Accidentals and The Chromatic scale

• ACCIDENTALS:

As the octave consists of 12 notes, but there exists only 7 note names, there arises the need for accidentals (i.e. flats and sharps) for being able to name all the 12 notes.


NATURAL:
A note without accidentals is called natural (i.e. without flats or sharps)
For eg. 'G' is natural that is neither flat or sharp.


SHARP:
A sharp makes a note a semitone higher.
For eg. 'G#' will be a semitone higher than the 'G' natural making it sharp.


FLAT:
A flat is the exact opposite of a sharp, it makes a note a semitone lower.
For eg. 'Ab' will be a semitone lower than the 'A' natural making it flat.


Observation: Both 'G#' and 'Ab' are the names of the same notes but in different directions and point of references one is sharp and the other flat.


DOUBLE SHARP:
As the name suggest, this makes a note sharper by two semitones.



DOUBLE FLAT:
This makes a note flater by two semitones.

• THE CHROMATIC SCALE:

A chromatic scale is made up of all the 12 notes within the octave, which means having covered all the 12 semitones from the root up to its octave.
For eg: Open 'E' up to 12th fret 'E'

One should pay attention to the orientation as well, i.e. are you going higher or going lower?
It is essential to keep in mind the direction, a guitar fretboard is arranged chromatically.

For eg.






Ascending using #'s : C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
Descending using b's: C B Bb A Ab G Gb F E Eb D Db C