Music Theory Survival Guide: Part 2

1. Intro: Hey there, I'm Joel. Michael. Welcome back to part two of the music theory Survival Guide Siri's. So if you've not completed part one yet, I'd recommend going ahead and doing so. Now, just so your hip toe all the concepts such as intervals, the major scale triads of the major scale and building core progressions with the melody that fit in a key. If you do already know that, then you should be able to hop in a part two without any issues. So in this part, to course will continue covering the basics of music theory that you need to know in order to make your music sound well, good. So in the first part we covered topics such as intervals, the major scale triads, triads as they relate to the major scale. And then I gave you a song writing template that helps you pair cords with the major skills to make melodies and corporations that sound good together. So in this part, two will be covering minor scales. Triads of the minor scales, how the minor skill relates to the major scale, and I'll even give you a song writing template that'll help you get started creating chords with melodies in a minor key and give you some good results that works almost every time. Just like part one of this course will not be using any music notation. So all you need is just an instrument or your voice to go ahead and follow along with. And since I'm a firm believer of practicing all these concepts to truly retain them, I'm gonna demonstrate all the examples with keyboard and guitar. So again, just pick up your instrument of choice and have fun playing along with the examples. Also, I have included a park to e book for you to go ahead and follow along with that includes keyboard and guitar diagrams. That way you can assure your staying on track, not building any bad habits. With all that being said, let's jump back in and get started on Part two of the music theory survival Way 2. Preface: in the second part of my music theory, survival guide will dive right into minor scales. So how they recommend you complete part one before beginning this section as you'll be expected to understand intervals, major scales, triads and diatonic triads. So if you already know these concepts, then I'm confident you can jump right into the second part just fine. 3. Minor Scale: similar to the major scale. The minor scale is a pattern of seven pitches that builds a minor key. Every minor key relates and is derived from a major key. However, for the introduction of minor scales, we will learn them first independently from the major scale. The major scale is often described as being happy or bright sounding way, whereas the minor scale is often described as the opposite. Being sad or dark sounding, let's discover how this minor scale is constructed and try to conclude as to why it might be heard is being sad by looking at the interval qualities of which it is composed to build a minor scale, we will use semi tones and tones. For these examples, I'll use the number one to represent a semi tone and to to represent a tone. The pattern to build a minor scale is too one to 2122 Try saying it with me. 212 two! 122 An easy way to remember this pattern is it's just 212 twice, but with an additional two at the end. So 212 212 to if we start this pattern on a We did a up to be up one c up Teoh up to a up one up to G and then up to go back to a we had is that we get all white keys on the keyboard with no Sharps or flats. We would call this the key of a minor. Knowing this pattern, we can build any minor scale started on any pitch to build any minor key. So let's try on D play along with me. So 212 to 1 to two and we get de up to E one f up to G up to a up one to be flat up to see on up to back to our root note. D notice that the key of D minor gives us a B flat. And it's that one pitch that makes the key of D minor different from the key of a minor. Let's try another one. Let's try e minor. So play along with me 212 to 1 to two and we get e up to F sharp up won t g up to a a two to be up one to see up to two D on last up to to get us back to e that route. No eso We can see that the key of e minor has the f sharp, which makes it different from the key of a minor. 4. Relative Minor 1: At this point, if you've been through Part one of the music theory Survival Guide, you probably recognize that we've learned the key with one flat as being the key of F major . You also probably remember that the key with one sharp is the key of G major on bond. You probably also remember that the key with no sharps or flats is C major. This brings me back to the mention I made earlier that each miner scale is to ride from a major key. You notice that a is the six scale degree of C major C D E f g a being six. So if we start from a and build 212 2122 we're gonna get a to B. I want to see up to dio up Teoh up on the f up to and up to back to a on. We can see that the notes of a minor scale are identical to that of the C major scale. Okay, let's look at the key of F major and compare it to d minor. We noticed that D is the six scale degree of f major F A B flat C. So if we start on D and go