Template:Portal:Theory/Featured Lesson

Revision as of 17:07, 9 July 2009

How Can I Tell Which Key a Song is in?

Ok, so you have a killer MP3 of some band you have downloaded that you want to Jam to, or you have an amazing tab that you want to develop ideas from, or maybe even a piece of music that you want to work with. Before you can do anything, you need to figure out the key that the song is in so that you can apply all of your knowledge about scales etc to figure out which notes to play. In this lesson we’ll try and figure out some ways to do this..." (more)

Modes - The Theory

Know the basics of modes but want to find out more? Check out Andrew's lesson "Modes - The Theory".

In the previous modes lesson we described what modes are, and a practical way of diving into them. However, modes are a complex subject, and the theoretical underpinnings are fascinating. Once you thoroughly understand the previous lesson, spending some time here can really help you with concepts all across music..." (more)

The Major Pentatonic Scale

"Our next scale is the Major Pentatonic scale. Closely related to the Minor Pentatonic scale, it can be regarded as a Minor scale with a couple of notes missing.

The Major Pentatonic scale is a 5 note scale, built using the formula: 2 2 3 2 3

Lets have a look at how we would build a scale of G Major Pentatonic. Our root note is G, and building up from the formula we get the following notes..." (more)

The Melodic Minor Scale

"The Melodic minor scale was an attempt to "fix" the problem caused by the large 3 step interval in the harmonic minor without sacrificing the leading tone (for more details on this see my lesson on Minor Scales Revisited). The resulting scale is a harmonic minor with a sharpened 6th (meaning it reverts back to a major 6th). This means we end up with what is basically a major scale but with a flattened 3rd. Since the 3rd is the truly important indicator of major vs minor, this works out reasonably well in practice, and is better suited to melody than the harmonic minor, at least in classical terms..." (more)

Suspended, Added Tone Chords

Want to learn how to make suspensions in your songs? Check out Andrew's lesson on Suspended, Added Tone Chords.

"In this lesson, we are taking our understanding of chords to the next level! We have looked at triads, sevenths and even extended chords, but there is more! Once again, we can modify the combinations of notes in our chords in some ways that are different again to get more cools sounds..." (more)

The Circle of 5ths

Want to learn a simple but very useful bit of theory? Check out Andrew's lesson on The Circle of 5ths.

"The circle of fifths ... a lot of people ask what it is and how to use it, as if they hope it will solve all of the worlds problems. Whilst it won't do that, it is a very useful tool, and can help us in a number of ways. This lesson will describe what it is, and how we can get a lot of mileage out of this musical geometrical figure..." (more)

Modes - An Introduction

Heard someone mention modes but don't know what they are? Check out Andrew's introduction to Modes.

"Modes are a subject that come up a lot on the forums, and in various lessons. The first question most people ask is "What is a mode?" followed by, "What are they good for?" We'll take a look at both questions in some detail in this multi part lesson. In this series of lessons lesson we'll take a look at modes at a high level before diving into detail on each mode..." (more)

The Minor Pentatonic and Blues Scales

The pentatonic scale is one of the most common on the guitar, but do you know the theory behind it? Check out Andrew's lesson on The Minor Pentatonic and Blues Scales.

"In this lesson we are going to look at our first scale, the Minor Pentatonic scale (more on the blues part later). In the introduction to scales we went over a few reasons that you might want to learn scales and how important they are to you as a musician. Well particularly for guitar, the Pentatonic is a great scale to learn. It is usually the first scale taught with good reason..." (more)