Music Theory for Songwriters

Explore essential music theory terms for songwriters, including notes, scales (major and minor), keys, chords, octaves, and roman numeral notation to guide melodies and harmony.

Learn the twelve-note cycle, how semitones create sharps, flats, and naturals, and compare ABC and do re mi naming systems for identifying musical pitch.

Explore intervals, steps, and scales by defining half steps (semi tones) and tones, then build the C major scale using the tone, tone, semi tone pattern and its octave.

Explore major scales built by tone counting, including flats and sharps, then learn the natural minor scale and its tonic-based chord progressions.

Explore guitar intervals, semitone counting, and scale construction, comparing guitar patterns to piano. Learn major and minor scales across the fretboard using tone and semitone steps.

Discover how note names on the guitar correspond to piano notes, with the same theory but different timbre; learn keyboard visuals to understand semitones and apply across instruments.

Explore how the D major chord uses the notes D, F#, and A on guitar. Compare guitar voicings with piano layouts and note the abundance of chord sheets online.

Explore all the intervals within an octave, from minor second to octave, and see how each semitone distance shapes chords like minor and major triads and seventh chords for songwriting.

Downloadable forms for all major and minor scales and chords are available below; grab them and start using them to practice.

Explore two chord-building methods—counting semitones and tones, and using scale notes—to form major and minor chords, with examples in F, D, and C major.

Explore major chords through visual shapes on the piano, grouping them into all-white, upside-down U, and flat/sharp patterns to quickly identify any major chord and expand your songwriting palette.

Master minor chord shapes, including all-white notes (D minor, E minor) and inverted-u shapes (C minor, F minor, G minor), plus flats and sharps.

Explore how major and minor sounds differ by hearing familiar songs in C major and C minor, noting changes in scale and chords that affect mood.

Explore diminished chords in music theory for songwriters, covering regular diminished and half diminished types, built from two sets of three semitones and the seventh-note scale.

Build dominant and minor seven chords from triads by adding an octave top note and counting down two semitones. Dominant sevens pull toward resolution due to tritone and minor seventh.

Explore diminished chords, including regular diminished and half-diminished, shown in two construction methods and examples in C major and F sharp, with typical movement toward a dominant chord.

Explore advanced fully diminished chords and their symmetrical shapes, including C diminished, E flat diminished, and F sharp diminished, showing how the same notes yield different roots.

learn how key signatures establish the home key, signaling sharps and flats and guiding notes and chords, with insight into relative major and minor relationships.

Explore chord progressions as the harmonic backbone of a song, using four-bar patterns in C with C, F, and G, one chord per bar, and hear melody sit above harmony.

Use roman numerals to identify chord roots and major quality, building progressions like 1-4-5 in C major; hear root notes and explore 4-5-1-1-2-2 orders across keys.

Explore the I IV V progression in C major with various rhythmic variations and learn to transpose it to other keys using roman numerals.

Explore roman numerals in g major, with g as the tonic and chords g major, c major, and d major, including f sharp in the five, and practice progressions.

Discover why songwriters use different keys, balancing playability with matching melodies to a singer’s range. Explore top and bottom notes, power notes, chest and head voice, and roman-numeral chord transposition.

Explore how the minor vi chord colors four-chord progressions in major keys. See how a one four five pattern uses minor six as a passing chord in C major.

Explore diatonic chords in the major key by crafting minor and diminished chords on scale degrees two, three, and seven beyond the 1–4–5 progression across any key.

Explore diatonic chords in a minor key, including 1 minor, 2 diminished, 3 major, 4 minor, 5 minor, 6 major, and 7 major, and how they harmonize melodies.

Explore 1-4-5 and minor-6 chord progressions in major and F major keys, with guitar and piano multi-tracks to hear fuller textures.

Learn how six eight (6/8) divides a bar into six beats grouped by threes, contrasting it with four four, and recognize its swing feel in popular songs.

Explore major and relative minor keys, learn how relative major and minor share notes, and use these shifts to create mood changes between verse and chorus in songs.

Understand transposition as a key change where every note and chord shifts in unison, unlike changing tone centers or modulation, such as C major to C sharp major.

Explore the key parts of song structure—intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, solo or instrumental break, and outro—and how they fit together in pop, folk, and singer-songwriter songs.

Explore song structure through concrete examples, highlighting a pre chorus, double intro, and chorus. Examine how intro, verse, chorus, bridge, middle eight, outro interact, and how mixing sections creates variety.

Examine how intervals power melodies by presenting ascending and descending song examples, from minor seconds to fifths, including Pink Panther, Jaws, and the Simpsons theme.

Explore how intervals appear in familiar songs, from minor sixths to major sixths and octaves. Link ear training to melodies with examples like entertainer theme and somewhere over the rainbow.

Explore groups of common chord progressions in major keys, then vary keys, tempo, and style to mix and match for contemporary songwriter approaches.

Explore common progressions in minor keys and identify how the tonic anchors songs, using examples with moving bass lines and two-bar endings to illustrate harmony for songwriters.

Explore hands-on exploration of chord progressions through humming, singing, recording and looping progressions, testing melodies over chords, and adjusting chords to fit your voice and mood.

Explore what melody is, a single line of notes you can sing or play, the identifiable part of a song, containing rhythm, notes, lyrics, and is copyrightable as a melody.

Explore the theory of melody writing using chords, scales, rhythm, and structure to craft melodies that fit your voice range, balancing big jumps with smaller intervals.

Define the hook as a bite sized musical fragment that can be vocal, lyrical, or instrumental, often part of the chorus, repeatable to catch the ear and help listeners remember.

Start with a chord progression, record a loop, and improvise melodies by humming or singing along. Experiment, add variety, then refine rhythm, melody, and lyrics.

Celebrate completing the course and embrace writing, experimentation, and taking chances. Explore the related music by ear course by Michael M.A. on this site.