to 12 to 1 to two, we're gonna get deep up Teoh Eat of 12 after up to G up to a up one to be flattened up, too. To see and up to back to d. Wade get the D minor scale, and it shares the exact same pitches as the F major scale. What we do. One more. Let's compare G major to e minor and how they relate So g a B c d e being 1/6. So if we start from there 212 2122 we get e up to f sharp up won t g up to to a up to to pay up one to see up T and up to back t e an octave higher, receiving any minor scale that shares the same exact pitches as the G major skin. In this sense, the minor and major skill relate to each other and can be called the relative minor or relative major. That being said, if you know the major scales, you Wilmore easily be ableto learn the minor scales. Now don't discount the minor scales as only being a subset of the major scales because it's important to learn minor scales independently as their own scales. We'll revisit this relationship between minor and major a bit later in the course. 5. Minor Scale Intervals: Now let's take a look at the minor scale from an interval IQ standpoint to get an idea of the ingredients that give the scale its unique sound. Let's resort back to starting on a and look at the key of a minor. Aziz learned before a minor has all natural notes and no flats or sharps giving us a B C D E G. Now let's give each letter a scale degree number where a is one B is two. See is three D's four e 56 g seven. Then we didn't have back in a to be on again. A scale would repeat that octave higher. Thinking in scale degrees is a great way to identify the interval qualities of a scale on For this scale. We can see that a is the root note B is then two semi tones higher, which we know is the interval of a major second. Next, we can measure the distance between a on C s. So we know, see is some kind of third since it's the third scale degree. But we'll have to get the semi towns to identify if it's a major or minor third, as we can see see is three semi tones of of a making it a minor third. We could move on to the next. A to D is obviously some kind of fourth since tease the four scale degree. When we count the semi tones, we see that D is five semi tones of a making it a perfect fourth right. Only three more to do a T e is 1/5 and if we count the semi tones, we see that e is seven semi tones higher than a making it none other than a perfect fifth. Next A to F is 1/6 and is eight semi tones apart. Therefore, it is a minor 6th 80 g. It's 1/7 and it is particularly 10 semi tones apart and therefore a minor seventh. Next is a which is 12 semi tones above a and therefore we know that is an octave 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 minor scale that makes it unique and defines its sound. It's safe to say that the minor scale has the following ingredients a route major, second, minor third perfect fourth, perfect fifth, minor sixth and a minor seventh. So do any differences Stand out When you compare to the major scale you see, the 3rd 6th and seventh are all minor intervals, whereas their major intervals in the major scale safe to say that regardless of what key were in the minor scale will always consist of root. Major second, minor third perfect Perfect minor, sixth on minor seventh. Just the pattern of tones Assembly times to construct. It will always be 212 to 1 to two. 6. Minor Scale Practice: all right. So when practicing minor scales or any scale for that matter, you want to try to practice them in all 12 keys. So you could just simply write out all 12 pitches of the chromatic scale and then randomly select him. Checking them off is you complete him and maybe trying to accomplish, say, 3 to 4 different keys a day. If you can't get all 12 you also want to take some time riding out the scales. If it's a new scale, you're learning because what that'll do is it'll help you become mawr fluent with the interval contents within that scale. And what really defines it is being that particular scale, in addition, is going to give you the particulars about what pitches fit in that skip, which you might need to know later on down the line. So I've included diagrams of all 12 keys of the minor scales for the piano and the common shapes for the guitar in the attached music Theory Survival Guide, Part two e book. So definitely download that. If you haven't already. Okay, Now let me give you some more ideas on how to practice this. So using the guitar. For example. If I want to do, say, the key of D minor right, I could just simply go up and down the scale on that one position. Okay, which that will be a good start, but it's not gonna get you that far. You're not gonna get a lot of mileage playing the guitar and such a position centric way. Right? So what we want to do is we want to see all the options in a vertical and a horizontal way . So if I'm thinking d minor, I don't wanna get stuck. And just always thinking d minor on the fifth fret of the a string. So I'm gonna start string by string and build one active scales and see how far I can get. So if I start with the e string, find D on the e string. Here we go. Ready? Okay. I