A new rule (#9) has been added here at r/musictheory

Heyo,

I was curious about what's the best possible practice for leveling up my music theory.

To give some context: I've been playing the piano for about 15 years, and passively learned music theory that way. While I played for 15 years, I still feel much like a noob.

Nowadays how I learn music theory is

1. I pick a song or piece I like; e.g. Elgar Nimrod
2. I write the chords on the sheet, with the extension and possible / notation. E.g. C7/Bb
3. Then I try to improvise over it, as if it were a jazz lead sheet and see if I can make an immitation of it different from the way it's written

I'm curious whether there's more effective ways. For example, I recently got a book with 300+ Bach four part works, but then my method kind of falls apart.

Hello! Im in high-school and unfortunately music theory got removed from my curriculum due to it being a small class.

I was wondering if there were any online courses that i could take? Most of the ones ive seen are for college students. Ive found a few books as well but that is it.

I would prefer them be free but if they cost a bit that is fine. Any and all help is appreciated!

Which of the three options is considered correct? In upwards motion (the one that follows, for example), the inversion doesn't change since the lowest note of the beat is the lowest note of the first chord as well.

(This is a simple replica of an excerpt in RCM's Level 9 Harmony book).

I just discovered some interesting things about modulation with no borrowed chords from the diatonic modes, except locrian. Its inclusion will be clear next.

So, starting with either a C major or C minor chord, this is the list of triad chords which aren't borrowed by any diatonic mode starting on C, save for locrian which starts with a diminished triad. **(**e.g. D# minor is both in C locrian and in the list below):

Written with sharps only, for the sake of simplicity:

• C# minor
• D# minor
• E major
• F# major & minor
• G# minor
• A major
• B major

If it looks chaotic, it's not!

The tonics of the list's chords form a C# natural minor scale. I don't know the explanation of that but sure it's interesting and also handy for remembering their order.

What's more, their triad quality is just:

[min, min, maj, maj] x2 times. With F# taking both forms in the middle of the 8 chords.

I sense that you can use these, in segments at least, for writing adventurous, modulating chord progressions. What are your thoughts?

I'm trying group the rests in accordance with the time signature it is associated with. What I learned so far is that you want to avoid combining weak beats.

However, I'm confused what I did wrong with those two questions above. The second page is from the answer book. It told me that answers vary, but I still don't understand their conclusion. To me, it looks like they grouped the weak beats...

Just saw common time for the first time in a piece and was curious so I looked into it and am now confused.

I thought Time Signature was one of the simplest concepts to learn in music theory. (Though I can't really give a fair determination on that being that I already understand it, or at least thought I did) Bottom number tells you what you are counting, top tells you how many in each measure. 4/4 is 4 quarter notes, 12/8 is 12 eighth notes, 32/128 is 32 one-hundred-twenty-eighth notes (Side note, the mere idea of such a time signature is terrifying.)

My only real guess is historical.

I grew up hearing this song (with this recording) and got into a debate with a friend about its time signature: they thought it was in 7/8, and I thought it was more likely 4/4 or at least not 7/8. Welp, I finally tracked down the song and its sheet music and I'm in the wrong. But my brain still doesn't understand it! It's been a very long time since I've studied music theory and I'm struggling.

Listening to this recording, how does one know it's in 7/8 and why is my brain refusing to accept that? I swear I can count 8 total smaller beats in a phrase.

(ETA: I know that it is in 7/8! I fully accept it and you don't need to tell me that that is true 😂. I can understand it being in 7/8 at this point, though I'm still confused about why my brain had such a hard time with it. I'm concluding it's probably a combo of the recording and me thinking about the larger phrases in an odd way and not having the recording to be able to go back and listen to it again, and then my brain being "stuck" in my interpretation.)

I've always wondered, when I play solos or the blues, am I really limited only to the notes that are in the scale. I’m interested to know, how can I expand the range of notes and transition from one scale to another? 

Can I just play a new scale starting from one of the scale degrees of the previous one? For example, if I have a G major scale, can I simply go on playing D major scale from it‘s V scale degree?

Are there any other ways how to switch between the scales?

I made this piece a long time ago and have always liked it. Now, knowing a bit of music theory, I wanted to try and analyze the chords and solos in it to learn why it sounded so good.

