Music Theory Survival Guide: Part 1

1. Course Intro: when it comes to learning music theory, they're gonna be so many places to start that it could be a bit overwhelming. You know, music theory has this bad rep that it's boring and really time consuming and hard. But I've always felt that if you learn a few basic concepts, it can really help you jump into the next level of making music that has so much more meaning to or creativity. Whenever those few concepts air learned, it's up to you is the music creator to pair that with your inner creative voice and develop the sound that is unique to you with meaning behind rather than just making music with my chance. I'm Joel Michael and I've been a music creator for about 20 years. I earned my master's degree in music composition with focus on jazz, and I spent many years performing, creating music. I just spent about five years directing and music production college in ST Louis on In that time, I really immersed myself in music production. For the past several years, I've found myself abroad on exploring musical town halls of different cultures that inspires my When I first started playing music, I got a guitar and started a band because I'm sure many of you that the same thing. I always find myself obsessively listening to classic records and trying to figure out how these became classic. What is it in the sound that makes us wanna hear over and over again? Then, at that point, I took music that we're seriously and started learning basic theories, scales and chords and how they work together to create a complete physical. It is. And then my times thing with my band wasn't just so much hashing out random ideas and guesswork. It was more control than I found that I was developing a sound that was unique to me. And it was through that process that I became more dedicated in music and enjoying the craft of creating music with intention behind. So when this course will be covering the basics of what you need to know in order to create music that sounds, well, good. So some of the topics recoverable included intervals, major scales and chords on how to put scales and chords together to create a complete song . I'll even share with you. It's simply that I use that always gets the creative juices going and helps me create something good nearly every time. No, this course will not be using any music notation, so we don't need to worry about any of that. All you need to do is just grab instrument or your voice on follow. And since I'm a firm believer in practicing these concepts that truly retained them and utilize them in a real world setting, I will be demonstrating all of the concepts on the guitar and on the keyboard. So again, I ask that you just grab your instrument, your voice in order to follow along with his classic. Also, you'll have access to an E book that includes all the court diagram scale diagrams, interval diagrams for guitar and for keyboard. That way you can follow along with that. I'm sure you're staying on track. So with all that said, let's jump right in 2. Intervals: it's important to understand that intervals are the building blocks of any melody and any chord interval and music is simply defined as the distance between two pitches. So in this section we will cover all of the intervals by number, and by also type the number of each interval is identified by counting the distance between the letters before we do. This is important to know that there are only seven different letters in the musical off of that. So from C de e f g a be and back to see of course So, for example, the distance between C two D is to and therefore we call that the interval of a second. All right. The distance between C and G is five. Therefore, we call that the interval of 1/5. The distance, for example, between C and B is seven, and therefore we call that the interval of 1/7. So you could easily fill the rest of this end so C t e would be three apart, so we call it 1/3 C to F fourth. See to 1/6 now from one see to the next is eight. But we're going to sign the name active to that. Okay. The type of interval tells what the interval is. Major. Minor, perfect. Augmented or diminished. Yes, I know this sounds like a lot of strange words. Toe learn, but let me make it simple for you. So I'm gonna go ahead and categorize major and minor together and just put a circle around them. So we're gonna think of them as being similar just for right now. Then we can look at perfect, augmented and diminished and categorized them together and put a circle around them. Okay, So if the interval number is two, three, six or seven, it's type will either be major or minor. If the interval number is four, five, eight or one, it's type will be perfect, augmented or diminished. Okay. So you might want to take a minute and write this out if you haven't already. I think writing helps you internalize and absorb and therefore retain the information better. Or you can pause the screen and study it to where you memorize it, cause you wanna have this memorized before we move on to the next little bit. Okay, so now let's apply this and learn each interval, so we have the ingredients to build melodies and chords effectively. Remember when I said intervals or the distance between two pitches, right? Well, the way we will be measuring that distance is in semi tones, so semi tones are the smallest recognizable movement we have in Western music. So if we look at a keyboard, it's the equivalent of moving from one key to the immediate next key or on the guitar, moving from one. Fret to the immediate next fret now that we know semi tones were able to measure the distance between pitches and define each interval. So let's do that now. Here is a chart that will organize each interval by distance and semi tones. You can open up the attached e book and follow along. So did the left. We have the interval name, and in the center is the distance in semi tones and on the right are the names of the letters in pitches. So a unison you see a zero semi tones, which