started with my pinky. That's one way to play. But in that same position, I can also think Okay, I can start with my first finger and cool. There's a couple ways to play this movie. The A string. We already discovered that fifth fret is D so I can do it and up and down that way. What if I start with my pinky here? Slightly different than what I did it up here feels different. Sounds different. And when you hit the root note an octave higher, it's in a different threat position than it is down here. Okay, Uh, what about on the D String? Will use D upon the 12 fret. So I started my first finger. OK, so now I've got 123456 different ways that I just played that. What if I start on the G string? Right. Here's D. Wait a couple ways to do it so I can start putting these altogether. Let's say I did two octave fragments. Okay, Is there think the idea now I'm or free when I think d minor. Now I have this entire fretboard mapped out right? And I'm or able to be fluent with my lions and not play myself into a corner. Okay, that's some ideas on how to practice on the guitar. The keyboard isn't really ah, a position centric instrument like the guitar. So just being ableto playing all 12 keys and get the fingering is correct will be a good starting point there, and they want to think about our ear. So it's always important to be able to identify what you're hearing in your head and play it on your instrument. Right? Gain that freedom is what will help you better express yourself musically in the long term , so is we know the major scale has fruit Major, second, major, 3rd 4th Perfect Fifth, major, sixth, major seventh Now the difference between a major scale on a minor scale which is pulling the third back, pulling the sixth back and seventh back. So those dealing three differences between a major and a minor scale there actually pretty big differences. But if we just think of it is three different notes being altered, it's kind of easy to memorize. Oh, that's the minor skill from the major scale now being able to hear it. So if you hear d move, can you hear a minor third above it? Um, okay, cool. Perfect fifth, But what about a minor six? Right. Be able to play those intervals as you hear them in your head. So if I have a melodic line that I'm here, boom the todo and then played out melodic line in different positions and then being able to identify what intervals 1 to 3 to 3215 okay. Or good at it at it. Uh, apply the same way. Okay, So hope of these ideas get some creative juices flowing, and you're able to then make music out of practicing your scales rather than just monotonously running. Not even a word, but it often down them monotonously, I can get boring, and it's not very musical. And chances are it's not gonna appear in your plane naturally. So practice senior scales. And this way that I've described will help you, um, really play music during your practice time and allow these sounds you're hearing in your head. Come through naturally when you're creating music or improvising. All right, so have some fun practicing and let me know if you have any questions. All right. Cheers. 7. Minor Scale Triads: assuming again that you've completed part one of the music theory Survival Guide course and are familiar with the major minor diminished on lamented Try. It's Let's look at how to build court patterns by understanding how these triads fit within a minor key. So let's refer to the a minor scale and add the scale degrees in with it. So you might grab a note pad and follow along with me here. So right. 212 2122 mr on a go up to be 12 c two de two e one toe f t g on to back up to a doctor. Now let's have the scale degrees in a being one B two c three d 456 g seven back to a to be fired. So what we'll do here is will build a triad beginning on each scale degree to get our diatonic triads or are chords in the key of a minor to start in on a well, then skip B and stop at sea to pick up our minor third skip D stop E to pick up a perfect fifth. We then end up with an A minor Triad, which would be our one chord indicated with a lower case from a numeral. So now we have our one cord, also known as the tonic. Let's move to the second scale degree and build to try it from there. So starting now on be skip C and stop it d Pick up reminder Third skip E stuff a f pic of our diminished fifth. All right. We then end up with a be diminished try. And since it has a minor third and a diminished fifth, which is our two diminished chord represented with a lower case from a numeral and the little circle toe indicate that is diminished. Moving on to our three core, we'll have seen Skip D stuff a pickup e, which is the major third skip f Stop it g to pick up a perfect fifth. There we have ah, see Major Triad, which is our three cord represented with an upper case. Three. Roman numeral moving on to the four chord start on D Skip E stop and pick up F, which is a reminder. Third skip G stop and pick up A, which is a perfect fifth. We don't have a minor triad represented with a lower case Roman numeral for moving on to the five chord E skipping F picking up G to be the minor. Third skipping A