What is a note?

Before anything else: a note is just a sound that vibrates at a steady speed. A slow vibration sounds low. A fast vibration sounds high. That’s all pitch is.

When a guitarist plucks a string, the string moves back and forth — fast for a high note, slow for a low one. The same is true for the bouzouki, your voice, and every other instrument.

You don’t need to know the math. You only need to know this: every note has a pitch, and pitch can be measured as “how fast it vibrates.”

Hear it for yourself

Click any key. The further right you go, the faster the string vibrates and the higher the note sounds.

A small piece of trivia

The note that orchestras tune to — the A La above middle C Do — vibrates at exactly 440 Hz, or 440 times per second. Every other note has a specific frequency too. You don’t need to memorize any of them.

Recap

• A note is a sound that vibrates at a steady speed.
• Fast vibration = high note. Slow vibration = low note.
• Every note can be measured in Hz (cycles per second), but you don’t need to memorize numbers — your ear already understands the difference.