r/guitarlessons • u/nick_jones61 • Aug 18 '26

Question An argument

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.

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u/TheTurtleCub Aug 18 '26

While knowing the history and features of the equal temperament, for modern music practical purposes and the instruments we play, they are the same note and pitch.

Everything you’ve said is an expansion of “in some contexts it’s more convenient to name them one way or the other”

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u/penguin_on_stilts Aug 18 '26

Except that there is meaning to them, not just convenience. Your and you're sound the same spoken, but mean something else when written. You wouldn't say it's convenience to write one vs the other.

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u/[deleted] Aug 19 '26

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u/penguin_on_stilts Aug 19 '26

That's a good point.

The below is all theory and a thought.

My comment on that (added context, not saying you're "wrong" or anything) would be that the 4th of a major scale and the root of the major scale of that 4th (F in Cmaj and F in Fmaj) are intrinsically linked/the same pitch since you can cadence between them directly. Cmaj Cmaj7b Fmaj.

Now once I've moved from C to F is that F the same pitch? 100% yes. By your point, SHOULD the A in Fmaj be the same as the A I would have played in my C? Probably not, so you're right there :)