They cannot be to be the perfect fifth. We don't have an E minor Triad, which is our minor five chord and represented with a lower case. Roman numeral five. Moving on to the six start on F Skip G. Pick up A, which is a major third skip Be pickup See, which is the perfect fifth within it with F Major Triad, which is our six major court represented with an uppercase Roman M 06 Moving on to the seven core started on G, skipping A and picking up b two b r. May 3rd skipping See Picking Up D to be a perfect fifth. We then have a G major triad, which could be represented with an uppercase Roman numeral seven so we can see a pattern here. Minor, diminished major, minor, minor major. It's safe to say then that in any minor key that 1/4 B minor two diminished three major for minor five minor six major seven 8. Minor Scale Triads Practice: all right. So once you have all the minor scales under your fingers and all 12 keys and could play the minor instrument, then you want to start exploring the triads that relate to that minor key as well, because try as air just basically taking the notes off that scale and that key and putting them together to create harmony, Right? So there's no reason that on your instrument, if you can play multiple notes at once, that you shouldn't be able to play that triads of that key the same way that you can play all the notes of the scale in the key. So, for example, if I'm in the key of C minor E play up and down in any sort of position and create melodic lines fluidly so as a guitarist, you know at least half the time our job is to play the chords where if you're a keyboard player, that might be your role as well. So what you want to start is just go up and down the scale in triad. So if I'm the key of C minor, I could just take a triad shape, right, and then I'm going minor diminished major, minor, minor major major back to minor success. The pattern of triads in a minor key so minor, diminished, major minor up and down it just like you would a scale do that in any key. So let's say I want to go to keep thinking you try it. Shape. Do that in each key is a good start. What? You can kind of do that fluidly you want to Then start making some progressions, right, identifying by year which court it is your hearing in the key. So again, if I go back to the key of C minor and get the sound of that key in my ear bone. But I'm not a singer, but if you sing along with it, it can help you internalize its. That's why I do that a lot. Okay, so then I can start on the one chord e get think. OK, so I want to make a progression that super minor sounding. So in this key, the one cords minor, the four quart of a minor keys minor and the five quarts minus those. There are three minor chords and the minor key, and those will distinctly give us that super minor sounds If I dio see Meyer one chord F minor four chord G minor five chord e got a super minor sound. Okay, so that I might take that progression Makes a music out of it. Okay, move to the next key. That said, the next key is gonna be f minor. Right? One. Right now I'm getting acclimated with playing chord progressions from my head on the instrument of my choice in every key, right? I could go to the next, let's say a minor one for one, Okay, that I could come with another one that say I don't want it to be all minor chords don't incorporate some major court. So I'm gonna dio keep de la in my head program. So I'm gonna do the one chord. The seven major six major through that progression, right? Intentionally trying new triad shapes is I go into the next keep uh, let's go to G minor now. So one c minor again. New try. It shapes. So now I'm associating not only, um, the cords within a key and how they sound pulling progressions out of my head, but I'm also applying it on the instrument in different keys to get myself out of again, playing myself in corners and getting stuck. All right, so experiment with this on your instrument, have some fun practicing and always try to make it musical. But create a concept. Set the limitation to achieve that concept. And then you're going to see growth and whatever concept you're trying to achieve. Pretty simple, right? Okay. House of fun practicing, and I'll get you soon. 9. Relative Minor 2: as promised, I have returned to the discussion about Major and minor relating to each other. So as we defined the six scale degree of the major scale is always the root note of the relative minor scale. Let's look at the pattern of steps in major scale 2 to 1, 22 to 1. And if we start on the 6th 1 and build the pattern from there, we will get to 12 to 1 to two, which is the minor scale pattern. Here we can see that the minor and major scales were just shifted from each other. So instead look at the minor scale 1st 212 to 1 to two and arrived the major scale from it . We will just start on 1/3 Newt and we get 2 to 1 to 2 to 1. So knowing that it's safe to say that if we have a minor scale, we can always find its relative major by establishing the root note on the third scale degree just the same. If we have a major scale, we can always establish the relative minor. But I just