is from sea to sea. Eso if we play to see on the piano, for example, on then a C on the guitar. We hear that there wasn't a change in pitch just a tumble difference between the sound of the two instruments and that is was called using. Ah, minor. Second is the movement of one semi tone. So from C to D flat within do a major second, which is two semi tones from C to D. Uh, okay, now we're gonna go into the thirds. There's a minor third, which is three semi tones, C t E flat on and a major third, which is four semi tones. C E O. Now, if you remember, I said that fourths and fifths fit in that category of perfect, augmented or diminished. So five semi tones gives us the interval of a perfect fourth from C to F six. Semi tones has multiple names, so if we move from C to G flat, that's going to be called a diminished fifth because C to G C D E F G is five letter names apart and it is a diminished fifth, particularly because it is exactly six semi tones. On the other hand, C to f c D E f is four letter names apart, but C to F Sharp gives a six semi tone. So therefore In that instance, we call it an augmented fourth eso. We know that G Flat and F Sharp are essentially the same pitch just with a different name. So to be very specific in music theory, terms depending on what letter names were using will define if we're using a diminished fifth or an augmented fourth eyes without getting too complex making. Just call the six semi tone interval a tri tone for simplicity. They're moving on. Perfect. Fifth is gonna be seven semi tones and that's from C to G. Now we're out of the perfect augmented and diminished category. For a moment, we're going back to the minor major category, so minor sixth will be eight semi tones. See to a flat major 6th 9 semi tones. See the A minor 7th 10 semi tones see the B flat. Mm, major 7th 11 semi tones see to be. And then we have an active which is 12 semi tones from C back to see like we send exactly doubling and frequency. So you might take a minute pause here, studies intervals for a few minutes just to sort of memorize them and find out a way that helps you to lock it into your head and retain it. So that way, moving forward, we can use this as a jumping off point. 3. Interval Ratios: Now that you understand intervals by number and type, let's take a look at their frequency ratios to get an idea what's happening to make some mawr constant and others more dissonant. So this is good to know when defining and searching for sounds of a particular mood. Okay, so here you see an interval ratio diagram that's in the attached e book. So if you wanna open it up and follow along, the Left column says the Interval Middle column will tell us the ratio of the two frequencies at hand. And then the right column will tell us how many semi tones between those intervals, which we just learned above so unison The ratio is one toe one. So, for example, both tones are cycling at the exact same frequency and will cycle one complete rotation where the other one was cycle exactly at one complete rotation, which makes him a very constant and pure sound. If you look at the next one down there, it's quite the opposite. So a minor second weaken see it'll take 16 cycles for the interval toe link up with the root note. So, for example, the minor second, starting on C is from C to D flat, as we defined above, which it's one semi tone so that D Flat will cycle 16 times before the sea meets up with it cycling 15 times. Now that creates a very dissonant sound. Let's move to more constant interval, that of a perfect fifth. We can see it's the ratio of 3 to 2. So again started on. See, we go seven semi tones up. We're gonna see that its G, which gives us the interval of a perfect fifth. So in this scenario, the G is gonna cycle three times where the sea cycles two times before they meet up. So a lot more constant of a sound compared to that of a minor second. So I made this interval ratio chart for you to use as a reference, but you don't necessarily have to memorize it by any means. It's good to look at to understand which intervals, arm or dissonant, and which intervals are more continent, and it gives you some insight as to what's happening on a more scientific level. So I made some visual examples and able to him why recorded some sine waves of different frequencies. I'm going in an order of most continent toe lease constant for these visual examples. So we start with a unison we're going to see I have C four against C four and each frequency is cycling one time before they meet up with each other, which is sort of the perfectly continent Sound next. Well, look at an octave. So we have C four and C five occurring simultaneously. We're going to see C four cycles once, or C five will cycle twice and then they meet back up just to clarify the number after the letter indicates which octave range that pitch is in. So C five is one octave higher than C four. C six is two octaves higher than C four and so on. Looking at a perfect fifth, we can see it takes more rotations for the interval to link up with the root note. So the sea will cycle two times where the G, the perfect fifth will cycle three again, not very dissonant at all, but you can see what's going on scientifically. Then we can move on to perfect fourth, where we see the sea cycles three times where the interval F cycles four times. We can then move on to a major third and we're getting mawr dissonant so the sea will cycle four times where the E will cycle. Five. Moving on to a minor third, getting a little bit more dissonant. We can see that the sea will cycle five times where it's interval. The e flat will cycle. Six. Making it look it a major second and we're seeing is getting more and more distant because it makes more and more cycles. For these two eventually link up a minor second, which we defined earlier, is being one of the more dissonant ones you can see. It takes several rotations of each wave form to meet up, which then creates a very dissonant sound in our ears. So here we have