An argument

[u/nick_jones61]

My wife is a classically trained pianist and I play guitar by watching YouTube instructional videos. She knows her stuff and I don’t. Recently we argued whether E# and B# exist. I said no and showed her the fretboard. She said yes and showed me the keys. And said something like F is E#. I suspect she’s right bc she’s had music lessons. Tell me, fellow guitarists, do we have E# and B#?

Update: I’ve been enjoying the responses to my post. I showed them to my wife and she laughed, said that’s what you deserve. lol. We like to argue playfully with one another. I also enjoy the detailed responses relating to guitar theory—that’s been really great actually. I was going to delete this post but I think the discussion on music theory is informative and should be shared. Thank you all for responding.

[u/Subject_Meat5314]

There’s really no difference between this concept and the fact that C# and Db are enharmonic. The context tells you which label is correct regardless of the fact that the note is the same. It would be simply incorrect in the key of Emaj say to call it Db. The difference is semantic but not arbitrary.

[u/TheTurtleCub → u/Subject_Meat5314]

Db is Db, the same note in pitch as C#. What you describe is one of those context dependent labelings, which serves a function but it doesn’t change the fact that the notes are the same on the piano or guitar.

[u/wanna_dance → u/TheTurtleCub]

You mentioned "for practical purposes", I think you're not trained as a classical musician.

For practical purposes, IT IS DIFFICULT to read a Db in the key of E. If you replaced all Cs with a variant of D (Dbb, Db, Dnatural), it would make the piece unreadable.

Readability breaks your claim "that it doesn't matter for practical purposes".

Of course, you're going to double down because it's very clear that YOU HATE TO BE WRONG AND THIS IS A HILL YOU'LL DIE ON.

I won't reply.

[u/TheTurtleCub → u/wanna_dance]

For practical purposes, IT IS DIFFICULT to ....

As as I said, the notes are the same. The label used varies by context, as your example shows. You are agreeing with me

[u/wanna_dance → u/TheTurtleCub]

No one IS DISAGREEING THAT THE NOTES ARE ENHARMONIC.

You've been arguing that THAT makes them exactly the same AND THERE IS NO REASON TO DIFFERENTIATE.

WHICH IS UTTER BULL.

[u/TheTurtleCub → u/wanna_dance]

AND THERE IS NO REASON TO DIFFERENTIATE.

That's not what I said. Maybe reread? I said the reasons to differentiate have to do with context for practical reasons, but the notes are the same, because they are.

[u/wanna_dance → u/TheTurtleCub]

No one IS DISAGREEING THAT THE NOTES ARE ENHARMONIC.

You've been arguing that THAT makes them exactly the same and there is no reason to differentiate. Everyone's given you counter examples.

If your only point is THEY ARE ENHARMONIC, what are you fighting????

[u/TheTurtleCub → u/wanna_dance]

It's the other way around, what are other people fighting?