started on the six category one more point of comparison to make between these relatives is with the Harmony or the Triads. We just learned that the pattern of triads in a minor key is always minor, diminished major, minor, minor, major, major and then back toe minor. Well, if we start the pattern on the third chord, we get major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished and then back to the one court, which we know are the diatonic triads in the major scale. So then the real question is, what is the difference between relative major and minor? The answer is, the gravity towards tonic will always answer that question. If the minor chord or the six chord is emphasized and phrases and they tend to arise or conclude from that minor court, then the listener will perceive the music to be in that minor key. Here's an example. However, the opposite is true that if the major court one core is emphasized in the phrases and they tend to arise or conclude from that major chord, then the listening will perceive the music to be in and major key. Here's an example 10. Course Project: Hey, guys. So at this point, I wanna introduce the courts project. Okay, So what I want you to do is to create at least an eight bar piece of music, and the longer that includes a chord progression and a melody that fit in a minor key of your choice, you can use any instruments you desire. Just be sure to post a link such as a YouTube video link or a soundcloud audio link or band camp. Use any media services like just be sure that the music fits in a minor key. You're able to tell me what minor key you chose and tell me what the cords are on the court progression and a little bit about your inspiration and how anything from this course may have helped you create it. All right, So have fun of this court's projects, and I look forward to hearing what you come up with 11. Songwriting Template Minor: all right. So I'm gonna demonstrate a template for you guys to get started creating music using the minor scale, and it's triads. Also, I'll demonstrate how to utilize both minor, and it's relative major in a music example. All right, so first, let's pick a key. And how about we do D minor? Okay, so let's write it out. Using the 212 to 1 to two pattern to one to to one to to starting on D, we go up to e to go up one to get f up to G up to a up one B flat up to see and then up to back to D. All right, let's hear the scale. Now. What we want to do is write out the diatonic triads that fit with the key of D minor, so we know that the one chord is going to be minor to diminished. Three major, four minor, five minor, six major and seven major and that will define the try. As in the D minor. Now let's go through right at the pitches that belong to each triad so we can have some melodic pillar notes to generate from case of the one Corps de f A, which gives us a D minor chord root. Minor third Perfect Fifth. Moving on to the two chord We know it's gonna be a diminished So e g b flat gives us a route minor third and diminished fifth. Moving on to the three Chord started on F B F A C, which gives us an F major Try and Root Major Third Perfect fifth Now to the four chord G B Flat D gives us a route Minor Third on a perfect fifth Moving on a five chord A C e Giving us a route Minor third perfect 5th 2 more to go at the six chord started on Be flattened D and F So we have a root major third perfect fifth and last or seven Chord in the key of D minor is seen g giving us a route Major third perfect fifth. Okay, let's hear all those in order, do you minor. He diminished f major G minor, A minor B flat Major C major back to the mine. Okay, it sounds nice. So what we'll do for this example is we'll generate a melody first and then we'll explore options on how you can harmonize that melody by using these course. Okay, so here's an idea for a melody. How about something like this? 1234 Uh oh, way. Break that down. It basically starts on the F, dances around a bit and gets us up to this b flat. Then it goes down to the A, dances around a bit and goes down to e and repeats, starting with the F So are pillar notes for this melody or F B flat A on E so typically are melodic note should coincide with the cores we choose with it. So we don't want to pick a chord that doesn't have the melodic note in it so that f we can see our options could be D minor work deficit. Third could be F major, which efforts the route on it could be a B flat major where f is the fifth since this is in the key of D minor is probably smart to start on a d minor chord. So let's go ahead effect. Okay, so we have an f melodic note against a D minor chord. Sounds like this. Okay, that our next pillar note is a B flat. So looking here, we can see that B flat is the diminished fifth of the to diminish court. Okay, it's an option. Uh, B flight is also the third of the four Chord, all right? And it's also the root of the six Chord. So those are all valid options. Wanted to go and choose the four chord the G minor chord. Okay, that sounds pretty good. Now we can see the next melodic pillar note is a all right, So our choices could be d minor