another interval ratio chart, but is organized in order of most constant to most dissonant. You can see that intervals of sixth and above are not covered on this diagram. That's because they're called inversions of thes lower level intervals, which will lead us to our next bit about interval inversions 4. Interval Inversions: to invert basically means to reverse. So let's take a look at a major second. For example, c. Two d two semi tones. What happens if we take see up and active and leave D to be the bottom note now becomes a minor seventh d two c is 10 semi tones way. Get minor seventh. Let's take a look at another a minor third c t e flat three semi tones way inverted to place E flat on the bottom. We get the interval of a major sixth e flat to see nine Symington's. And if you haven't caught onto a pattern yet, let me show you now. So the first thing to note is that minor intervals always invert two major and vice versa. Perfect invert to perfect and augmented invert to diminished and vice versa. Also, you Nissen's invert two octaves and vice versa. Next, we can plug in a simple equation, asking what plus what equals nine. So when the examples used earlier, we can see that two plus seven equals nine and three plus six equals night. That explains why a major second converted into a minor seventh, where the second plus the seventh equals the nine and the major inverted into a minor. Also, we can see that the minor third inverted into a major sixth, where the three plus six equals nine and the minor inverted two. Major. With this idea of inversions in mind, our interval categories can be broken down even smaller, to pair Younus un's and octaves together seconds and seventh together, thirds and six together on fourths and fits together. You might have wondered why Thirds and six or Younis UN's and actives sounded quite similar to each other, and now you know why. 5. Interval Practice : At this point, you now have all the knowledge about the intervals to begin practicing them for more familiarity. So let's cover and exercise you could use to become more comfortable with recognizing and playing each interval. The first place to start is to run up and down all of the intervals in order similar to how we did earlier in this lesson. However, I challenge you to try to start on a different route. Note each time so you can write out all 12 pitches from C to B and work in a random order. Checking off those pitches you complete until you've practices with the root note, starting on all 12 pitches. If you can't get all 12 pitches in one day, that's perfectly fine. Just try 3 to 4 pitches a day, and you can complete all 12 within the span of just a couple days. So since we started on sea earlier, let's try starting on a all right and run up and down the intervals in order. Alright, let's try it. So a to a unison A to B flat minor, second A to B major, second A to C minor, third A to C sharp major. Third A to D perfect fourth A to D sharp or E flat, which we get a tri tone or diminished fifth or augmented fourth. A T e Perfect fifth A to F minor. 6th May to have sharp major Sixth, a g minor, seventh A to G shark major seventh and they back to a active get. Other variations of this exercise can include two hands when practicing on the piano, each one in a separate octave. If using a guitar, try practicing this in different octave ranges on the guitar, which will help you become more acclimated with architectural front. You could then consider working in the upper extensions at this point as well. After you become pretty familiar with the intervals and thes ways, set a time limitation by using a metronome to speed up the process. Each day and soon enough, you'll have all the intervals memorized and be able to identify and perform them as needed . So have some fun trying some of these practice methods, and I'll see in the next section 6. Major Scale: in simple terms, the major scale is just a pattern of seven pitches that builds a key. The major scale defines the sound of so much music that we hear today. So by learning this major scale will be able to apply the intervals in a practical and musical way to build melodies and core patterns that work well together. To build a major scale, we'll use semi tones and tones, semi tones being otherwise known as a minor second from one key to immediate next on the keyboard or from one fret to the immediate. Next on a guitar conned tones being just two semi tones or a major second interval. So from one key up, two keys on the keyboard from one fret up. Two frets on the guitar. For these examples, I will use the number one to represent a semi tone and to to represent a tone. The pattern to build a major scale is always 2 to 1 to 2 to 1. Try saying it with me, 2 to 1 to 2 to 1. An easy way to remember. This pattern is 2 to 1, twice but separated by a to so 2 to 1 to 2 to 1 again. If we start this pattern on C, we get see up to two D up to e of one f to t up to a up to to be on, finally up one to get back to see an octave hum. You may have noticed that we just played all the white keys on the keyboard, and there are no sharps or flats and this key of C. So we call this the key of C major or just the key of C, as it will most likely be called in a common musical setting. Knowing this pattern, we can build a major scale starting on any pitch to build any key. So let's try F Play along with me to 2122 to 1 just on f Go up to G A to hey love one B flat mob to C to D A to E one and would return back to F an octave higher notice. The key of F gives us a B flat on it Is that one dish that makes the key of different from the key of C. Let's try another one. How about G? So play along with me 2 to 1, 22 to 1. And we get g up to a up to to be up one c up to D to he, uh, to f sharp up one. And we're back to G. Okay, so the key of G gives us this f sharp, and that's what makes it different from the key of C. It might also help to write these down as you're learning them so you can learn what keys have sharps and what keys have flats. So