Microsoft Excel Music Theory- Chords Redesigned-Improved

This course is a full system redesign—part music theory, part business analytics, part engineering project. It takes the entire 7-mode structure of Western music (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Lorian/Locrian) and rebuilds chord construction from scratch using Excel as the logic engine.

Traditional chord naming is a historical patchwork of exceptions, renaming, and contradicting rules. Scale degrees shift depending on the key. Extensions jump from 7 to 9 to 11 to 13 while pretending they’re still “in order.” Modes are often ignored entirely—especially the messy ones like Lorian—leading to naming systems that make even simple diatonic chords look like encrypted passwords.

This course fixes all of that.

Using modal whole-steps and modal half-steps, you’ll build a system where:

• Modes act as permanent coordinates (“continents”), not shifting reference points

• Chords are constructed by consistent modal distances, not by renaming “the 6 is now the 1”

• Every mode—from major (Ionian) to absolute chaos (Lorian)—becomes simple, predictable, and movable

• Excel formulas become the clean mathematical documentation that traditional theory never had

We go mode by mode across all seven:

• Ionian: The “clean” mode that exposes how scale degrees hide complexity

• Dorian: A minor mode that proves modal distances are easier than interval labels

• Phrygian: The first taste of “danger zones” and where naming begins to wobble

• Lydian: The raised 4 mode that reveals how the old naming system gets overloaded

• Mixolydian: The blues/rock world that shows why modes should anchor naming

• Aeolian: The traditional minor mode where the major-based naming system gets awkward

• Lorian (Locrian): The final boss — where the old system collapses entirely, but the modal Excel system stays perfectly logical

Throughout the course, you will build full chord families for all 7 modes:

• 3-note chords

• 4-note chords

• 5-note chords

• 6-note chords

• 7-note chords

All constructed the same way:

Start at the modal node → skip every other modal position → wrap around the mode cycle → label with mode + modal distances.

No exceptions. No renaming. No contradictory rules.

Excel handles all mapping, rotation, and translation into classical naming for compatibility.

Why Business Professionals Love This Course

Because this is a systems repair project wearing a music disguise.

You learn:

• Logical modeling

• Distance calculations

• Dynamic formulas

• Movable data structures

• Rotational indexing

• Diagrammatic mapping

• Auditing old vs. redesigned systems

Music becomes the perfect case study:

A legacy system used by millions, built on structural compromises, now rebuilt cleanly using modern tools.

It’s the perfect business analytics challenge with a fun topic.

Why Musicians Will Eventually Thank You

This system:

• Removes ambiguity

• Removes renaming

• Removes the major-scale bias

• Makes chords movable

• Makes modes understandable

• Turns Excel into the most accurate fretboard/keyboard visualizer ever created

It gives musicians a better system than the one they were taught, and one that can be easily converted into standard theory when needed.

What This Course Ultimately Delivers

A fully functional, Excel-powered modal chord engine that:

• Builds chords for all 7 modes

• Accurately maps modal distances

• Labels chords consistently

• Converts clean modal names back to legacy names

• Works across all 12 keys

• Matches the physical reality of the guitar fretboard

• Is ready for integration into modern DAWs, plugins, or theory education tools

This is not memorization.

This is system design — with Excel as your instrument and the entire modal system as your playground.