Inferior note held by fellow (5)
I believe the answer is:
cheap
'inferior' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'note held by fellow' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'c' (musical note).
'held' becomes 'ap' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'fellow' becomes 'he' ('he' refers to a man).
'ap' put after 'he' is 'heap'.
'c'+'heap'='CHEAP'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cheap that I've seen before include "Of very poor quality" , "Inexpensive or tasteless" , "Tawdry - inexpensive" , "Base" , "Budget -cheesy" .)