again. Just is the fifth. It could also be an f major chord to three court where a is the third. And it could also be the root note of an a minor chord, which is the five court. Let me go with that. Let's go with the a minor chord, okay? It sounds good. And then last our final melodic pillar notice e way you can see that is the root note of that to diminished chord. It's also the fifth of that five minor chord just played it, so I don't want to play that again. And it's also the third of the seven Chord that c major. Okay, let's choose that. Then let's go with the C major. Okay, so what I'll do Here's I'll have a guitar, Play the melody and I'll have the piano play the court progression and what kind of see how it sounds. So it's D minor g minor, a minor. See on in repeats, CNN Sentence. 1234 goals . That sounds totally fine to me. So all the melodic notes line up with the chords. The chord progression begins on D Minor, which really defines that d minor sound. And then we use a couple of the cords from that key of D minor based on writing out the Triads in that key, and we've given ourselves a nice little song. Okay, so for a point of reference to the relative major, we could make a contrast ing section that sort of modulates to the relative major if you want to call it modulating, Um, so what we'll do then is let's go ahead and keep that melody, but let's re harmonize it, starting on the root note of what would be a relative major. So we always know that if we're in a minor key, we go up to the third note of that scale and we're going to get the relative major. So for the key of D minor, obviously the relative major is f major. So if I have f is a melodic pillar note well, f major chord would work perfectly. Right? Let's hear that. Uh, okay, cool. The next killer note is B flat. We could go to the six chord here, which is, in essence, the four chord of the F major key. That makes sense f being one g a b flat being for Okay, So let's hear what that sounds like. Alright, Sound super major so far. All right. The next melodic pillar note is a We could choose the a minor chord here. We could also choose the d minor chord here, but we might wanna be careful with that because we don't want to feel like it's going back to the minor just yet, So why don't we go with the a minor here? Okay, let's hear that. And then for that e melodic pillow note, that's next. Why don't we go ahead with the C chord again? Where he is the third thin our cords now become F major B flat major. A minor C major. Okay, so I'll have the guitar play the melody, and I have the keyboard. Play those keys and we can hear how this sounds a bit mawr in a major key and particularly the key of F major. All right, here we go. 1234 uh uh, All right. And there we basically have two phrases one that really revolves around the D minor and defines that d minor sound. And that one that revolves around the F major, which is the relative major of D minor and sort of defines that major sound. So why don't we hear a quick example of those phrases back to back to see what impact it has? I want to go. Uh, yeah, At the end, we get end on D minor to give the overall sound of the phrases together the minor field. Or we could own half to give the overall sound phrases a major. All right, so I hope this helps you out and gives you some inspiration to go and create music and minor keys and sort of gives you ideas into how toe dip over to the major to get a quick sort of contrast. That's maybe more happy and less dark. All right, so have some fun practice in this. 12. Course Outro: congratulations. You complete a part two of the music theory Survival guide. Siri's Okay, so at this point, you should be able to build and play minor scales and ultra keys. Hopefully, you should be able to build court progressions with melodies that go hand in hand in a minor key, and you're also hopefully able to understand the relation between major and minor that can help you create music with more depth and mood in it. And most importantly, you've immersed yourself further into the art of defining your own musical voice. So I hope you're starting to create music with a bit more meaning now. And you're achieving sounds that you hear in your head first. Using all the guesswork, I'd like to remind you also to complete the course project so I can hear that you are able to create music that fits in a minor key with melody and chord progression that go hand in hand. All right, so after finishing this part, I suggest moving on to Part three, where you can immerse yourself even further into defining your musical voice and getting more creative ideas to propel your music. Four. If you're interested in connecting with me. My handle is by Joel Michael on all social media platforms. I love hearing from students and any topics that you might want me to cover in the future. Just hit me up on the social media platforms. And I'll try my best to make some or content or even a course cure around topics you want to learn. And last again. I'm glad you chose to learn music theory with me, and I hope to educate you further in the future. All right, cheers.