behind the nut bend is where you fret behind the nut of the guitar and apply a bend to the open string. |
| Bending |
Technique |
The act of pushing or pulling a string across the fretboard to raise the pitch by varying degrees of tones. Used in most styles of playing. |
| Borrowed Chords |
Chords/Harmony |
A borrowed chord (also called mode mixture, modal mixture, substituted chord, modal interchange, or mutation) is a chord borrowed from the parallel key (minor or major scale with the same tonic). |
| Cadences |
Chords/Harmony |
In Western musical theory, a cadence is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of resolution. A harmonic cadence is a progression of two or more chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music. |
| Capo |
Misc |
A clamp that holds down all the strings on a given fret. |
| Chords |
Chords/Harmony |
Three or more notes sounded at the same time. |
