AMA - Music Theory for Beginners (part 1)

Howdy, all! This is the first in my new "Ask Me Anything" series. The idea is exactly what it says: Ask me anything. Presumably, y'all will be asking about music-related topics rather than what I think of the new movie or TV show, or my views on...whatever. But I'm open to most questions, and am happy to respond so long as I think I have something meaningful to say.

These short text entries will often, but not always, be accompanied by videos (just as certain videos will often be, but not always, accompanied by a text entry here). If YOU have a question, contact me in the comments below or via social media or email!

So let's leap right in!

First question - Caitlyn asks (via FB): 

Where does an adult with no grasp of music theory begin, if they want to know more?

Excellent question! Answer? Right here - read on!

"Music theory" is a huge topic and covers everything from reading music to the study of melody and harmony and rhythm and composition and structure and much more. However, most of the time when I'm asked this question, what the person is asking is about chord structure, chord progressions, and basic rhythmic concepts.

So we'll make this question a short series.

In this installment, let's cover some basics of chord progressions.

The key of C just means we have no sharps or flats. That gives us the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G (alphabetically). But since its the key of C, let's start with the first note: C. This nets us the series C, D, E, F, G, A, B. We'll analyse that further when discussing scales as well as when building chords, but for now let's just look at what the chords (the basic 3-note triad) would be.

1) C

2) Dm

3) Em

4) F

5) G

6) Am

7) Bdim

Why? We'll get to that later. There is a logic to it that we'll discuss in the chord conversation. But for now, let's just accept that these are the chords. 

Now, note I numbered each of them. So we can chart a song by its chord NAMES as well as charting a song by its chord NUMBERS. We'll discuss why w would opt for one over another in a particular scenario later, but for now let's move on.

So let's say we're looking at a song that charts as follows:

C - - - /Am - - - /F - - - /G - - - /

We'd be playing each chord for one measure, and the chords are 1, 6, 4, 5.

Now if we were in the key of G (which has one sharp, the F#), the chords would be, in order, G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim. So let's say we're looking at a song charted as follows:

G - - - /D - - - /Em - - - /C - - - /

We'd be playing each chord for one measure (aka - bar), and the chords are 1, 5, 6, 4.

Let's do one more to make sure it makes sense. In the key of A, our chords would be A, Bm, C#M, D, E, F#M, G#dim. So let's say we're looking at a song that charted as follows:

A - - - /D - - - /A - - - /D - - - /

F#m - - - /E - - - /A - - - /A - - - /

We'd be playing each chord for one measure, and the chords are: 1, 4, 1, 4, 6, 5, 1, 1.

Now let's do one last progression (this one in C) that's a little more complex:

C - - - /Dm - - - /Em - - - /F - - - /

Am - - - /Bdim - - - /F - - - /G - - - /

Then we'd be playing each chord for one measure, and the chords are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 4, 5.

Now, we have a little way to go, from discussions of chord construction to scale construction to rhythm fundamentals to chord substitutions to melodic construction and more, but each section will be, to the best of my ability, concise.

Next: Chord construction!

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