The Musical Alphabet: A B C D E F G

Here's a secret: music only uses SEVEN letters — A, B, C, D, E, F and G. After G there is no H. The letters simply start again from A, like going around a wheel.

Musicians usually start counting from C, because the happy 'home' scale starts there: C, D, E, F, G, A, B — and then C again. When the letters come back around, the new C sounds like the old C's big brother or little sister: the same note, just higher or lower. That jump is called an octave.