Learning and Loving Music Theory

Learn Music Theory

20 July 2010

Comments (0)

If you want to learn music theory, you’ve come to the right place! You may be visiting because

You love music and want to understand music better.
You want to learn about chords and chord progressions.
You would like to understand rhythm, or improve your rhythmic skills.
You would like to learn to read music, or improve your music-reading skills.
You would like to learn how to improvise.
You’re a songwriter looking for tools to improve your craft.

What is Your Music Theory Need?

Music Theory Beginner

If you are a beginner and want to learn music theory from the ground up, visit the Music Theory Lessons table of contents and start from the top. Every lesson is free and builds upon the previous one. Don’t be intimidated! The only requirement for learning music theory here is a love for music and a desire to learn! There are plenty of examples to see and hear. If something is not clear, use the comments section to ask questions or make suggestions. Two or three new lessons are posted each week. Please subscribe if you would like to be notified when new music theory lessons are available. (We respect your privacy; your email address will never be sold or shared.)

Music Theory Topics

We cover every music theory topic from high school through university-level courses, but in a friendly, accessible way. If you are studying music theory already, please use us as a resource. Perhaps you’re a teacher looking for lesson ideas, teaching methods, or examples. Browse the main topics below to get an idea of the content that is available. There are plenty of graphics, audio examples, as well as flash slideshows demonstrating various music theory concepts:

Music Theory Resources

We have a wealth of free music theory resources, and more are being added all the time: music manuscript paper, major and minor scales, interval chart, circle-of-fifths chart. You will find all of these on the free music theory resources page.

Harmonic Progressions

Every harmonic progression imaginable from simple to complex is written out in every major and minor key. These are free pdf files that you can download at the Harmonic Progressions page. We are always adding new progressions, so please subscribe to be notified when new items are available.

Music Theory Articles

Notes is a collection of articles on various topics related to music theory but aren’t necessarily a part of a normal music theory curriculum. Some of them are “how-to” articles, others are more philosophically oriented. Hopefully you will find them helpful and interesting as well. If you are interested in contributing your own article, please contact me. But please keep in mind that music theory must be the primary focus of all articles. Additionally, this site is geared toward general music lovers and students. Therefore, the articles should be focused on helping one to love and understand music theory to a greater degree. Some featured articles are:

Music Theory Text and Workbook

If you need a standard two-year university-level music theory textbook at a great price (sorry, this one’s not free!), check out Materials of Music. You can download it or order it on CD. It comes complete with exercises, a workbook with audio examples, a complete clickable index, and several extras in the appendix. The download cost is $39.95.

Chord Inversions: Make Your Bass Line Interesting

24 August 2010

Comments (0)

If you play a bass instrument, you are more aware of the bass in music than someone who does not play the bass. More often than not, the bass is the second most important part of a musical texture, second only to the melody. Some would even argue that the bass is the most important part because it outlines the harmonic framework. In either case, a good bass line goes a long way in making a passage of music more interesting. Here’s a demonstration:

Chord Inversions

The first passage below is taken from a Beethoven piano sonata; the rhythm of the bass has been simplified for clarity. Also different from the original is that every chord is in root position, meaning the bass plays only the roots of the chords:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Now listen to the excerpt again, this time as Beethoven harmonized it: using chord inversions:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Do you notice how much more melodic and elegant the bass is in the second example? Instead of leaping from one chord root to another, it moves primarily by step through the use of chord inversions.

In the original, Beethoven uses broken octaves to provide rhythmic movement to the music. Here’s how Beethoven actually wrote the passage:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I-V⁶-I Chord Progression

Just as secondary triads can substitute for primary triads, so can chord inversions. The I-V6-I progression is the I-V-I progression with the V6 chord acting as a chord substitution for the V chord in root position. In four voices, the doubling of the V6 chord will always adhere to the standard doubling procedures: double the root or fifth, not the third, to avoid a doubled leading tone. Due to the leading tone’s strong tendency to resolve to , it should never be doubled:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I-I⁶-V-V⁶-I Chord Progression

In this progression, we extend or prolong the I-V-I progression by moving from the root of each chord to its first inversion. The bass of the final V6 chord leaps down a sixth giving the melody a nice balance in musical space. Take note of how the upper voice that has the third of the chord when it is in root position, moves away from the third (to the root or fifth of the chord) when the bass moves to the third, thus avoiding doubling the third of the first inversion triad.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Since the bass is moving by thirds, we can smooth out the bass melody by adding passing tones between each chord tone. Passing tones are one of many non-chord tones that most often fill in the space between two chord tones. In this case, the passing tones fill in the space between the root and the third, and the third and the fifth. Here, the bass moves up the entire scale. Remember, in the minor scale, we use the melodic minor form of the scale when ascending:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

You can download the progressions used for this lesson, written out in every major and minor key in pdf format on the Harmonic Progressions Page.