Here I want to give you a basic understanding of musical theory, but without
overloading you with information. If you know your stuff as far as musical
theory goes, you'll notice that I've left a lot out, and this has been done on
purpose.
Nomenclature :
During this section, I'll be referring to chord names and interval names, so
it's important that you understand what we're talking about. These are the chord
names we'll be using:
Major Chord :
Any time you see a letter on it's own for example "F" you know we mean F Major.
I also may write it as "F Maj", so either of these requires you play the Major
chord.
Minor Chord :
If you see a letter followed by a little m E.g. "Fm" then this relates to the
minor chord. Again, I might write "F min", or "F minor", and either of these
will relate to a minor chord.
There are literally hundreds of chords, and variations, but you won't need most
of them in this course, and there are plenty of chord books and chord
information on various websites available, so I won't cover them all here. The
purpose of this course is to help you to compose music, not learn every chord in
existence.
Flats and Sharps:
A flat note uses the symbol (b) and a sharp note uses the symbol (#).
The Octave:
An octave is a musical term that covers a total of 11 notes, and spans from one
note, to the next note of the same name. The notes within the Western musical
range are as follows:
A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab,
After the Ab, we end up at the A again. All the notes you'll ever play will be
one of these. You'll notice that there are no sharps or flats between the notes
B and C or E and F. There ARE exceptions to this rule, but you won't need to
learn them here.
The Major Scale :
The major scale is a series of seven notes that follow a particular order. The
order is as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (and back to) 1
Root - Tone - Tone - Semitone - Tone - Tone - Tone - Semitone
This scale is the basis for all musical theory. You would probably recognise it
from your school days as:
Do - Re - Mi - Far - So - La - Ti - Do
The Minor Scale:
Each major key has a corresponding, relative minor key. The minor key will be in
the same key signature, and will contain the same notes as the major key. The
only difference between the two is that the minor key simply STARTS on a
different note. For example, in the key of C Major, the relevant, corresponding
minor key is A minor.
You can always find the relative minor key by counting up six notes from the
root of the Major key. So in the C Major example: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Hence
the minor key starts on the A.
The sequence of a minor scale is different, and goes like this:
Root - Tone - Semitone - Tone - Tone -Semitone - Tone - Tone
So if as an example we use the A minor scale which is the relative minor scale
of C Major, we have the following sequence of notes:
A B C D E F G A
If we were playing in F Major, the relative minor would again begin on the sixth
note in the key, which would be the D, and the sequence of notes would be:
D E F G A Bb C D
Key Signatures:
A semitone (or half step) is the smallest increment on a western musical
instrument. On a piano, it is represented by moving from one key to the next,
and on a guitar, it is represented by moving from one fret to the next.
As an example, on a piano, moving from middle C to the black key directly next
to it on the right, we would get a C# and this would be a semitone. Moving from
middle C to the next WHITE key on the right, which is the D, would be a tone
from the middle C (also known as two semitones or a whole step).
On a guitar, moving from the open A string to the first fret on the A string A#
would be a semitone, whilst moving from the open A string to the second fret B
would be a tone (two semitones).
So if we look at the C Major scale, it looks like this:
C (root note)
Then up a TONE to D
Then up a TONE to E
Then up a SEMITONE to F
Then up a TONE to G
Then up a TONE to A
Then up a TONE to B
And finally up a SEMITONE again to finish back on C.
All major keys follow this pattern, and you can start a Major scale on any note.
A couple of things to be aware of: Some notes have the same sound, but different
names depending on which KEY they are in. For example, an A# is the same note as
a Bb as if you move up ONE semitone from A it becomes A# and if you move down
ONE semitone from B it becomes a Bb. Again, you don't need to worry too much
about this if it's confusing you as we're going to stick mainly to simple chords
and keys throughout this book.
Keys :
As a reference, here is a list of all the keys, the notes within them, and the
chords within the key!
C Major :
Notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Key signature: (No key signature)
Chords within Key: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B diminished
G Major :
Notes: G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G
Key signature: One sharp on the F line
Chords Within Key: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F# Diminished
D Major:
Notes: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D
Key Signature: Two Sharps on the F line, and C line
Chords Within Key: D, Em, F#m, G, A, Bm, C# Diminished
A Major:
Notes: A, B, C#, D# E# F#, G#, A
Key Signature: Three sharps on the F line, C line, and G line
Chords Within Key: A, Bm, C#m, D, E, F#m, G# Diminished
E Major:
Notes: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E
Key Signature: Four sharps on the F line, C line, G line, and D line
Chords within Key: E, F#m, G#m, A, B, C#m, D# Diminished
B Major:
Notes: B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B
Key Signature: Five sharps on the F line, C line, G line, D line, and A line
Chords within Key: B, C#m, D#m, E, F#, G#m, A# Diminished
F# Major:
Notes: F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#, E#, F#
Key Signature: Six sharps on the F line, C line, G line, D line, A line, and E
line.
