Plot Notes on your Guitar and Keyboard

I always loved music and dabbled with a lot of musical instruments. I was a little late in catching up on the theory of music though and understanding the western world constructs of music. I am trying to put down inferences I have drawn over days of learning the theoretical   world of music with mu Guitar and Key board.

"Disclaimer: I DO NOT Claim to be an expert. Nor do I believe the technique I have given below is the best way to go about things. This helped me understand a thing or two and hence sharing it."

Some facts –

• Don’t get scared by jargon. 
• Don’t be lazy about understanding them either
• Most things in the world are logical
• Everything you want to learn will need some time from you.

Lesson one: Understand 12 notes and learn to write them on a keyboard

• Let us for a while assume there are 12 distinct sounds we can hear. 
• Each distinct sound is a note. 
• A keyboard has a set of white and black keys. 
• Each key is a note apart.  
• All white keys are pure (White stands for purity)

Now based on the image below let us assume the key just before the two sets of black keys to be C

All subsequent white pure keys are English Alphabets from A  to G

CDEFGAB respectively (7 Notes)

So where are the remaining 5 notes we talked about?? We just covered the white keys. The inventor of a keyboard made black keys for a reason!! 

Now all black notes adjacent to a pure note on the right have a symbol  #(Sharp) added to it. 

Lets now begin from C 

• C and then C#
• D and then D#
• E and then (oops no black key) so we just move on
• F and then F#
• G and then G#
• A and then A# 
• B and then Oops no black key again.

"So remember E and B have no adjacent black keys"

Thus our 12 notes are:

If you get this basic construct in your head – you will go a long way in understanding instruments. If you have heard people talk about flats – just ignore it for now.
So what have we got so far?

• 12 Notes
• E and B have no Sharps (#)
• White Keys are Pure

Now lets figure out how to identify notes on a keyboard?? 

• It is scientific and easy. 
• All adjacent keys on a keyboard are a semi-tone apart. In simple terms
• Frequency difference between(C and C#) = Frequency Difference between (D and D#) = Frequency Distance between (E and F)

Now on a key board you get adjacent frequencies between two adjacent keys. Thus if you mark your reference as C (Key before the 2 black keys) and you remember E and B have no Sharps – you can pretty much list down the name of each key on the key board. 

This is your first lesson in marking Keys on your Key Board.

Lesson 2: How do you mark notes on the fretboard of a guitar?

I assume you know some basics of a Guitar which is that a regular guitar has 6 strings starting from a thick one which gets thinner as you go along. Also it has long bars called frets which partition the guitar fret board. I will not spend time explaining strings and frets in this exercise. With an assumption that you have some basic understanding of the same I will jump to explain how keys can be identified on your Guitar Fret Board.

I am going to use the image below to help you identify the same.

Now just like in the keyboard, the distance between two keys was a semi-tone apart. In the guitar, the distance between two adjacent frets is a semi-tone apart. 

"Remember again (E and B have no sharps)"

Now lets start with the first string E - An open string. So if you press the first string on the first fret, you will actually move a semitone upwards which lands it to F and then moving on the first string we get F# G G# A A# and so on. Refer to this image again.

If you apply the same logic to all strings, you will actually be able to plot the image above rather rapidly. Once you have this plotted you can observe some interesting facts.

• All Open Strings are a pure note. 
• The 5th Fret again has all pure notes. 
• The 11th Fret has all Sharp Notes 
• Clearly since we have 12 notes, the 13th Fret starts to repeat the pattern again and will be a pure set of notes again. 

So hopefully now- you are able to identify Notes on your Keyboard and on your Guitar. 

How will you now remember this all?

• Paste these images around you, make them your desktop images and just observe them every day. 
• You will find a lot of fascinating patterns.  
• Play this game: Try and find all pure notes on your guitar and play them. 
• Pick one string a day and move upwards loudly calling out the note you are playing. 