there won't be any keys that have both sharps and flats in them. And if you happen to end up writing one out that has both, you've probably made a mistake somewhere down the line. So let me show you how you can alleviate those mistakes. So let's say, for example, we want to build a D major scale so we can start by writing all the natural pitches alphabetically from D two D. Like this D e f g a, B, C and D. Okay, now that we have those written out alphabetically, we're going to assure that we don't skip a letter and get two different versions of a letter So we start on the we go up to get G. We then go up to again toe what could either be f sharp or G flat? However, we cannot skip the letter f because it is the next letter in the alphabet. So we must call this f sharp and not G flat. We then move them one to G to tow a up to to be up, to tow what could be called c sharp or D flat. But we cannot call it d flat because we would be skipping the letter c. So we must call it C sharp. Let me go up one Let me get back, Teoh, which is our room noting in on fire. 7. Major Scale Practice: all right, so at this point, it's probably a good idea to start practicing these major scales on your instrument and all 12 keys so you can use the same approach we used with intervals where you write all 12 pitches out on a piece of paper and then you can select them at random, play up and down the major scales, say four times from that pitch, and then check it off and move to the next and repeat the process. If you can get all 12 keys and one sitting, that's amazing. But you should be striving for three or four if you're just beginning on and start to get acclimated with the way they feel on the guitar and different keys and the finger rings on the different keys of the keyboard. So it's probably a good idea to also right the pitches out of each key. So you get acclimated with. If Viki has Sharps or Vicky s flats and start memorizing what pitches exist in what particular key that's always good to know. I've also included images of all 12 of these major scales for the keyboard and the guitar and the attached e book so be sure to use that as a reference so that we're not getting off path and getting into any bad habits that are gonna be hard to break later on. All right, So have some fun practicing these major scales until you get all its will memorized. 8. Major Scale Intervals: Now let's take a look at the major scale from an interval IQ standpoint to get an idea of the ingredients that give this scale, it's distinct sound. Let's resort back to starting on C and look at the key of C major. As we learned before, C Major has all natural notes and no sharps or flats giving us see de he have G Hey, be And then again, see now let's give each letter a scale degree number where C is one d is too. He is three f is for she is five a six b a seven and then we end up back at sea to be one again, as the scale would repeat an octave. Higher thinking in scale degrees is a great way to identify the interval qualities of a scale, and for this scale, we can see that sees the root note. D is then two semi tones higher, which we know is the interval of a major second. Next, we can measure the distance between C and E. Well, we know he is some kind of third since it's the third scale degree, but we have to count the semi tones to identify if it is a major or a minor. Third, as we can see, he is four semi tones above sea, making it a major third. Let's move on to the next C to F is obviously some kind of fourth since F is the fourth scale degree. When we count the semi tones, we see that f is five semi tones above sea. Making it a perfect fourth C to G is 1/5 and if we count the semi tones, we see that G is seven semi tones hired and see, making it a perfect fifth see to a his nine semi tones apartment, therefore making it a major sixth see to be as 11 semi tones of park and therefore making it a major seventh and last see which is 12 semi tones above sea and therefore an active repeat of the root note where the scale within start over an octave higher. So after that process, we discovered the interval structure of the major scale that makes it unique and defines its sound. It is safe to say that the major scale has the following interval ingredients a route major , second, major, third perfect fourth perfect fifth major, sixth major. Seventh. See a pattern here It lacks any minor, diminished or augmented intervals, making it all major and perfect intervals, perhaps where the name major scale comes from. It's safe to say that, regardless of what key were in the major scale will always consist of root. Major, second, major, third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, major, sixth and major seventh. Just as the pattern of tones and semi tones to construct it will always be 2 to 1 to 2 to 1 . Let's make a quick comparison and build a D major scale. For example, so 2 to 1 to 2 to 1 will give us de up to e up to have sharp off one G up to a up to be up to two c sharp last up, one to deep, a sign of scale degree teach pitch. Where D is one is to have sharpest three g is four a is five b a six C sharp at seven, and then D is one. Let's count the semi tones between the root note and each scale degree to identify the interval qualities. DDE is two semi tones, giving us a major second D to F Sharp is four semi tones Giving us a major third d to G is five semi tones giving us a perfect fourth de to a ISS seven semi tones giving us a perfect fifth de to be his nine semi tones, giving us a major sixth and finally d two c sharp is 11 semi tones giving us a major seventh. Put all those ingredients together and we see that again we get root Major, second, major, third perfect fourth Perfect Fifth Major, sixth major, seventh as the intervals that define the major scale. 