Music Theory Mastery

By Jamie Harrison

• Notes go from A - G • All notes have sharps except for B and E • All notes have flats except for C and F • When to use sharps and flats? • An octave is the interval between any musical pitch

and another musical pitch with half or double of the frequency of the former note’s. Eg. A to A

• Chromatic is moving through every note • A semi-tone (or Half-Step) is one fret, a tone (Or

Whole Step) is two frets

Nut

Intervals

DEFINITION: The distance between any two notes

Intervals

Number of Semi-Tones Name of Interval

0 Perfect Unison

1 Minor Second

2 Major Second

3 Minor Third

4 Major Third

5 Perfect Fourth

6 Diminished Fifth OR Augmented Fourth

7 Perfect Fifth

8 Minor Sixth

9 Major Sixth

10 Minor Seventh

11 Major Seventh

12 Perfect Octave

Keys

DEFINITION: The key of a composition is the group of pitches that form the basis of that

composition

• Essentially a recipe with the correct ingredients • You can’t mix all sorts of ingredients or it will taste

bad • A key is made up of 7 different notes • Our music recipe book is a recipe book with 7

ingredients Sometimes you can add extra ‘spices’ to a recipe to make it more interesting eg. Salted caramel is your 7th chord.

• Diatonic means ‘in the key of’ • Non-Diatonic means ‘not in the key of’ • Each key has a corresponding ‘minor’ key which

contains the same notes. This is called the ‘Relative Minor’.

• Some instruments are in a particular key eg. harp • The capo or ‘transpose’ function can change the

key of a song while still playing the same notes • A key can change in the middle of a song. This is

called ‘modulation’ eg. Livin’ on a Prayer

(Extra Information)

Key SignaturesDEFINITION: The arrangement of sharp or flat

signs on particular lines and spaces of a musical staff to indicate that the corresponding

notes, in every octave, are to be consistently raised (by sharps) or lowered (by flats) from their natural

pitches. Essentially a recipe with the correct ingredients

Key Signatures

The ‘Key’ Formula

T T S T T T S

The StaffTreble Clef

Bass Clef

Staff Lines

Notes on The Staff1. The Lines

E - Every G - Good B - Boy D - Deserves F - Fun

F D B G E

**From Bottom to Top

Notes on The Staff2. The Spaces

F. A. C. E

E C A F

**From Bottom to Top

Finding a Key on The Staff

T T S T T T S

C D E F G A B C

Finding a Key on The Staff

T T S T T T S

D E F# G A B C# D

Finding a Key on The StaffExercise: Take any key eg. B major and write the

Key signature on the staff

Answer on next page: Pause and complete before you move on!

Finding a Key on The Staff

T T S T T T S

B C D E F G A B # # # # #

Finding a Key on The StaffAnswer:

Notes in Each KeyKey 1st Scale Degree 2nd Scale Degree 3rd Scale Degree 4th Scale Degree 5th Scale Degree 6th Scale Degree 7th Scale Degree

A A B C# D E F# G#Bb Bb C D Eb F G AB B C# D# E F# G# A#C C D E F G A B

Db Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb CD D E F# G A B C#

Eb Eb F G Ab Bb C DE E F# G# A B C# D#F F G A Bb C D E

Gb Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb FG G A B C D E F#

Ab Ab Bb C Db Eb F G

Chord BoxesChord Name

Don’t Play this String

Open String

Finger Numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, T) Strings

Nut7

Tabs• Six lines represent strings • Numbers represent frets • Read from left to right (right comes after left) • High e-string is at the top of the notation • If notes are in line it means play them together • 0 is an open string • X is a muted string

Tabs

Tabs

Chords and Tabs• When numbers are in a vertical line, it means they

are played together. • Tabs don’t show which fingers you should use to

play which strings

Symbol

/ Slide up

\ Slide down

h Hammer-on

p Pull-off

˜ Vibrato

+ Harmonic

x Dead Note

b Bend

pb Pre-Bend

br Bend Release

pbr Pre-bend Release

brb Bend Release Bend

t Right hand tap

s Legato slide

S Shift Slide

* Natural Harmonic

[n] Artificial Harmonic

n(n) Tapped Harmonic

tr Trill

TP Tremolo-Picking

PM or _ or . Palm muting

N.C No chord: tacet or rest

\n/ Tremolo arm dip (n = amount)

\n Tremolo arm down

/n Tremolo arm up

/n\ Tremolo arm inverted dip

(equal sign) Hold bend

<> Volume Swell

./. Pick Slide

Scales

DEFINITION: A scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch.

A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing

pitch is a descending scale.

1) The Minor Pentatonic Scale 2) The Blues Scale 3) The Natural Minor Scale/Aeolian Mode 4) The Major Scale 5) The Dorian Mode 6) The Mixolydian Mode

The Major Scale is the scale that all western music is based upon, however, here are the most commonly

used guitar scales:

Triads

DEFINITION: A chord of three musical notes, consisting of a given note with the third and fifth

above it

• The triad is the fundamental chord, A, B, C etc. • It is made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th • Can be major or minor • Any further notes are intended only to ‘flavour’

the chord • The root note is the name of the chord • A major triad has a perfect third above the root

note, whereas a minor triad has a flattened or ‘minor’ third

Triad Formulas1. A - A C E 2. B - B D F 3. C - C E G 4. D - D F A 5. E - E G B 6. F - F A C 7. G - G B D

Open vs Closed Triads

• Closed triads have the root third and fifth in order, with one after the other

• Open triads have the same notes, but aren’t necessarily in order, or with one after the other

• Examples of both in video