In the next lesson, I will explain to you how to remember notes used in a particular chord and use these images to reconcile what you are playing. I have these images nicely plotted on a spreadsheet. Please drop me a note and I can send it across to you.

Istanbul - A land of surprises

I had felt Istanbul when Orhan Pamuk wonderfully described his memories of the city. I had imagined it every time I looked at a map. I was nervous for the first time in years of my travels; I was skipping heart beats like I was to meet my love after a long period of separation. It was obvious when I was trying hard to catch a glimpse of the city from the aisle seat, lurking over two amused co-passengers. But I was scared – I was scared to be all alone in a Muslim Land by myself – Me a woman in Istanbul!

The plane had affluent people – reeking of the Bourgeois from Regent street, London. I knew I was struggling to finish off the character painting of a Turkish native in my mind.

I landed at 10.30 p.m – a besotted traveller who went scouting around for a visa. 30 minutes, 3 trips between two offices and waiting on good looking blue eyed, blue uniformed men got me an entry to the land of my dream.  It felt inefficient just like India in many ways.  I did notice the tiles were mosaic - not marble!

My initial impressions: Well planned free-ways, criss-cross flyovers and a dedicated lane connecting the airport shuttle to the city (How western!). But as I turned and looked on two sides of the main highway – the city looked dense, chaotic and yet neat! Pointy domes amidst packed houses, dilapidated buildings, modern high rises and bold big old monuments. It rapidly flashed so many different perspectives; Modern- showing all signs of progress but yet standing proud on its history – telling  me and the world

 ‘ I have – all that a civilization can desire. I will embrace you and let you be one with me. But when we shall part – I promise to remain a mystery’

Taksim – the square that celebrates the creation of the Republic of Turkey- was unbelievably busy at 1.00  a.m. I checked in and ventured out and dropped all my apprehensions and fear as I found my way in a million faces. Walking around a cobblestoned street – I glanced through ancient buildings converted to pubs, I walked into to modern empires of fashion at the strangest shopping time! (Mango, UCB and most of the big brands).  Street food, fancy food places, sweets, hawkers neatly stacked along the edges of the street. One could imagine a sorcerer placing them in a non presumptuous bag, shaking them whisking away signs of social segmentation and then neatly arranging them to seem organized in the chaos with no order in mind.  There were tourists, there were natives, there were the rich and the poor just pacing up and down the street – in groups, as couples or wanderers alone. The canopy of blue lights made me feel like it was Christmas in Islam land. Finally when I turned into a side street which had no room to walk – it was revelation time. This city was anything but conservative. In fact it was Islamic Bohemia – young/old/foreigners/burkas/spaghetti straps all were welcome as long as you promised to come eat, drink and be merry.  I will carry the image of those side streets, fruit stalls, Turkish delights, live music, chestnuts and maize for a very long time.

In broad day light, the city unfolded differently. Like between the night and day I had peeled off a layer of its character. As I waded my way through the city to the blue mosque in a taxi, I knew the window time with it was not enough.  I had to soak in the city by walking, feeling the stone, sharing silences with its remains and indulging in conversation with denizens.  When I stepped out of the taxi – it took me 30 whole and complete minutes to get past a street. I wanted to make sure I decoded the glass work on the walls, I sipped on fresh unadulterated pomegranate juice and I could watch old ruins and modern hoardings and click pictures like an obsessive tourist. Just as I reached the end of the street and caught a glimpse of the Blue Mosque on one end and Hagia Sophia on the other I knew I would never do justice in describing what I saw even if I attempted to.  You can read a lot about the buildings or learn from history books. But nothing can ever beat the experience of seeing it and most importantly feeling it with a zillion other people. Language seems inadequate at times. Some say Turkish virtually has no verb for 'to have', 'to be', and English has nothing to match the Turkish 'have unto of', which is beautiful. Similarly I there is no language to describe fulfilment of the soul via an experience.

