Fundamentals of Music Theory

Fundamentals of Music Theory

Have you ever tried to gain an understanding of music theory and been bamboozled by the seemingly endless jargon and confusing terminology? If, whenever you've attempted to make sense of how scales chords and notes all work together and given up when confronted with words like "diatonic", "augmented" and "phrygian" (to name but a few)... then this 80 minute lesson is exactly what you need.

The focus here is on how things work from a guitar player's perspective. Beginning with a few simple barre chord shapes, we explore the circle of 5ths - what it is, and more importantly, what it can be used for. This leads us on to a clearly presented exploration of major keys and their chords - I guarantee you will finally "get" the often confusing topic of modes as presented in this lesson.

Along the way we look at the basic pentatonic box shape, and how it can be easily adapted to play more sophisticated modal scales once you know which notes can be added and, more importantly, why. We examine the fundamentally important relationship between major and minor scales, keys and chords. We look at why this relationship exists and why it is worth gaining an understanding of.

Finally we round off with a clear and concise look at the topic of harmony - how chords are built and what is meant by terms such as "diminished" "flat 5th" and "tonality" among other examples of seemingly confusing phraseology. By the time you've completed this lesson, I promise you that you will understand all the theory lingo you need. Overall, I try to keep the jargon to a minimum, focusing instead, on the practical ways that the information can be applied in the music you play.

All relevant musical examples are tabbed out in both Guitar Pro and PDF formats. There are also jam tracks for you to try out your new found knowledge.

There are many ways to understand the basics of music theory. This is mine.