9. Major Scale Interval Practice: all right. So as you practice these major scales on, all 12 keys is mentioned before, I want you to start paying attention to the specific intervals inside each of these scales and being able to hear them and identify them. Okay, so the goal should be that you can pick out the third or the fifth or the seventh or the sixth off this scale just by hearing it and then recreate that. So you're gonna basically program what you're hearing in your head to then come out on the instrument, be a guitar keyboard or whatever instrument you play. So let me show you how you can practice this. So, for example, if I'm on the key of G, let's say I'll run up and down the G major scale, say, four times or so, just enough to get the sound in my hand. And then I'll sing along saying the scale degrees out loud. So 123456717654321234567176 months to one. Just enough to program that sound in my head, created in my voice and and created through the guitar. Then we're going to isolate the particular intervals and see if we can just pick them out. So if I go uh, Okay, can I play? What? I just home? So, Boehm, that's definitely the root note. I went up, obviously. And that is D G D. Which is root fifth. Okay, let's try another one. Bomb bomb. Okay. So started on the route again. I think it was high is the fifth. I went bone bond. Okay. GV food. 3rd 123 Okay, so you can keep practicing this over and over again until you start memorizing with these intervals. Sound like then you could start building little melodic fragments with it. So let's say bond that it. Okay. 334321 Right. 3345 The sky's the limit here, but the goal is that your programming, What you hear in your head be able to vocalize it and play it on your instrument. Okay, So I want you to add that step into your scale practice, and you're gonna be learning how to build your own creative voice and blame what's in your head versus just aimlessly picking notes on the instrument hoping this out. All right, if you need a reference in the attached e book, there are the major scales written out with all of the interval qualities assigned to them and each key. So you can use that as a reference to make sure you are sticking on path. All right, happy practice and 10. Triads: Okay, so at this point, you're probably getting pretty familiar with the major scales and most keys on your instrument, and you're starting to identify the intervals in them by year. And you probably seen how easy it is to really come up with singable melodies, right? So melody is one strong part of music, Yes, but the other element we need to talk about is harmony or cords. So cords, or what support the melody to help give it the emotional context. It's What we're gonna get into now is the triads, which are the three note chords that are built from the major scale that can then be used to build core patterns underneath these melodies you're generating. It's important to note that on a basic level, if you know the major scales, you already have the ingredients to build cords and court patterns. But first, let's dive in the most basic of the cords, triads just is the major scale could be a building block for melodic ideas. Try, as are the building blocks of all courts, as they are the smallest units of complete courts. As I'm sure you've guessed, Tri means three and add means together. So Triad simply means three pitches. But together or, in other words, three note chords. We will focus on the following triads. Major minor diminished. Also, we will introduce the augmented. These triads are all built of a route, some sort of third on some sort of fifth major has a route major. Third, Perfect Fifth Minor has a route a minor Third Diminished has a root of minor third and a diminished fifth on. Augmented has a route a major third and augmented Let's take a look at each of these triads starting on seat. If we play, see as the root at a major third, just be four semi turns up. And then at a perfect fifth, which is G seven semi tens up from the roof way, have a C major, try it or C major or simply a C chord. Major chords are often referred to as just through letter name and not the quality. So if someone says, Hey, this song has just seen in that, referring to see Major way begin from see again, but had a minor third so three semi turns up gives a ski flat and then add a perfect 5th 77 gives us G. We have a C minor. Try it. I'm sure you've noticed The only difference between a major and a minor triad is the third being lowered a semi tone for the minor. All right. Now if we begin from see again at a minor 3rd 3 semi tones which is e flattened and then add a diminished 5th 6 semi tones, which is chief, we have a C diminished try it named. So due to the diminished fifth this try, it has a very uneasy sound due to the presence of that diminished fifth, or tryto, which is considered one of the most dissonant intervals. Last. If we begin from C had a major third, just forcing me turns up, gives us heat and then add an augmented fifth. Just eight semi turns up gives us cheese sharp. We get a C augmented try it 11. Triad Practice: the 1st 2 goals. When practicing, these triads are 21 Memorize the interval qualities of each and build and play them on your instruments and then to becomes so familiar with the sounds of these triads that you're able to recognize them when listening to music and call out which triads you're hearing in a song. In the attached E book, I have included charts showing the four Triad types with the root note on C. Just learning these four won't get you that far, so I suggest you take the time to build and play them, starting with the root note on all 12 pitches, like we did the major skills. Then, when listening to music, you can tap into your critical years and challenge yourself to identify if the cords you're hearing are major, minor, diminished and just a tip. Most of the time, you're going to be hearing major and minor chords on the diminishing. Augmented chords will be a lot less common. You might hear some chords outside the scope of the major and minor, but that's a topic that's a bit outside. The scope of this part one theory course on will be covered in a future part of this theory course sequence 12. Triad Inversions: