Useful Musical Terms

Here are a few useful musical terms when learning the guitar.

Beat - We tend to naturally tap our feet when listening to music, this is called the 'beat' or 'pulse' of the music. Being in time to this 'beat' is important especially when performing with others. 

Bar - A bar of music is a simple division, that helps a person keep track of the music, each bar has a number of beats within it.

BPM - The number 'tapped' beats within a minute. Indicates the speed of music.

Tempo - This indicates the speed of the piece. Sometimes written as beats per minute (bpm).  For instance

160bpm, is a fast tempo (sometimes written as allegro)
120bpm, is a moderate tempo, (sometimes written as moderato)
80bpm, is a slow tempo, (sometimes written as andante)

Time signature - indicates the number of beats played in a bar.
4/4, indicates 4 quarter (crotchet) notes in a bar. Standard in a lot of pop music
3/4, indicates 3 quarter (crotchet) notes in a bar. Has a Waltz feel

Key signature - A key signature indicates a group of notes that sound good when played together. Music tends to be grouped into a key signature so that musically complementary notes are played in the same piece. The key of C is the easiest and one of the more common key signatures.


Notation - Music that has been formally written down. Applies to all musical instruments.

Tablature (TAB) - Music written down primarily for the guitar or guitar like instruments such as the bass, ukulele, banjo etc. Number based to indicate the frets (see useful guitar terms) used.

Chord - A group of complementary notes played together at the same time. e.g. G chord, made up of G, B, D.

Arpeggio - As above but each note played one after the other.