Music Theory 101 For The Fast Learner: Part 1

I was pondering what to write about the other day and randomly got the idea to start posting on Music Theory. For a lot of musicians, knowledge of theory doesn't extend too much beyond being able to name the letters of the musical alphabet. For some that take it a bit further, they might have memorized a few scale patterns and can improvise alright over certain chord progressions. I was in that category for quite some time until I started attending the Musician's Institute in Hollywood. What I found out once I started taking classes there was that the task of learning music theory isn't as arduous as you might think. The cool thing is, even though it seems largely academic, learning theory will actually help your playing in the long run. A solid base in theory will help you understand why you're playing what you're playing and how to effectively use the skills that you acquire over time. When I started learning theory my academic knowledge was minimal but I picked it up fairly quickly. With any luck what I'm putting together hear will impart some of the tricks and techniques that I used to learn music theory at a fast rate onto you. That being said, let's start the first lesson!

First let's start off by introducing you to the musical alphabet. For those who didn't know, most modern music is based off of a diatonic scale of seven notes. The notes are denoted by the letters A, B, C, G, E, F, and G. As a good pointer for future reference, I'd recommend practicing saying the musical alphabet backwards and forwards starting from all the different letters. It's good to get a thing like that to the point to where it becomes second nature.

Each letter can be raised or lowered a half step by adding an accidental to it. Accidentals are called sharps(denoted by a '#' sign) or flats(denoted by a 'b' sign). Sharps raise the note a half step while flates lower the note a half step. The diatonic major scale formula is a specific series of steps, the formual being whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step. One of the best ways to visually understand this is to look at the piano keyboard. Look at the pictures below and examine the white keys. Think of the step between two white keys with a black key in the middle as a whole step such as between 'C' and 'D'. The step between two white keys that doesn't have a black key in the middle is a half step such as between 'E' and 'F'.

The easiest examble of the major scale would be to examine the key of C major. C major has no sharps or flats as you can see from the way it is outlined on the keyboard. Following the forumula(W for whole step and h for half step), W-W-h-W-W-W-h we see that C, D, E, F, G, A, and B all fit without the use of accidentals. Using the visualization of the keyboard and the knowledge that the distance from B-C and E-F is only a half step, one can assemble a major scale starting from any key.

Personally I found that calculating the notes in the major scales by building them and following the formula was a bit of a pain. A much simpler way is to memorize the order of the sharps and flats and the order that they occur. Accidentals follow a very specific order, to start, the G major scale has 1 sharp, D has 2 sharps, A has 3 sharps, E has 4 sharps, B has 5 sharps, F# has 6 sharps, and C# and 7 sharps. So try to remember that order, perhaps come up with some sort of mnemonic device for it, something like "Grandpa Dave Always Eats Breakfast For Church". It doesn't make much sense so I urge you to find something better. Now the second part of this is to memorize the order of sharp occurrence. Sharps progress in this order: F, C, G, D, A, E B and this does not deviate for the major scale. Basically this means that since G has one sharp, it's sharp is F. Since B has 5 sharps, it's sharps are F, C, G, D, and A. A good device for this one that I've heard before is "Fat College Geeks Don't Always Eat Breakfast", but like I said earlier, feel free to find your own.

With this in mind if someone asks you how many sharps are in the key of A, you can use your device or just memorize the order of letters and think, "G, D, A", and say that there are 3 sharps. When someone asks you what those sharps are you can use your second set and think "3 sharps, F, C, and G" and you can reply that the sharps in the key of A are F#, C#, and G#. Try to remember, the device starting on G is for the amount of sharps, the one starting on F is for their order of occurrence. If all else fails, I've made a diagram to illustrate what I'm talking about, memorizing that should suffice for sharps.

Well, I think this is a good stopping point for today's lesson. Stay tuned for part 2 when we'll learn more about the major scale and delve into the order of accidentals in flat keys.