So now that you have the four common, try a types under your fingers major minor, diminished medicine. It's time we start looking at an versions of those tryouts. Okay, so similar to interval inversions, where you have two notes Where when the root note goes an octave higher, it becomes inversion of that interval. Well, the same rules apply with triads, where the ruin of that triumph is no longer the lowest becomes inversion. Let's take a look at those now root position. This is the version of the triads we learned already when the root note is the lowest note of the triumph. Next first inversion, when the third is the lowest note. For example, the e of a C major chord being the lowest, we'll get first inversion. As for the most common way to achieve this, we can simply move the root note of the common route position voicing up and active on. And then we're left with a first inversion. Try it, then second inversion, when the fifth of the chord is the lowest note. For example, when the G of a C major chord is the lowest note, we get second inversion a Z for the most common way To achieve this, we can simply take the third up and active from the common first inversion voicing. Then we're left with a second inversion try. 13. Triad Inversion Practice: similarly to how triads were practiced previously. The goal will be to build triads in each of their inversions and in all 12 keys until they're all memorized and played with ease on your instrument. So in the attached E book, I've included charts showing the four Try A Types and first and second Inversions. I suggest you take the time to build and play them, starting with the root position and then immediately taking the root note up and active to play first inversion and then taking the third of inactive to play second inversion. Next, complete the same process with the three other types of triads starting on the same route. Note. Then repeat that process through all 12 keys. If you can't hit all 12 keys in one day again, it's okay to do 3 to 4 keys a day, and eventually you're gonna hit all 12 keys. So practice this until all these court voicings air memorized and played with ease. For each, try a type in each inversion and every key. Before you know it, you'll be playing these chords in your sleep 14. Diatonic Triads: Now that we're familiar with major, minor, diminished and augmented triads, let's take a look at how to build core patterns by understanding how these triads fit within a key. So let's refer to the C major scale and certainly add the scale degrees in with it. So you might grab a note pad and follow along with me here so right C d E f g a B c. And then we'll number the scale degrees C being 123456 seven on and see again one. So what we'll do here is will build a triad beginning on each scale degree to get what's called our diatonic triads or otherwise known as our chords in the key of C. So starting on C well, then Skip D on pick up E R. Major Third, So see is our route is our major third. They will skip and we'll pick up G, which is our perfect fifth. So we see. We then end up with a C major. Try it, which is our one chord, also known as the tonic. An uppercase Roman numeral indicates a major court, so we'll mark an upper case from animal one. Now let's move on to the second scale degree and build a triad from there. So now starting on D as our root note, we will skip E and stop at F to pick up our minor third, then skip G and stop it A to pick up our perfect fifth. We then end up with a D minor Triad, which is our to court. A lower case. Roman numeral represents a minor chord. So we'll put lower case Teoh moving on. Let's build a try that starts in the third scale degree. So we'll pick up E a route Skip F pickup G as our minor third skip a pickup be as are perfect fifth. What we have here is an e minor triad, which is our three chord which weaken represent with a lower case Roman numeral three. Okay, moving on. We'll start from F to pick up our forecourt. So we started F which is our route. Skip G, pick up a which is our third skip be and then pick up. See which is earn perfect fifth. And here we have a root major third perfect fifth. So we have an f major, we can represent with an uppercase Roman enroll for all right, moving on to the court on the fifth scale degree, which is G so g will be our route will skip a and we'll pick up B B are major. Third will then skip, see and go right to D, which would then be our perfect fifth. This gives us a G major court which would be represented with uppercase Roman numeral five Only two more to go. Okay, so we'll start with a on the six scale degree and that is our route. Will then skipped B and pick up See, which is our minor. Third will then skip D and pick up E, which is our perfect fifth. So we have an A minor chord is our six board which we can represent with a lower case six Roman numeral. Last but not least, we'll have our seventh chord which starts on be so maybe in our route skipping See picking up d along the way, which would be reminder third skipping e and picking up f which will be our diminished fifth. Okay, so we know that a root a minor third and a diminished fifth together builds a diminished trying. So are seven Chord is it be diminished? Try it, and that could be represented with a lower case. Seven. With a little circle that represents diminished so we can see a pattern. Here we have major, minor, minor, major, major minor on Diminished. It's safe to say that in any major key, the one chord will always be major to cord. Minor free minor. Four major five major, six Minor on seven diminished. So notice we have free major chords and three minor courts. We only have one diminished court. So this probably explains why it's more common that you're gonna hear major and minor cores and music. Then you will diminish. Courts probably also noticed that we're not seeing the augmented triad here in a major key . That's because it doesn't exist. Diatonic Lee in a major key, which explains why we hear augmented chords even less. And