Muisic.theory

Lesson 1: Building blocks, not puzzles

If your playing sounds good to you, it's a masterpiece

Many people see the keys on a piano as different pieces of a puzzle when they are, in fact, building blocks. Arrange them in whatever order you choose to create a sound that is pleasing to you.

What is the significant difference between a puzzle and a set of building blocks?

A puzzle requires the exact initial form of an idea, like a picture, to be recreated, while building blocks allow you to form and bring new ideas to life.

Lesson 2: The basic building blocks

Note: A note is a symbol representing a musical sound.
Key: A set of notes that correspond to a particular scale. The button-like parts of a piano are also referred to as keys.

The piano is a repetition of only these 12 notes, and they are your building blocks.

When looking for a key or a note in ear training, it is helpful to remember that there are only 12 possible choices.

Notice how the black keys are named as sharps(#) of the previous key and flats(b) of the preceding key.

Lesson 3: Slightly less basic building blocks

Chord: Two or more notes played together

C#m7b5 is read as C sharp minor 7 flat 5

A deep blue colour, a navy blue colour and a sky blue colour are all still considered blue. Likewise, in playing the piano, a Cm(C minor), Cmaj7(C major 7) and a Cm7sus2(C minor 7 sustain 2) are all C because their root note is C. Let's try that again: Dmaj(D major), Dm7b5(D minor 7 flat 5) are all D, they both have D as their root note.

What are the root notes of the following chords:

1. Gm7b5
2. Bmaj9
3. Db7b5
4. A#maj9

1. G
2. B
3. Db
4. A#

Find the chord to your favourite song online, transform each chord to its root note and play the root notes instead of the chord to match the tune of the song.

Lesson 5: Arrangement

Scale: An organised sequence of notes for a particular style of music.

When creating your piece, combine the notes of a family in an order that sounds good to you. These families are called Scales, and some popular scales include the major scale, minor scale, blues scale, jazz scale, etc.

Each scale has a formula. You can play a scale from any key using the scale's formula. An A-minor blues scale and a G-minor blues scale are derived using the general formula for blues scales.

Lesson 6: Major Scale

The pattern for a major scale is:

root note - W - W - H - W - W - W - root note

W - Whole tone: two keys from any note on a piano, i.e. skip one note. Key D is a whole tone from key C.
H - Half tone: A step from any note on a piano, i.e. play the next note. Key C# is a half tone from key C
A half step can also be referred to as a half tone or semitone, while a whole step can also be referred to as a whole tone or a tone.

This would make C major scale:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B

Lesson 7: Minor Scale

The pattern for a major scale is:

root note - W - H - W - W - H - W - W

W - Whole tone : two keys from any note on a piano i.e. skip one note. Key D is a whole tone from key C.
H - Half tone: A step from any note on a piano i.e. play the next note Key C# is a half tone from key C.
A half step can also be referred to a half tone or semi tone while a whole step can also be referred to as a whole tone or a tone

This would make C major scale:
C - D - E - F - G - A - B

Lesson 8: Chords

Progression: The succession of chords in a piece of music.

A chord is several notes played together. The more complex a chord is the more robust your piece sounds. You just have to remember that too much of everything is bad.

Helpful formulas

Minor second = Root note + Half step
Major second = Root note + Whole step
Minor third = Root note + 3 half steps(the note three half steps away from the root note)
Major third = Root note + 3 whole steps(the note three whole steps away from the root note)

To play a major chord:

Root note + Major third + minor third

Steps:

• Place your thumb on the root note
• Place your middle or index finger on the note a major third away from te root note
• Place your little finger on the note that is a minor third away from the last note

This would make C major chord:
C + E + G

To play a minor chord:

Root note + Minor third + Major third
Steps:

• Place your thumb in the root note
• Place your middle or index finger on the note a minor third away from the root note
• Place your little finger on the note that is a major third away from the last one

This would make C minor chord:
C + Eb + G

What are the notes for each of these chords:

1. Gm(G minor)
2. F#maj(F sharp major)
3. Ebm(E flat minor)

Remember that respectively the root notes are:

1. G
2. F#
3. Eb

Also remember that flats and sharps have two names each i.e. they are names as the sharp of the preceding key/note and flats of the succeeding /note/note

1. G + B + D
2. F# + A# + C#
3. Eb + F# + A#

Muisic.theory is a piano based music theory course. It reduces music theory as we know it to small chunks of recognisable paterns. This is so building music pieces is understood as nothing more complex than connecting the dots. This course consists of 3 modules. After each module your knowledge is then tested. Have fun learning with US! Muisic.theory is written and developed by Amanda Obiajulu Nwadukwe. Amanda is 21 years old. She is a developer and lives in Lancaster where she attends Lancaster and Morecambe College.