This piece is not meant to be a theory lesson in meter and time signatures. Rather, it is meant to help you open up some new doors and hopefully get your creative juices flowing! Most of us have grown up listening to music characterized by the familiar time signatures of 4/4 or 3/4. 4/4 is the most common time signature in rock, blues, country, funk, and pop while 3/4 is often used for country & western ballads, not to mention waltzes, minuets & scherzi! Both of these time … [Read more...]
Advanced Music Theory Lesson 2: Scale Tendencies
May 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Now that we have introduced all of the modes, let's look at what roles individual notes take in these scales. In a tonal context, they all have certain tendencies. Stable Tones: (1,3,5) Tonic: The tonic is the 1st degree of the scale. All other notes are based around the tonic and gravitate towards it. Dominant: The dominant is the 5th degree. This is a solid or stable note. Third degree: The 3rd degree is stable; however, it is not as stable as the tonic or the … [Read more...]
Advanced Music Theory Lesson 1: The Modes
May 7, 2009 by 2 Comments
As we discussed in previous lessons, the Major scale is also know as Ionian and the Minor scale as Aeolian. We also know that the relative minor is the major scale starting from it's 6th degree. The scales starting from all of the other degrees will now be introduced. This group of scales is known as "the modes". Lets start in the key of C. If we re-spell the C Major scale (Ionian) starting from each subsequent degree in the scale, we end up with the following: Mode … [Read more...]
Scales: The D Major Scale Harmonized 3rd and 5th degrees
April 10, 2009 by 2 Comments
This lesson is almost identical to the A Major Scale Harmonized 3rd and 5th degree. I have added it in order to show how once one pattern is learned, it can often be used on a different set of strings. These are highly recognizable sounds often heard in rock and country playing but used also in all forms of music. The block below consists of chords moving up the fretboard. The first chord has a red line through it to highlight its pattern. The second is in … [Read more...]
Scales: The A Major Scale Harmonized 3rd and 5th degrees
April 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment
These are highly recognizable sounds often heard in rock and country playing but used also in all forms of music. The block below consists of chords moving up the fretboard. The first chord has a red line through it to highlight its pattern. The second is in blue, the third in red and so on. These are the chords that are the result of harmonizing the A Major scale 3rd and 5th notes. The theory behind scale harmonization is covered in theory lesson 7. If you … [Read more...]
Scales: The G Major Scale Harmonized
April 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment
The block below consists of chords moving up the fretboard. The first chord has a blue line through it to highlight its pattern. The second is in red, the third in blue and so on. These are the chords that are the result of harmonizing the G Major scale. The theory behind this is covered in theory lesson 7. The chords names are as follows. GMaj7 Am7 Bm7 CMaj7 D7 Em7 F#min7b5 GMaj7 ( Please not that the F#min7b5 chord is also known as the F# half … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 7: Chords, Harmonizing the C major scale adding the 7th note
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Just like we did in lesson 6, we are again going to harmonize the C major scale except this time, rather than just using triads (3 notes) we are going to use 4 notes. To harmonize the scale, we simply take the 1st 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the C scale and spell them out. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C C E G B Then we start again from the 2nd note in the scale and count the 1st, 3rd , 5th and 7th notes from that point. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D F A C … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 6: Chords, Harmonizing the C major scale with basic triads
April 8, 2009 by 2 Comments
In this lesson, you are going to have to start using some of the concepts learned in lessons 1 - 5. What we are going to do is "harmonize" the C major scale. To harmonize the scale, we simply take the 1st 3rd and 5th note of the C scale and spell them out. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C C E G Then we start again from the 2nd note in the scale and again count the 1st 3rd and 5th note from that point. C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D F A Again from the 3rd note in the scale, count the 1st 3rd … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 5: Chords, basic triads
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Hopefully in lessons 1 through 4, you have seen that there is a "logic" or "formula" that can be applied to work out major scales in all the keys. While memorizing all the scales in all the keys is useful, in my opinion, it is more important to memorize the logic behind how they are derived. Similarly, there are formulas that can be applied to determine or construct any chord in any key. What is a triad? A triad is a combination of three notes … [Read more...]
Basic Music Theory Lesson 4: Major Scales Part 3, the b keys
April 8, 2009 by Leave a Comment
In lesson 3, starting with the key of C, we used the Cycle of Fifths to work our way through all of the subsequent keys that use sharps. We learned that there is a specific order of sharps that can be remembered with the sentence Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle. To work our way through the flat keys we will use .. The Cycle of Fourths. Again, lets go back to the key of C which has no sharps or flats and this time count up 4 natural notes … [Read more...]