most popular music 15. Diatonic Triads Practice: Okay, So now that you have these major scales under your fingers and you now know the triad sequence that fits with each major key, it's time to start memorizing these diatonic triads and practicing them on your instruments . So the first goal should be playing up and down these triads, similar to how you would play up and down a scale. So if I was in the key of a, for example, and play up another scale four times or so now I'm going to know that major, minor, minor, major, major minor diminished is the sequence of triads in this key. So on my instrument, I should be able to start on a play. Major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished E. I should be able to go backwards, right? Major diminished minor major. The next goal should be to identify each chord as it relates to that key so similar to how we identified the intervals within each major scale, we want to be able to identify each chord as it relates to each key. So, for example, if I play if you haven't practiced this much, you might not know what those cords were that I played, but you might be able to identify that. They all sounded like major triads. Okay. And if you did, you could then take the deduction process a step further and say All right, well, I know that a major scale has major, minor, minor, major, major, minor diminished. Well, my major court is the one for and five chords. So if those were three different chords and they were all major, chances are they were probably the 145 court. Okay, so you might not know what order they are played in, but you're here. Probably told you those were major courts. Okay, Now, if I pause there on that last chord, we hear that that last core does not feel result. Definitely wants to go somewhere. If Accord wants to go somewhere. That means it is typically not the one court right. It's not in the key of a It's not the Accord. Okay, so we know that the last court is not a day. Let's move on. E stop on that second chord. Okay, that second corps doesn't feel like it's resolved, either. Wants to go somewhere. So again, we can deduce that that's not the one chord or the accord That leaves us with one option. The first chord, which definitely sounds like home. It is Theokoles. Okay, so we know that the first court is one. How can we identify what the 2nd 2 chords are? What we hear? Bomb bomb. From the second to the third chord, it moved up a major second. And we can think, OK, so a four and five of the major scale 45 are a whole step apart. Where a major second apart. I bet you that chord movement was for five. And while there you got it. So that was just one for Let's try one more. Um, what if I played this? Do it again. Okay, so I've got a different mood here than that last one. You can probably identify that most of these are minor triads, and absolutely right. Okay. So we can identify in a major key that the minor triads are the 23 and six. So major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. So major minor to minor. Three major, major minor, 6 to 3 and six to this core progression. But it ended on something that sounds very resolved If you feel like it's really resolved, chances are it is the one chord, the tonic, the root note. Eso being that is that's our one quartets. A. The other chords. We don't know what they were. So again, we could start this process of elimination. We know they are three different minor court. So they got to be 23 in six. And then in what water? Well, we don't know, but let's figure it out, Mom. I always get the sound of the tonic in my head Bone, bone, bone, and then I can see. Okay. How far are those cords from? Tonic. Just like we identified intervals in the major scale earlier. Well, we're doing the same thing. But now we have triads with cords to identify these as well as interval so I can hear bond . Way just went up a whole step from that tonic. So we're actually on the to court so that first court is too e just went up. Wait. There's one or 123 thin. This one has to be six on. There you go. So if you didn't know what those cords were, you can definitely use your ear as we've been training it in this course so far to starting heats to start to hear these different intervals and eventually different triads and different chord patterns. So it's very likely that eventually you can hear songs in your head and create them on the guitar on that sort of the big goal of this course. All right, so have some fun practicing. Now be sure to incorporate your major scale practice with your interval practice, and now add in the Triads with it. Practice all 12 keys, trying to get 3 to 4 a day Before you know what, it's all gonna come full circle and you'll be knocking out chord progressions with cool melodies and making songs in your own. So in this next section, I'm gonna do just that. I'm gonna break down a song writing template for you guys, so I'll see there 16. Course Project: All right, so it's time to introduce the course project. So, for this course is project. I want you to create at least an eight bar piece of music that has a melody and a chord progression that fit in a particular key. You can use any instruments you'd like, but please do record. This could be audio or video and post a YouTube link Soundcloud Link band Camp link link to any media that you've posted this to. And also be sure to tell me what you chose, What the cords are in the chord progression and anything you learn from this course. That sort of helped to achieve the sound you got in this piece of music. All right, so have some fun, and I can't wait to hear what you come up with. 17. Songwriting Template: So at this point, I'll demonstrate my template for you to get started creating music, using these intervals, major scales and diatonic triads case. The first thing you want to do is to pick a key on for this example. Let's do the key of D. Okay, so start by going 2 to 1 to 2 to 1. Okay. Now start with D or to go up to get e go up to have sharp one g to a up to B to C