Music Theory Lessons

[neoshredder]

Alright I have a site called neoclassicalmetal.org where I made some theory lessons. Anyways I decided to add them here for those interested in theory for Classical Music and it is also useful for guitar playing, song writing, and etc. Here is my first lesson.

Music Theory Lesson 1

Intervals: There are 12 notes in music. C Db/C# D Eb/D# E F Gb/F# G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C. The distance between the one note to the next is called intervals. Each distance has its own name
C->Db is a minor second
C->D is a Major second
C->D#/Eb is a augmented 2nd or minor third
C->E is a Major third
C->F is a perfect fourth
C->F#/Gb is a augmented 4th/diminished 5th. Also known as a tritone.
C->G is a perfect 5th
C->Ab is a minor 6th
C->A is a Major 6th
C->Bb is a minor 7th
C->B is a Major 7th
C->C is a perfect Octave.
Key Signatures
One of the first things I learned was being able to read key signatures. 1#, 2#s, 3#s, and etc. To be able to remember this you need to remember that C has no sharps or flats. To go up to 1#, you go up a perfect 5th. So count from C (CDEFG). So G has one sharp. You continue going a 5th up until you get to 7's. Here it is. On the last 2 there are sharps in the key because from B->F and F->C is a perfect 5th.
C
G
D
A
E
B
F
C
You also go the opposite way. Reverse circle of fifths or circle of fourths to get the flats or b sign. Here it is reversed.
C
F b
Bb bb
Eb bbb
Ab bbbb
Db bbbbb
Gb bbbbbb
Cb bbbbbbb

To figure out which note is sharp on your signature or memorize. In the sharps you just count back a minor 2nd. So if the key is in G, F->G is a minor 2nd. So F is the only sharp since the key signature only has one sharp. In the key of D, you have 2 sharps. You keep the F and add the new one. C->D is a minor 2nd so the 2 sharps are F and C. Here they are all written down.
C
G (F#)
D (F# C#)
A (F# C# G#)
E (F# C# G# D#)
B (F# C# G# D# A#)
F (F# C# G# D# A#P E#)
C (F# C# G# D# A# E# B#)
Alright now how to remember which notes are flat if you are in a key that is flat. Remember that the key that it is in, just go up a 4th and you get the notes that are flat.
C
F (Bb)
Bb (Bb Eb)
Eb (Bb Eb Ab)
Ab (Bb Eb Ab Db)
Db (Bb Eb Ab Db Gb)
Gb (Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb)
Cb ((Bb Eb Ab Db Cb Fb)
Fb (Bb Eb Ab Db Cb Fb Bbb) Bbb is really A but to fit the key signature theoretically, it needs to show up as Bbb. Alright I'll be sure to add on to this soon. Here is a link that will help on fifths if you have problems remembering. My goal is to help others understand Neo-Classical by starting at the beginning of theory and eventually be able to create Neo-Classical and etc.
http://www.jazzbooks.com/miva/documents/ha..._of_fourths.pdf

 

[neoshredder]

To be able to understand this lesson, you need to have a good understanding of intervals. Alright I'll get into it.
Intervals are based on the Major scale. Anything altered you add a b or #. So the Major scale has 7 intervals. In the key of C, C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, F is 4, G is 5, A is 6, and B is 7.

There are 4 primary chords that are used. Of course you can expand from here but these are the main ones. The first chord is the Major chord, which are C E G. So the formula for the C Major chord is from C->E is a Major 3rd and from E->G is a minor 3rd. The intervals are 1 3 5. The notes of the C minor chord are C Eb G. From C->Eb is a minor 3rd and Eb->G is a Major. The intervals of the C minor chord are 1 b3 5.
The next chord is called an augmented chord. The notes in a C augmented chord are C E G#. From C->E is a Major 3rd Third and from E->G# is a Major 3rd. The intervals in a augmented chord are 1 3 #5. The last chord is called a diminished chord. The notes in a C Diminished chord are C Eb Gb. From C to Eb is a minor 3rd and from Eb to Gb is a minor third. The intervals in a diminished chord are 1 b3 b5.
So the summary for these 4 chords.
C Major-C E G, Major 3rd minor 3rd, 1 3 5.
C minor-C Eb G, minor 3rd Major 3rd, 1b3 5.
C Augmented-C E G#, Major 3rd Major 3rd, 1 3 #5.
C diminished-C Eb Gb, minor 3rd minor 3rd, 1 b3 b5.

Alright I'll keep it short as that is a lot to absorb for now. Next lesson is how to harmonize the chords which will really help in understanding what scales or modes to solo with.

 

[neoshredder]

Scales for Neo-Classical Metal.
C Major C D E F G A B C
A natural minor has the same notes as C Major but starting on the A instead.
A minor A B C D E F G A. This scale is rarely is used in classical music because it lacks the Dominant V chord (discussed later). So to change the scale to be able to have this you must sharp the 7th note of the A minor scale. A B C D E F G# A. This scale is called the A harmonic minor scale. This is the most used minor scale for classical music. Also they like to alter the subdominant (discussed later) to a Major chord. To do this you must alter the 6th note up a half step as well. So now you get the notes of A B C D E F# G# A. This scale is called A melodic minor. Traditionally in classical music they only use the melodic minor scale going up and the harmonic minor scale going down.

So to summarize A natural minor is relative to C Major
C Major: CDEFGABC
A natural minor: ABCDEFGA
A harmonic minor: ABCDEFG#A
A melodic minor: ABCDEF#G#A

Alright I decided to do this lesson first before harmonizing the scales to get chords out of them. I will cover that next lesson.