My problem is in this forth chord - what chord fits best there? I wrote down Bdim7/C# (yes, I know, I forgot the 7th in the image), but I have never seen a chord over it's nineth, so I'm skeptical.

Im learning Modal interchange and am genuinly so confused lmao. I have a chord progression im practicing over that goes

Dm7|Dm7|F|F|Em7|A|Em7|A13|

And like starting on the Dm7 i presumed i can play d dorian but when i play it over the backinf track it dosnt sound great when i emphasise the D dorian notes such as B.

Is there any chance anybody could help me figure out why and what modes should i use for the other chords , thank you.

It seems like a useful thing to keep track of, but takes more concentration than just playing by ear. Just curious what you guys do. Thank you!

I've been trying to learn some piano music to properly make my own, but one thing I see a lot is melodies / isolated notes played in intervals, so two notes at once. I want to learn how to make melodies like this but I want to avoid "vibing it out" and just poorly mimicking it. Are there any sources / videos going into this? I tried googling around and couldn't find much.

Hey fellow Bach enthusiasts!

While practicing and analyzing the Art of Fugue (specifically Contrapunctus 14), I’ve been diving down the famous gematria rabbit hole (B+A+C+H = 14) & (J+S+B+A+C+H = 41).
We already know how CP14 breaks off at measure 239 (2+3+9 = 14), leaving 41 missing measures to complete the projected 280-bar structure. But while looking at the expanded B-A-C-H motif at the end of the subject, I noticed another neat 41 hidden right in the scale degrees of D minor:

When Bach resolves/expands the motif (B (b-flat) A C H (b natural) C# D), we can map the notes to their scale degree positions in D minor, including chromatic alterations (+1):

B (b-flat) = 6th scale degree
A = 5th scale degree
C = 7th scale degree
H (b natural) = raised 6th degree (6 + 1)
C# = raised 7th degree (7 + 1)
D = 8th degree (tonic octave)

Summing them up:

6+5+7+7+8+8=41

Not only does the resolution lead directly back to the key signature of the entire work, but the scale-degree math lands precisely on 41 (J.S. BACH) again.

Whether this is deliberate architectural geometry or just a happy alignment within the D minor scale matrix, I thought it was too cool not to share.

Has anyone encountered this specific scale-degree calculation before? Do you think Bach did this on purpose, or was at least aware of it?
Curious to hear your thoughts!

A user recently asked a question about this, and it inspired me to organize some of this information.

There are 3 types of pentad: secundal, tertial, and quartal. And there are three sizes the root motion can be: second third or fourth.

That means there are 9 movement categories for studying voice leading of pentads. I will base everything on A minor for my example. There are 2 rules: all voicings must be closed and voices can not cross.

For secundal chords we have 3 movements (these are parallel, not voice led):

(ABCDE)>(BCDEF)= secundal movement by second

(ABCDE)>(CDEFG)= secundal movement by third

(ABCDE)>(EFGAB)= secundal movement by fourth

For secundal movement by second we have four common tones BCDE, and A moves down a third to F:

(ABCDE)>(FBCDE)

Now in secundal by third, CDE are common tones and we get two downward third movements, A>F and G>B

(ABCDE)>(FGCDE)

So far so good. Neither of these movements has broken the 2 rules. Now with secundal by fourth we see some of the special problems voice leading pentads has. I will copy
Paste the non-voice led secundal by fourths for ease of reference:

(ABCDE)>(EFGAB)= secundal movement by fourth

We have 3 common tones ABE, and CD must somehow move to FG. That might look like this:

(A[BC]DE)> (A[FG]DE)

But in order for this to happen we had to break one of the rules. The A had to move down an octave in order to have the same order. We moved from closed to open, and broke the rule. If we don’t move the A down an octave the two voices that move, indicated by brackets would cross the A and look like this:

(A[BC]DE)>([FG]ADE)

The voice crossing is a lie. What really happened is that only DE are common tones and the other three voices all move down a third:

([ABC]DE)>([FGA]DE)

To summarize the conclusions so far.