sharp right back up. Won t o gonna put scale degrees just so I know. 5671 Okay, so that's gonna be the available pool of notes for us to pull from to create the song. Now, the next thing is, we're gonna extract the harmony. So let's do the cords. I'm gonna go in order one to three, you know, to and for your minor. So that's why they're lower case. You remember, four five major six is minor. Seven. Is that diminished? All right. So we don't want is de todo e three f sharp for its G months. A sixties bean seven is gonna be way no one iss not just D, but the major, you know, he is a minor. Three f sharp minor for G major. Five a major, six B minor, seven C sharp finished. Okay, let's hear those again. D. Okay, so it's always good to sort of get the sound of the key in your head. So now we have the available notes to build the melody, and we have the available cords to build the court patterns. Okay, So you can There's no really hard and fast rule if you should start with the melody first with the cords first. So what we're gonna do today is let's just start with the cords, all right? So you can randomly pick cords and kind of see how they go together. But, you know, each court is gonna have a tendency to want to go somewhere on, Typically is gonna end on the major. Since when they What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna definitely use That was one of the wards. I'm gonna use the four core G major because one and four go together like bread and butter on to contrast this at a minor chord in. So we'll be just six. It's really strong minor court. So let's hear those three together. Okay, Cool. That's a good stock. We gotta get contrast to major chords toe one minor chord. Okay, um, now what I like to do is create a phrase. So maybe the first phrase will have just those three chords, and the second phrase will repeat. And we'll add in this five chord which has a really strong 10 and see the pull it back toe so we can hear those That'll be phrase, one phrase, two way. Got a two part phrase That's cool. That typically, you don't need to use any more chords than just that in a song. Because if you're gonna try to use all seven chords, we're not really gonna build any repetition or tendencies to keep the listener engaged. So keep in mind that less is more really pays off here. Okay? Next step is I'm gonna actually just make a note of what actual pitches air in each of these chords. So the D major court, we have d f sharp and a room 3rd 5th Good on G. It's way B. Step C sharp. We get d 3rd 5th of that. Okay, we're gonna go to a skip be give herself C sharp skip d give ourselves e Okay. And then be minor. Here we go. Be skip C sharp d on then Skip E goto f sharp. And we've got our b minor knows the reason I like to do this is so I can visually see what Mikey melodic notes should be all right, because we don't just randomly pick notes from the major scale and then randomly put chords with it. We want it all to kind of come together on each melodic tendency should move to the next chord and vice versa. Each court tendency should move to the next melodic note. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna use key pillar notes being How about the third's and fits of these? Okay, so the thirds and fifth cities So when I'm on the d major chord, the melody note should be somewhere around an f sharp Born in a at least at some point of time. G major court. When that strums being a major chord strums here. See sharp morning b minor Strong's we should hear, because at this point, I have some key pillar, melodic notes. Now I could just play around and create some sort of melodic line against these courts. So what I'll do is I'll have the guitar, play the chords and then on the keyboard I'll hit some key melodic notes and see what we come up with. - All right, so the gist of what you heard was thirds and fixing maybe some root notes here, and there were my target notes. And then I used connecting tones to sort of connect the melodic lines to make it a nice singable phrase. So this you can apply in any key at any tempo with any instruments and any combination of chords with any combination of melodic knows that match with those, and you're always gonna have, like, a good template, a good starting point for a song. Then, from there, you can mess with Tamra qualities and make a cool production out of it. Just the sky's the limit. All right, so go out and have some fun playing with that 18. Course Outro: congratulations. You complete apart one. So at this point, you're able to build and identify the intervals on your instrument. You're able to build and identify the major scales and all 12 keys, hopefully on your instrument. Be able to identify and play the four Triad types and also play the diatonic triads as they relate to whatever keep your playing it. In addition, you're able to create a melody and chord progression that go hand in hand and sound good together. But most importantly, you step into the world of creating music with a set of limitations. That, in turn, allows you to better express your own musical voice. At this point, I also want to remind you to complete the project. Tired of this course, I want to be able to hear what you came up with based on the concepts we learned in this course. So post that video link or audio link so I can hear. In addition, when you feel comfortable with the contents in this course, I encourage you to move on to Part two, where we'll take it to the next level. Okay. Also, I love connecting with you guys that get through these courses, So be sure to reach out on INSTAGRAM or on YouTube or I give a lot of music tips and take requests on what you want to learn. You can also listen to my music on Spotify on Apple music. My handle everywhere is by Joel Michael. So I look forward to hearing from me there and last. I'm glad that you chose to commit toe learning the basics of music theory with me right here in this part one course. And I look forward to educating you further in the future. All right, take care.