Note Names in Music - Letters, Solfège, German H and B

Before you can talk about scales, chords or keys, you need names for the notes. The trouble is that different countries use different names for the same sound: what an English speaker calls B, a German calls H, and an Italian calls si. This lesson explains every common system, how sharps and flats work, and how to say exactly which octave a note is in.

The seven letter names

Western music uses seven note names that repeat over and over: A B C D E F G. After G you start again at A. On a piano, these are the white keys.

Most theory starts from C rather than A, because the C major scale uses exactly these seven notes with no sharps or flats: C D E F G A B C.

The eighth note, where the name repeats, is the octave. Two notes an octave apart sound like "the same note, higher or lower", because the higher one vibrates exactly twice as fast.

A3 and A4: the same note name, one octave apart

Sharps, flats and the black keys

Between most neighbouring letters there is another note: the black keys on a piano. The distance from one key to the very next key (white or black) is a semitone (half step). Two semitones make a whole tone (whole step).

• A sharp (#) raises a note by one semitone: C# is a semitone above C.
• A flat (b) lowers a note by one semitone: Db is a semitone below D.
• A natural sign cancels a previous sharp or flat.

There are two places with no black key between the white keys: E–F and B–C. These pairs are only a semitone apart. Everywhere else, neighbouring letters are a whole tone apart.

So the full set of twelve different notes in an octave (the chromatic scale) is:

C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C

The chromatic scale from C4 to C5

Enharmonic notes

C# and Db are the same key on the piano and the same fret on the guitar. Two names for the same pitch are called enharmonic equivalents. Which name you use depends on the key and the chord. In the key of E major the note is called D#, because the scale needs one of each letter (E F# G# A B C# D#). In the key of Eb major the same sound is called Eb.

Enharmonics also happen with white keys:

• E# = F, and Fb = E
• B# = C, and Cb = B

There are also double sharps (written as x, raising by two semitones) and double flats (bb, lowering by two). F double sharp sounds like G, and Bb double flat (Bbb) sounds like A. They look strange, but they keep the letter pattern of scales and chords correct, for example in G# harmonic minor, whose 7th note is F double sharp.

Solfège: do re mi

In much of the world, notes are named with syllables instead of letters. There are two very different ways to use them.

Fixed do

In fixed do, each syllable is a fixed pitch, exactly like a letter name: do = C, re = D, mi = E, fa = F, sol = G, la = A, si = B. This is the standard note naming system in Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Latin America, Russia and many other countries. A guitarist in Madrid says "do mayor" for C major, and a pianist in Paris says "sol dièse" for G#.

Movable do

In movable do, used in ear training in English-speaking countries, do is always the tonic of the current key. In G major, do is G; in F major, do is F. The syllables describe a note's function in the key rather than its pitch. In movable do the 7th syllable is usually ti instead of si.

Both systems use the same syllables, so always check which one a teacher or book means.

The German H and B

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Scandinavia and several other Central and Northern European countries use letter names with one twist:

• H means the note English speakers call B (B natural).
• B means B flat (Bb).

So the natural notes in German are C D E F G A H. If a German chord chart says "B", play Bb. If it says "H", play B natural. The same convention is common in Russian music teaching alongside solfège.

The other sharps and flats are named with suffixes instead of symbols:

• -is means sharp: Cis = C#, Dis = D#, Fis = F#, Gis = G#, Ais = A#, His = B#.
• -es or -s means flat: Des = Db, Es = Eb, Ges = Gb, As = Ab, Ces = Cb, Fes = Fb.
• Minor and major keys are written with "moll" and "Dur": a-Moll = A minor, Es-Dur = Eb major, h-Moll = B minor.

Polish uses the same system in lower case: c, cis, d, es, e, f, fis, g, gis, a, b, h.

Comparison table of naming systems

Words for "sharp" and "flat": Italian diesis and bemolle, Spanish sostenido and bemol, French dièse and bémol, Russian diez (диез) and bemol (бемоль). Major and minor are maggiore/minore, mayor/menor, majeur/mineur and mazhor/minor (мажор/минор).

Octaves and scientific pitch notation

A letter name tells you which note, but not which octave. Scientific pitch notation solves this by adding a number:

• C4 is middle C, the C near the middle of the piano.
• The number goes up by one at every C. So the notes just above middle C are D4, E4, F4, G4, A4, B4, and then C5.
• The note just below C4 is B3, not B4. This is the most common mistake.
• A4 is the standard tuning note, 440 Hz.

Some useful reference points:

Guitar and bass music is written one octave higher than it sounds, so the guitar's low E2 is written on the staff as E3. That keeps the notes inside the staff instead of on many ledger lines.

Helmholtz notation

Older German and classical sources use Helmholtz notation, which marks octaves with upper and lower case and apostrophes: C (= C2), c (= C3), c' (= C4, middle C), c'' (= C5). If you see "a'" in a tuning instruction, it means A4.

Practice

1. Write out the chromatic scale from C to C twice: once using sharps, once using flats.
2. Name the enharmonic equivalent of: F#, Bb, E#, Cb, G#, Db.
3. Translate into German letters: B, Bb, F#, Eb, Ab. Then translate into fixed-do solfège.
4. Find middle C (C4) on a piano or keyboard, then play A4, B3 and C5 and say their names with octave numbers.
5. On guitar, play the open strings and name them in scientific pitch: E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4.

Next steps:

• Learn where the notes sit on the staff in The staff and clefs, then drill them with the note trainer and Reading treble clef 1.
• Guitarists: continue with Notes on the guitar fretboard and the fretboard trainer.
• Print the piano notes chart or the guitar fretboard notes.
• See how notes combine in Intervals and The major scale.