As understood by a non-musician :)
Music Theory is Descriptive not Prescritive
Music Theory is a tool to help understand and write music
It’s not a strict set of rules to be adhered to at all cost
If something sounds good, then it sounds good
Music theory’s job is to figure out why.
Also I’m not a musician or a music theorist
I pieced this stuff up from various random sources
It’s how music makes sense in my brain
Some of the terminology is slightly wrong but I don’t care.
I’ve seen a great many different approaches to explaining music theory
Most of them start with standard notation and scales
I take a different approach
Doubling of a frequency
Concert A is 440hz
220hz and 880hz are also both As
In western music…
An octave is split into 12 semi-tones
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
All of which are created equal
Also known as equal temperament
7 of which have been given arbitrary names
| A | - | B | C | - | D | - | E | F | - | G | - |
The missing notes are represented with little symbols
# -> sharp -> +1 semi-tone b -> flat -> -1 semi-tone
| A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# |
| A | Bb | B | C | Db | D | Eb | E | F | Gb | G | Ab |
Why this layout?
Scales will explain but for now, assume it’s arbitrary
Now that we’ve introduced the letters…
… we’ll ignore them …
THEY’RE NOT IMPORTANT
What’s important is those 12 notes.
A note played by itself is not really music
I’m talking from a practical stand point and not a philosophical standpoint.
A succession of notes is what forms music
Notes played together is what forms music
The distance between the notes is what gives them flavour
These are what I call harmonic intervals
The intervals have names to help describe them:
| # | flavour | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Unison | |
| 1 | minor | 2nd |
| 2 | major | 2nd |
| 3 | minor | 3rd |
| 4 | major | 3rd |
| 5 | perfect | 4th |
| 6 | aug/dim | |
| 7 | perfect | 5th |
| 8 | minor | 6th |
| 9 | major | 6th |
| 10 | minor | 7th |
| 11 | major | 7th |
| 12 | Octave |
The name might feel a bit arbitrary at first and that’s ok
It takes time and practice to internalize
Unison -> the same note Octave -> one octave apart
Neither of these really add much flavour
Standard terminology in music:
Minor -> Sad Major -> Happy
Implies that a
Minor 3rd -> Sad Major 3rd -> Happy
Same goes for 2nd, 6th and 7th
Perfect is a bit more weird but consider this:
Perfect 4th + Perfect 5h = Octave
5 + 7 = 12
The Perfect 5th rarely stands out
I think of it as adding depth to a chord or as a transition note.
It’s omnipresent because it’s very neutral
9th, 11th, etc. intervals also exists.
Theyre’ just continuation of the same pattern where but an octave higher
9th -> 2nd 11th -> 3rd 13th -> 4th …
These intervals will act as our vocabulary
Otherwise that’s it, nothing too complicated here.
Playing multiple notes at the same time
Chords are made up of notes
Which are made up of intervals
These intervals give the chord its flavour.
Simple way to describe a chord
Major chord: 1-3-5 Minor chord: 1-3b-5
-> The number represents the interval name -> If flat (b): the interval is minor -> else: the interval is major
Major chord: 1-3-5 Minor chord: 1-3b-5
There’s only a single semi-tone difference between major and minor chord!
To apply the formula:
- Pick a root
- Apply the intervals
- Play the Notes
C major:
| 1 | root | C + 0 | C |
| 3 | major 3rd | C + 4 | E |
| 5 | perfect 5th | C + 7 | G |
A minor:
| 1 | root | A + 0 | A |
| 3 | major 3rd | A + 3 | C |
| 5 | perfect 5th | A + 7 | E |
The only difference between a Major and Minor chord is one semi-tone
Root: anchors the other notes 3rd: gives the chord its flavour 5th: adds depth to the chord
You can modify the formula to get different types of chords
| 1-5 | Power chord |
| 1-3-5-7 | Maj 7th |
| 1-3b-5-7 | Min 7th |
| 1-2-5 | Sus2 |
| 1-4-5 | Sus4 |
| 1-3-5-7-9 | Maj 9th |
| 1-3-5-9 | Add 9th |
There are tons of these.
Feel free to experiement!
Fancy chords look far less complicated when viewed this way
And that’s it!
A subset of the notes in an octave
That happens to work well together
That together have a certain flavour
Two VERY common scales:
Major: W-W-H-W-W-W-H
Minor: W-H-W-W-H-W-W
W -> whole-tone or two semi-tones H -> half-tone or one semi-tones
Major: 2-2-1-2-2-2-1
Minor: 2-1-2-2-1-2-2
My version of it, same thing
- Pick a root
- Apply the intervals
That’s it.
