What Is a Natural Note?

A natural note is any of the seven plain letter-name notes — A, B, C, D, E, F, and G — with no sharp or flat attached. On a piano they're the white keys. The notes in between, the sharps and flats, are called accidentals.

The two odd gaps

The seven naturals are not evenly spaced. Most neighboring naturals are a whole step (two frets) apart, but B→C and E→F are only a half step — one fret, with no sharp or flat between them. This is the single most confusing fact about note names for beginners, and it has a real physical explanation: why there's no E♯ or B♯.

Naturals on the fretboard

The natural notes are the skeleton of the fretboard. Learn just the naturals on the low E and A strings and you can find everything else — sharps are one fret up from a natural, flats one fret down. That's why every fretboard memorization system starts with naturals only: it's 7 names per string instead of 12, and the C major scale (all seven naturals) falls out for free.

Related terms

• Accidental — the sharps and flats between the naturals
• Enharmonic equivalent — why F♯ and G♭ are the same fret
• Chromatic scale — all twelve notes, naturals and accidentals together