Music Theory and Reading Music - The Beginners Guide!

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will get an overview of the software used in this course, Logic Pro X, though it isn't necessary to have to complete this course.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about a score and the grand staff.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about tempo and beats.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn what a time signature is.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about other types of notes.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about tying notes together.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about rests.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will see other time signatures.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about rhythm, melody, and harmony.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about measures and bars.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about notes and pitches.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about clefs.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about note names and octaves.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about tones and semitones.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about major scales.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about major chords.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about minor chords.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about repeats.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about other musical notation.

In this section, you'll learn how to use music theory as a practical tool for writing your own music.

We'll explore scales, keys, chords, seventh chords, extended chords, minor keys, modulation, and modes, helping you understand how these concepts can be applied creatively in your own songs.

In this lesson, you'll learn why scales are one of the most important foundations of music theory and discover the difference between chromatic and diatonic scales.

You'll also see how scales provide the building blocks for chords, melodies, and keys, and why understanding them will make writing and analysing music much easier.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to work out any major scale using a simple pattern, rather than memorising every scale.

You'll discover the tone and semitone formula used to build major scales and see how it can be applied to any key on a piano keyboard or in your DAW.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to identify the major key of a melody by analysing the notes it contains and comparing them to the major scale pattern.

You'll discover a simple step-by-step method for working out the key of a melody, helping you better understand, analyse, and write your own music.

In this lesson, you'll learn the difference between a major key and a major scale, and discover how they work together in a piece of music.

You'll also explore all 12 major keys and learn a simple way to recognise the difference between music in a major key and a minor key.

In this lesson, you'll see how major scales are written on standard musical notation and learn how to build and recognise major scales on a score.

You'll also discover how the same tone and semitone pattern applies when reading sheet music, helping you connect what you've learned in the piano roll to traditional notation.

In this lesson, you'll learn what triads are and how to build three-note chords using the root, third, and fifth notes of a major scale.

You'll discover how to create triads in both standard notation and the piano roll, giving you a simple foundation for building chords in your own music.

In this lesson, you'll learn what chord inversions are and how they can make your chord progressions sound smoother and more natural.

You'll discover how to create inversions by rearranging the notes of a triad, explore root position, first inversion, and second inversion, and see how they can improve the flow of your music.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to build every chord in a major scale and discover the pattern of major, minor, and diminished chords that appears in every major key.

You'll also learn simple formulas for constructing each chord type, giving you the tools to work out the diatonic chords in any major key and create chord progressions with confidence.

In this lesson, you'll learn the most common ways chords are written, including standard chord symbols, jazz notation, and Roman numerals.

You'll discover how each notation system represents major, minor, and diminished chords, making it easier to read chord progressions and communicate with other musicians.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about working out major and minor triads.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to build and identify diminished and augmented triads, and understand how they differ from major and minor chords.

You'll discover the interval patterns used to create each chord type, hear how they sound, and learn how diminished and augmented chords can add tension, suspense, and drama to your chord progressions.

In this lesson, you'll learn how seventh chords are built by adding another third on top of a triad, creating richer and more expressive harmonies.

You'll explore the three most common seventh chords—major seventh, minor seventh, and dominant seventh—learn how to construct each one, and see how they naturally appear within the major scale and diatonic chord progression.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about extended chords.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about suspended chords.

In this lesson, you'll learn how the Circle of Fifths can help you understand closely related keys and find new chord options for your music.

You'll discover how to use it to borrow chords, move between major and relative minor keys, and create more interesting progressions without straying too far from your original key.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to change key by creating tension and resolving it into a new key centre.

You'll discover how to use the Circle of Fifths to move between major and minor keys, introduce new accidentals smoothly, and use pivot chords to make key changes sound more natural.

In this lesson, you'll learn what the natural minor scale is and how it relates to the major scale.