Istanbul to me was a land of mosques, history and people – living very ordinary lives in an extra ordinary city. My unpardonable imagination had me expecting everyone to be a character from medieval times  and was sorely disappointed to learn that they work in an office, drive a ford and spend the evening partying  just like other free and liberal human beings; Somehow they are not knights of the past! Without imagination, I do declare that the Turks are the most progressive, sharp people, who are comfortable being who they are- bringing ancient liberalization into modern times. I did not feel like a stranger in mosques. On the contrary, I  felt embraced and shared prayers with them. Everyone was warm, it was busy and packed; yet no two bodies touched in the rush or nothing seemed out of order. It just felt comfortable, easy and natural to fit in and get around the city.  I would run into a mosque every few feet, I would suddenly walk down steep narrow alleys which would emerge into broad roads. Then you could spot a sports bazaar, a plumbing bazaar or electrical bazaar selling modern everyday equipment in ancient buildings just as easily as you could run into say the Spice bazaar or traditional markets reminding me what this culture was capable of. Women wearing burkas would come out of mosques and suddenly pull out cigarettes and surprise me. Especially this one woman whose husband was actually taking care of the kids while she smoked! Taking off your foot wear, popping it into a plastic bag and carrying it on you while you entered a mosque seemed like a bizarre but yet convenient  common practice.  The city seemed inhabited by 4 civilizations – humans, tourists, cats and birds!  My prediction is that the birds will take over:-)

Life on that Sunday seemed to center around being out for everyone! Walking on Galata Bridge I could see two sides of the city, a beautiful river and beautiful landscapes of the city. Fishing rods and birds waiting to savour on the catch seemed so trite. Despite intense traffic on the bridge and having a pavement full of people walking inch by inch, everyone seemed busy and yet not in any particular hurry. They seemed to be completely comfortable wading along, watching the sunset, eating, clicking pictures. It felt like a superior power was manoeuvring large segments of the crowd around the city.

I could write a long story and yet never finish. I know my mind is overflowing with images of the city, the people and my experience.  As I left the city I had a few fleeting thoughts.

I saw the rains, I saw the sun, I saw the chilly night and was hit by a lightning bolt. I saw a Sunday,  a Monday,  a Tuesday and wondered what the rest of the week would look like in Turkish times. I walked, I rested, I stopped, ran and sat for hours watching the old (400,000  years) and the new. I know this was not enough and just as you had promised – Dear Istanbul, you still remain a mystery!

Some travel tips:

• Carry good foot gear as you will need to do a lot of walking.
• Walking will entail steep climbs and narrow alleys.
• Carry an umbrella as it is by the sea and humid. It can rain any time. If you forget one, you can buy one as vendors sell it across the city. If you are lucky, your hotel might actually give you a spare one.
• On a cold night, street side eating is commonplace and the restaurants go that extra mile to keep you warm by offering shawls.
• Stay near Taksim, you will not regret it.
• Do not drink tap water, buy water bottles which typically cost 1 Lira and are available at all across the city in abundance.
• The visa on arrival cash counter only takes Euro or Dollar as the currency. So be prepared. It costs about 15 Euro for someone with an Indian Passport. You can get a visa on arrival if you have a valid UK/US/Schengen Visa.
• Be prepared for massive traffic jams especially when travelling over bridges. You can be stuck for hours. Just walk where you can. 
• Do not intend to diet as you will miss out on the amazing food this city has to offer.
• Quench your thirst with fresh fruit juices. Typically priced between 2Lira and 3 Liras per glass.
• If alone stay off extremely narrow and inner roads which like in any city can get unsafe.
• Be all set to club, enjoy the night life and skip sleep.
• Get an extra suitcase if you wish to shop. Bargain hard especially in local bazaars. Spice bazaar is your best bet for reasonably priced things. Taksim and the airport seemed expensive.
• Don’t be fooled into believing all Turkish desserts are made of honey :-) 
• Everyone tries to sell you everything – restaurants/food/spices. So learn to just be polite and walk away.