Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

H vs B Note

Reading in the “Island Song” forum I found mention of a Hm chord. So, I actually googled this and found that in places like Denmark, Germany and elsewhere that the H Note is actually a B note (H is used instead of B). I never knew that, who knew there could be such a cultural gap in scaling. It’s like the Imperial vs Metric debate, only for music :slight_smile:

Is this true?

That’s just odd. A google search didn’t turn up much helpful other than one guy was excited that he could tune his 7 string to BAGHDAD. Another thought it had something to do with Germans using a “B” to indicate flat notes.
At least if we run into it in the future, we’ll have some clue that it’s a B.

It is odd. Just when you think you knew everything…, I did read that the B is an H, but the Bm is a B. So I guess when you’re in Germany and they say they are playing in B, you better know this or else you may be off key :slight_smile: I don’t know. I am going to try this out someday and tell everyone we are playing in H, see what they say.

The Story has it that a composer a couple hundred years ago mistakenly put an H instead of a B, and because of this typo, that is how this all got started. I even read where someone from Norway said they use H instead of B there too. I don’t know if this is standard practice in those countries or a select few who really use it? Fact, a more far fetched story has it that this is what Bach used for his famous BACH arrangements (that seems a little out there). I am not a classical guy so I don’t know much about Bach other than his namesake.