Music Theory Vol. 2: Scales and Chords

Explore the minor seventh chord, learn its notes and distances, and how to build it from any root, hearing the seventh add fullness to minor harmony on your instrument.

Explore the minor major seventh chord, a minor triad with a major seventh, its spooky sound in soundtracks, and how to build it from root, third, fifth, and seventh.

Explore the diminished seventh chord: build it from minor third intervals and double-flat spellings, and learn two ways to construct and write it in any key.

Learn how to construct and understand the suspended 2 chord (sus2) using root, second, and fifth without a third, and hear its popularity in pop music.

Explore the major scale as a repeating structure with whole and half-step distances, demonstrated on the piano from C to C.

Explore the natural minor scale and its relation to the major scale via the sixth degree, with A minor as the relative of C major.

Explore the harmonic minor scale by raising the seventh degree in natural minor; see examples in a minor (g sharp) and e harmonic minor, and compare to melodic minor.

Explore the melodic minor scale by contrasting it with natural and harmonic minor forms, raising the sixth and seventh degrees, and hearing how these alterations shape mood.

Learn the major pentatonic scale, a five-note subset of the major scale. Create C major pentatonic and G major pentatonic from the 1-2-3-5-6 degrees.

Explore major and minor pentatonic scales, constructing from the root with key signatures such as F sharp and C sharp, noting major pentatonic 1-2-3-5-6 and minor from natural minor.

Explore how the blues scale builds from the natural minor and minor pentatonic foundations, selecting 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and adding a sixth for improvisation, with hands-on note construction.

Learn to improvise with the blues scale over common blues progressions and a dominant seventh chord, especially for guitar or piano. Explore the notes freely and have fun.

Thank you for joining this course and exploring the beauty of learning piano, ear training, and music theory. Please share your feedback to help future students and the instructor improve.