You'll discover three ways to work out a natural minor scale, including finding the relative minor, altering a major scale, and using the natural minor tone and semitone pattern.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to work out the chords in a natural minor scale and understand the pattern of minor, diminished, and major chords.

You'll discover how these chords relate to the major scale, how to build each triad from the notes of the minor scale, and how to use this pattern when writing in minor keys.

In this lesson, you'll learn how the harmonic minor scale differs from the natural minor scale and why it's commonly used in music.

You'll discover how raising the seventh degree creates a leading note, giving the scale a stronger sense of resolution, and explore the unique chord qualities that result from the harmonic minor scale, including augmented and diminished chords.

In this lesson, you'll learn how the melodic minor scale works and how it differs from the natural and harmonic minor scales.

You'll discover why the sixth and seventh notes are raised when ascending, why the scale returns to natural minor when descending, and how this affects the chords created from the melodic minor scale.

In this lesson, you'll learn what modes are and how they are created by starting a major scale from different scale degrees.

You'll discover the seven modes, how they relate to major and natural minor scales, and a simple phrase to help remember their order.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about the Ionian mode.

In this lesson, you'll learn about the Dorian mode, the second mode of the major scale.

We'll explore how to build the Dorian mode in three different ways: by starting on the second degree of a major scale, by flattening the 3rd and 7th of a major scale, or by raising the 6th of a natural minor scale. You'll also hear how its unique sound sits somewhere between major and minor.

In this lesson, you'll learn about the Phrygian mode, the third mode of the major scale.

We'll look at how to build the Phrygian mode by starting on the third degree of a major scale, by flattening the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th of a major scale, or by simply flattening the 2nd of a natural minor scale. You'll also hear how its flattened 2nd gives it a distinctive, dark, and exotic sound.

In this lesson, you'll learn about the Lydian mode, the fourth mode of the major scale.

We'll explore how to build the Lydian mode by starting on the fourth degree of a major scale, by raising the 4th of a major scale, or by raising the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th of a natural minor scale. You'll also hear how its raised 4th gives it a bright, open, and uplifting sound.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about the Mixolydian mode.

In this lesson, you'll learn about the Aeolian mode, the sixth mode of the major scale.

We'll see that the Aeolian mode is simply another name for the natural minor scale. You'll learn how to build it by starting on the sixth degree of a major scale or by flattening the 3rd, 6th, and 7th of a major scale to create its distinctive minor sound.

In this lesson, you'll learn about the Locrian mode, the seventh and final mode of the major scale.

We'll explore how to build the Locrian mode by starting on the seventh degree of a major scale, by flattening the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th of a major scale, or by flattening the 2nd and 5th of a natural minor scale. You'll also hear why its diminished 5th gives it an unstable, unresolved sound, making it the least commonly used of the seven modes.

In this section, we'll put music theory into practice by analysing two complete songs.

You'll see how the theory you've learned applies in real musical situations, as we break down the chord progressions, melodies, and compositional decisions behind two of my own tracks. By the end of this section, you'll have a clearer understanding of how music theory can be used to write and analyse real songs.

In this lesson, we'll analyse my track Capsize and explore how music theory shapes its dark, suspenseful atmosphere.

We'll break down the chord progression, bassline, melodies, and supporting parts to see how techniques such as suspended chords, chord extensions, semitone movement, and borrowed harmony create tension, release, and emotional impact throughout the song.

In this lesson, we'll analyse my track Floating and explore how music theory creates its light, mysterious, and slightly unsettled feeling.

We'll break down the verse and chorus, looking at the Mixolydian mode, suspended chords, extended harmony, bass movement, melodies, and arpeggios to see how each part contributes to the overall emotion of the track.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will be introduced to the ideas in this section.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will get a brief overview of the layout of a typical guitar.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn how to create any major scale with one simple pattern.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn how to create open chords.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn how to create barre chords.

In this Beginner's Guide to Music Theory and Reading Music lecture, you will learn about various other guitar chords.

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