Chords within Key: F#, G#m, A#m, B, C#, D#m, E# Diminished
And Now The Flat Keys:
F Major:
Notes: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F
Key Signature: One Flat on the B line
Chords within Key: F, Gm, Am, Bb, C, Dm, E Diminished
Bb Major:
Notes: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A
Key Signature: Two flats on the B line and the E line
Chords within Key: Bb, Cm, Dm, Eb, F, Gm, A Diminished
Eb Major:
Notes: Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb
Key Signature: Three flats on the B line, E line, and A line
Chords within Key: Eb, Fm, Gm, Ab, Bb, Cm, D Diminished
Ab Major:
Notes: Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab
Key Signature: Four flats on the B line, E line, A line, and D line
Chords within Key: Ab, Bbm, Cm, Db, Eb, Fm, G Diminished
Db Major:
Notes: Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db
Key Signature: Five flats on the B line, E line, A line, D line, and G line.
Chords within Key: Db, Ebm, Fm, Gb, Ab, Bbm, C Diminished.
Intervals and chords :
Without covering the gamut of musical theory, I want you to have a basic
understanding of intervals and chord structure. An interval is simply the
difference between one note and another, in particular how they relate to each
other in a particular key.
If we start in the key of C Major as it's the easiest key, with no sharps or
flats. If we move from C to C#, that interval is a Semitone. This equates to one
fret on the guitar, or one key on the piano. If we move from C to D, that is a
TONE. 2 frets, or two keys.
Below is a table comtaining a list of the intervals available if we start on the
note C:
The intervals will follow this format:
Original note: New note: Interval name: Number of Keys/frets/Semitones higher
than original note:
C C#/Db Semitone (minor 2 nd) 1
C D Tone (Major 2nd) 2
C D#/Eb Minor 3 rd 3
C E Major 3 rd 4
C F Perfect 4 th 5
C F#/Gb Augmented 4 th/diminished 5 th 6
C G Perfect 5 th 7
C G#/Ab Augmented 5 th/Minor 6 th 8
C A Major 6 th 9
C A#/Bb Minor 7 th 10
C B Major 7 th 11
C C Octave 12
I've listed the intervals only in the Key of C Major here.
This is the same for all keys. So if for example you were playing in Bb Major,
and you wanted to find the Major 3 rd, you just count up five semitones (frets
or keys) and you'll land on D. Always take the root note (the one you're
starting on) as number 1.
Quick Test:
A) What is the minor 3 rd from G?
B) What is the Perfect 4th of Eb?
Answers:
Bb
Ab
If you got these wrong, go over this section again, but don't spend too much
time on it, you'll begin to understand it a little more as we go along, and it's
just a matter of counting up the keys or frets.
The Structure Of Chords:
Now we come on to chords. Again, without going too much into depth, MOST chords
are made up of three notes, which is the root of the chord, the third, and the
fifth. For example, if we take C major again, and write out the scale:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, and attribute a number to each of the letters
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1
This is what we end up with. So if we take the numbers 1, 3, and 5, we get the
letters C, E, and G. These are the notes that make up a C chord.
Taking the second chord in C major (See Key section above), we have a Dm chord.
This time, as D is the ROOT note, we class D as number 1, and count up again.
So D becomes 1, F becomes 3, and A becomes 5 and so on. This is how nearly all
chords are formed; again, you needn't worry TOO much about this, as you won't
need to know it in great detail.
What notes make up an F Major chord?
Answer:
F A C
Musical Timing:
The purpose of a time signature is to show you what type of feel, rhythm, and
speed you should play certain notes, phrases and bars.
There are various time signatures in music. The two most common are Four-Four
time, and Three- Four time.
The first number in the time signature denotes the NUMBER of notes you will be
playing, PER BAR and the second number tells you what TYPE of note you'll be
playing.
So if we're playing in Four-Four time, you would have four even beats of quarter
notes, and count like this: One, Two, Three, Four, One, Two Three, Four etc.
If you were playing in three four time, you'd be using the same length notes,
but only count three of them per bar, for example: One, Two, Three, One, Two,
Three etc.
The following are the most common types of note found in Western music, and each
of these notes also has a corresponding rest that has the same duration. These
are also found on the examples below.
Semi-breve:
These last for a full count of four beats and would normally last a whole bar in
Four-Four time.
Minim :
These last for two beats each, also known as a half note as each one of these
notes lasts for half a bar in 4/4 time.
Crotchet :
These last for one beat each and are also known as a quarter note as each one of
these notes lasts for a quarter of a bar in 4/4 time.
Quaver :
These last for half a beat each and are also known as an 8 th note as each of
these lasts for an 8 th of a bar in 4/4 time.
Semi-quaver:
These last for a quarter of a beat each and arealso known as a 16 th note as
each one lasts a 16 th of a bar in 4/4 time.
As I mentioned, there is a lot that I have left out when it comes to timing, and
again, this is done on purpose as you won't need to get any more complicated
during this course.
Dotted Notes:
If there is a dot directly next to the note, that means that it lasts HALF AGAIN
the value of itself. For example, if you have a dotted Minim, it will last for
three beats as 2 (the normal value of a minim) + 1 (half the value of the minim)
= 3.
There are other time signatures, and note values but we don't need to go into
them here.
What we've covered:
Key signatures The Major scale Intervals Basic chord theory Counting You now
have a reference to use as and when you need it.
Make Beats on Computer Fast and Easy: http://www.sonicapro.tk/
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