 

[neoshredder]

Harmonizing the scales to form chords. This is a tough one to explain but I'll try.
Ok so the notes of C Major is C D E F G A B C. To form chords you take every other note of that scale from each note of the scale.
C E G is the first chord and it is C Major. It is the first degree of the scale so the chord is labeled like a roman numeral. Since it is Major it is upper case. Here is the symbol for it. I
D F A is the second chord of the C Major. It is on the second degree of the scale and it is minor due to the formula explained in Lesson 2 I believe. Since it is minor, it is lowercase. Here is the symbol for it. ii
E G B is the third chord of the Major scale. It is also minor and labeled iii.
F A C is the 4th chord of the Major scale. It is major so it is labeled IV
G B D is the 5th chord of the Major scale. It is Major so it is labeled V
A C E is the 6th chord of the Major scale. It is minor so it is labeled vi
B D F is the 7th chord of the Major scale. It is diminished so the label for this one is viio. o should be the superscript.

Ok each chord has its own name.
I is tonic
ii is supertonic
iii is mediant
IV is Subdominant
V is dominant
vi is submediant
viio is leading tone. According to theory, the dominant needs to be a Major chord to get a more finalizing sound.

Ok I'll do the other 2 scales later. (Harmonic minor and Melodic minor)

 

[neoshredder]

Harmonizing Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor.
Alright as learned from earlier, the notes of A Harmonic Minor are A B C D E F G# A. We do the same thing with Harmonic Minor as we do with the Major scale. Use every other note to get chords.
A C E is Aminor and the roman numeral for this chord i
B D F is Bdiminisihed. iio
C E G# is C Augmented. III+
D F A is D minor. iv
E G# B is E Major. V
F A C is F Major. VI
G# B D is G# diminished. viio
So all these chords you can solo over with A harmonic minor but use your ear as some of it might not sound good. The V chord is usually the best chord to use the harmonic minor with.
A Melodic Minor is A B C D E F# G# A B C D.
A C E is A minor. i
B D F# is B minor. ii
C E G# is C Augmented. III+
D F# A is D Major. IV
E G# B is E Major. V
F# A C is F# diminished. vio
G# B D is G# diminished. viio.
So you can use the Melodic Minor off these chords but traditionally in Classical Music you only go up the scale with the Melodic Minor and not descend. Rules are meant to be broken though.

 

[neoshredder]

Adding Extensions

As we know the chords for the A Harmonic Minor Scale are A min, B dim, C Augmented, D minor, E Major, F Major, and G# Diminished. Now we will add extensions to these scales but first I will give all the names for each chord.
A C# E G is an A dominant 7th chord.
A C# E G# is an A Major 7th chord
A C E G is a minor 7th chord
A C E G# is a A min(Maj)7th chord
A C Eb G is a A min7b5 chord. (half diminished)
A C Eb Gb is a A diminished 7th chord (fully diminished)
A C# E# G is A7#5
A C# E# G# is Amaj7#5
You can go on and on to 13th chords. The more extensions you add, the more jazzy your sound gets. Ok I'll add the 7th extensions to A Harmonic Minor scale.

A B C D E F G# A B C. So as we did before, use every other note to start it.

A C E G# A min(Maj)7 chord.
B D F A B min7b5
C E G# B is CMaj7#5
D F A C is Dmin7
E G# B D is E7
F A C E is F Maj7
G# B D F is G# diminished 7th or G#o7

Chord Progressions.
The most common chord progression is i iv V in minor. The dominant (V) chord is very important as well as the Tonic chord (i) to.

Parallel Scales.
The Roman numerals are based on the Major scale. So to alter the roman numerals to harmonic minor to show the starting note of each chord, you flat the 3rd note and the 6th note. So to fix the roman numerals. i iio bIII+ iv V bVI viio and back to i.

 

[Metal_Mike]

i shall bookmark this page

 

[waif]

GR maybe wanna sticky this?

 

[nissan]

mate, i love you! I LOVE YOU

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

It's about time we had one of these around here. I've been planning on doing it for a while, but I'm still in the process of creating all the MIDIs and tablature image files to go along with it. Actually, I might as well get back to work on it now, since I'm on spring break and having nothing better to do with my time

 

[sumairetsu]

Actually, an easy way to remember the key signatures is to use this:

When showing flats on the staff, it goes in this order:
B, E, A, D, G, C, F. The way I remembered this order is I made this sentence: "B.e A.t the D.amn G.uitar C.enter, F.rank!"

When showing sharps, the order is reversed: F, C, G, D, A, E, B

Further, the easy way to tell what key you're playing in is this:

When the key signature uses sharps, go to the last sharp sign, then go one 1/2 step up. This will tell you your key signature. For instance, a key signature with one sharp, F#, is the key of G major. If there are 4 sharps - F#, C#, G#, D# - then the key is E major.

When the key signature uses flats, use the 2nd to last flat, which will show you your key signature. In other words, if you see two flat signs in the key signature, B and E, you're playing in Bb major.

To tell if you're playing in a minor key, look for any sharps in the music that aren't indicated in the key signature, though this is not always the case.

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

When showing flats on the staff, it goes in this order:
B, E, A, D, G, C, F. The way I remembered this order is I made this sentence: "B.e A.t the D.amn G.uitar C.enter, F.rank!"

I remember it as the tuning of a 7 string guitar, with the two high strings augmented a step.

 

[Orcy]

thank you so much for this!