2-2-1-2-2-2-1
| C | +2 |
| D | +2 |
| E | +1 |
| F | +2 |
| G | +2 |
| A | +2 |
| B | +1 |
| C |
2-1-2-2-1-2-2
| A | +2 |
| B | +1 |
| C | +2 |
| D | +2 |
| E | +1 |
| F | +2 |
| G | +2 |
| A |
C Major: C-D-E-F-G-A-B A Minor: A-B-C-D-E-F-G
They’re made up of the same notes… … but in different order?
And yet one sounds happy and one sounds sad?
Harmonic Intervals explains the difference:
| Major | # | Minor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Root | # | 0 | Root | ||
| +2 | 2 | Major 2nd | # | +2 | 2 | Major 2nd |
| +2 | 4 | Major 3rd | # | +1 | 3 | Minor 3rd |
| +1 | 5 | Perfect 4th | # | +2 | 5 | Perfect 4th |
| +2 | 7 | Perfect 5th | # | +2 | 7 | Perfect 5th |
| +2 | 9 | Major 6th | # | +1 | 8 | Minor 6th |
| +2 | 11 | Major 7th | # | +2 | 10 | Minor 7th |
| +1 | 12 | Octave | # | +2 | 12 | Octave |
How notes sound is based on it’s relative distance to the root
The root is the anchor for everything that comes after it
To understand what you’re playing, you must understand the intervals you’re playing.
Note names are a tool of communication between musician, NOT the end goal of what you’re trying to do.
Minor scale is just a rotation of the Major Scale
Minor = rot(Major, 2)
We say that the Minor scale is a MODE of the Major scale
The other rotations/modes are also valid and have names
| 0 | Ionian | Major |
| +2 | Dorian | |
| +2 | Phrygian | |
| +1 | Lydian | |
| +2 | Myxolodian | |
| +2 | Aolian | Minor |
| +2 | Locrian |
Each have slightly different flavours and feel to team
Experiment with them!
You don’t have to stick to the major scale either!
| 3-2-3-2-2 | Pentatonic |
| 3-1-1-3-2-2 | Blues |
| 1-4-1-2-1-3 | I made it up |
| … |
Scales give you a framework to work in
Different notes in a scale have different functions and weight
A “false” note is only one semi-tone away from a “correct” note.
That being said, dissonance adds lots of tension. Don’t get boxed in!
Now that we know how to pick notes that work well together
How do we do it with chords?
And how do we make sure they work well with our melody or bass lines?
Scales already provides us with notes that work well together
Let’s re-use these note to build chords!
Simple trick:
- Pick a root
- Skip a note and pick the next one
- Skip a note and pick the next one
We’ll abriviate this to:
R-S-P-S-P
R: Root S: Skip P: Pick
| R | C | C |
| S | D | |
| P | E | E |
| S | F | |
| P | G | G |
| A | ||
| B |
Why does it work?
In 2-2-1-2-2-2-1
Skiping a note will either give you +3 or +4 followed by another +3 or +4
3 + 4 = 7 which is a perfect 5th
Which gives us:
+4 then +3 +3 then +4 1-3-5 1-3b-5 Major Minor
MAGIC!
| I | C-E-G | 1-3-5 | C Major |
| ii | D-F-A | 1-3b-5 | D Minor |
| iii | E-G-B | 1-3b-5 | E Minor |
| IV | F-A-C | 1-3-5 | F Major |
| V | G-B-D | 1-3-5 | G Major |
| vi | A-C-E | 1-3b-5 | A Minor |
| vii | B-D-F | 1-3b-5b | B dim |
B dim is the exception and it’s known as a tritone: +3 +3
It’s the most dissonant chord on the Major scale
You can extend easily!
7th: R-S-P-S-P-S-P
| R | C | C |
| S | D | |
| P | E | E |
| S | F | |
| P | G | G |
| S | A | |
| P | B | B |
Sus2: R-P-S-S-P Sus4: R-S-S-P-P 7th: R-S-P-S-P-S-P 9th: R-S-P-S-P-S-P-S-P 11th: R-S-P-S-P-S-P-S-P-S-P 13th: R-S-P-S-P-S-P-S-P-S-P-S-P
At some point you start running out of fingers
Let’s build a simple four chord song
- Pick a root
- Pick a scale
- Pick 4 degrees of that scale
- Derive The chords
- Play the chord in sequence
- Play a random melody on the same scale
- …
- Untold fame and fortune
The concepts are pretty simple
Can give you a good foundation for improvisation, composing or analyzing
Don’t be afraid to experiment and go off road
This is just an introduction
Music goes WAY deeper then this
Recommended channel for analysis of various popular song
12tones: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w
Also has a crazy video on the history of Concert A