Tag: music theory
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The Theorbo Player Who Published the Rule of the Octave
One of the most important harmonic tools in tonal music was first published under its name by a plucked-string player, not a keyboardist. Guitarists have more claim to this tradition than they think.
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What odd time signatures actually sound like
Most pop lives in 4/4. But a surprising number of songs you already love quietly step off the grid, and the stumble you feel is usually the whole point.
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A Tenth Is Just a Wide Third
Blackbird, Scar Tissue, and Love Yourself don’t sound anything alike. Their guitar parts are built on the same interval, and it only takes two fingers.
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Primary and Secondary Chords in Modal Music
The piece discusses how chords in a mode can be categorized as primary or secondary based on whether they contain the modal note. Primary chords reinforce the modal flavor, while secondary chords do not detract from it. Understanding this distinction allows musicians to intentionally shape the modal sound in their compositions, impacting how pronounced or…
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Modal Notes
Every mode differs from its parent scale by exactly one note. Play that note on the strong beats, and the mode actually sounds like itself.
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Learn the Difference Between 3/4 and 6/8 Time
3/4 and 6/8 can look identical on the page. The accents are what tell your ear the difference, and where hemiola comes from.
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The Blues Scale is a Compromise
The standard blues-scale lesson (minor pentatonic plus one passing tone) skips why the scale sounds bluesy in the first place.
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Three Minor Scales, One Minor Key
Natural, harmonic, and melodic minor aren’t three separate scales. They’re three solutions to the same problem.
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The Dominant Seventh Wants to Go Somewhere
Guitarists learn the dominant 7th as a chord shape. It’s actually an engine.
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CAGED Is a Starting Point
The CAGED system is a useful way to organize the fretboard. The mistake is treating it like music theory.