Learn & Remember Note Positions

[Arno89]

Hi Everyone

Is there perhaps an easy way to remember the note positions on a 40 button Anglo?
Or is it just a case of buckling down and trying to remember 80 notes and their positions?

[Geoff Wooff]

It is probably best to  try to memorise  the note  positions in your subconsious  ear  department.... trying to recall  each note  by name to a position on the keyboard  may take longer but it  will  arrive.

 

Working on the  30 button 'core'  and  adding those  extras  as you need them  is the way I would approach  the task.

[Mikefule]

The thing is to learn it musically, rather than as 80 separate pieces of information.  Those 40 buttons/80 notes are not all of equal importance.  Each one is only useful in a context.

 

The Anglo is like an onion with 3 layers:

 

1)  The core 2 rows that you would find on a 20 button, which you find at the heart of every other size of Anglo.  You need to know these inside out.

 

2)  The usual accidentals and duplicates you find on any box bigger than 20b and no bigger than 30b.  Some of these are very useful indeed, others less so.

 

3)  The fancy extra notes you get on boxes over 30b.  The fact that most Anglos don't have these shows that they are less "vital", although they are useful.

 

 

 

Their importance is in the same order:

 

i) The 20b was designed to play common melodies and chords in 2 major keys plus the associated modes.

 

ii) The 30 b (and sizes in between) were designed to make i) easier, and also to widen your range of keys.

 

iii) As ii) above but even more so.

 

Therefore, you need to learn your way around the keyboard in pretty much the above order of priority.

 

 

 

On the standard C/G 20b, the 8 notes of the higher of the two C major scales are all available twice except for the F.  That means that there are 128 different ways of fingering that one scale, although not all versions are equally useful.  Even before you explore the accidental row of a 30, there are lots of ways around the maze, and many ways to play each tune.

 

 

The way I have learned was by starting in the home keys and related modes and then expanding my territory slowly.

 

So, on a C/G, that means playing a lot of tunes in C major and D Dorian, and using the duplicated notes on the G row and third row when it helps.  The G pull and A push are particularly useful as a starting point.

 

Tunes in C major often modulate into G, using the F# from the G row.

 

Then, when you start playing tunes in G, you will find that they often modulate into D, which means that you borrow the C# from the third row: the first "essential" accidental.

 

I won't give loads of further examples, but the principle is simple: learn tunes and scales in the keys you intend to play in, and then find the accidentals (and useful duplicates) that make those keys easier.

 

You would learn your way through the keys following the cycle of 5ths.  Assuming a C/G box, that's C G D A E B F, adding one extra # each time, and finding duplicates as you need them.   I suspect most players only explore 3 or maybe 4 of those major keys.  The box was designed the way it is for a reason!

 

Another thought is that if you learn the note names by rote, rather than their purpose and place in the musical scheme of things, if you later pick up a box in different keys, the note names will all be different.  If you want to play in the same key but on a different box, its simpler to think of transposing the key than the individual notes.  Which is easier?:

 

1)  I usually play this in G on the CG box, so I'll just use the "C" fingering on my GD box, and it'll come out in G, or

 

2) Now let me see, this first note's a G and on this different box, that'll be here; the second note's a B — where's the B on this box? etc.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by Mikefule
Tidying punctuation! (Pedantry)

[wunks]

Your instrument , whether Anglo, English or duet,  has a pattern.  Sit and play easy beautiful tunes that you like slowly and search for the notes that you need.  Soon your neurons will make the desired connections.

[Arno89]

@Mikefule  Thanks, that is actually a very detailed explanation that makes a lot of sense.  I'm currently learning music theory, so this would help a lot i suspect.