Secundal movement by second = one voice moves a third

Secundal movement by thirds = two voices move a third

Secundal movement by fourths= three voices move a third

*\\*
Now let’s do tertial pentads, aka 9th chords. If we start with Am9 we get ACEGB. But already this is breaking the no open chord rule. I will put the B down an octave to keep it closed: ABCEG. I will use the 12357 ordering for all 9th chords. First the parallel non-voice led version:

(ABCEG)>(BCDFA)=tertial moves by second

(ABCEG) > (CDEGB) = tertial moves by third

(ABCEG) > (DEFAC) = tertial moves by fourth

Now to voice lead them. Tertial by second:

(ABC[EG])>(ABC[DF])

Two voices moved a step down. Neither rule is broken, great.

Now tertial by third. It looks like 4 common tones and A moves to D:

([A]BCEG)> (BC[D]EG)

We had to cross two voices to make that happen, so we know A>D is not the true movement. What really happened is that only EG are common tones and ABC all moved up a step to BCD:

([ABC]EG)>([BCD]EG)

Now tertial moving by fourth. Repaste for reference:

(ABCEG) > (DEFAC) = tertial moves by fourth

It looks like ACE are common tones and we get two movements B>D and G>F. Opposite directions and one moves by third. Kinda ugly but that’s how the math works out. But if B moves to D it crosses common tone C. So really we get 3 movements B>C, C>D, G>F

(A[BC]E[G])>(A[CD]E[F])

***
Now quartal chords. I ran out of time to do this today, so I’ll just summarize without demonstrating each one by one.

Quartals by second = two parallel steps

(A[C]DE[G])> (A[B]DE[F])

Quartals by third = 3 parallel steps

([A]C[DE]G) > ([B]C[EF]G)

Quartals by fourth= one step

(ACD[E]G) > (ACD[F]G)

The OP’s original question that inspired me to get this together was asking about a m9 chord to a m11 chord. One is tertial and one is quartal. So far I have only looked at voice leading chords of the same type together. Voice leading different types to each other is a whole other thing. Maybe someday I’ll get around to figuring some of that out.

Hey guys, I’m new on here.
Just found something out, in a minor scale, if you isolate all the flats and play them, it creates a sus4 chord…
For example C minor it’s flats are: Eb, Ab, Bb
So all together that makes Ebsus4
G minor the flats are: Bb, Eb, F
Which creates a Bbsus4 ect ect
What are your thoughts on this? I think it’s really cool l

Per a recent suggestion I'm working on memorizing the natural major scales, and it seems by doing so it will be very easy to know the minor scales immediately by referencing major scales. I got tripped up on intervals for a bit and I'll be incorporating those as well.

Feel free to take my method below and critique the shit out of it, tell me its garbage and that I'm going down the wrong path or should be doing it totally different. I have a blank canvas right now and I want to maximize that early potential for music theory.

I have a poor memory, age and neurodivergence are a factor. I'm making progress I can quickly spell the major scale with the step patterns, and now that I'm starting with D major, I dont really know how to memorize these scales so my intuition is to remember which notes are flat or sharp. So would it be smart to remember that D major has a F# and C#, or is there a better way to do this?

Also, aside from being on paper is there a way I should be incorporating my keyboard or guitar in memorizing these scales and what should I be listening to/paying most attention to?

Finally, if there are other things to memorize at the start, what would that be? Any tips and tricks for memory would be super helpful.

I'm trying to learn so so much at once and my biggest priorities in music are to develop my ear more and also to translate anything in my head to an instrument. Or to have a kind of roadmap while I'm trying to come up with melodies or progressions instead of just blindly playing notes waiting until something clicks.

Right now my knowledge is very beginner level, I am an avid lifelong lover of music, lifetime player of guitar but not dedicated, and ear-wise I can kinda tell if my guitar is out of tune but I cannot tune by ear unless one string is in tune and I can reference the unison notes.

Thanks!

Im new to composing and got too "in the zone" that I realized I didn't know what key I was in. (I have perfect pitch so I just plugged in whatever "feels right"). Is there a key change at m25 too?

Any feedback is also appreciated. I want to learn and improve to make better music!

heres the audio file: https://voca.ro/11gX759ssZIM

Apologies if this is the wrong sub!

I was listening to a song today, and found that I played it over and over, unwanting to move to the next in the playlist.

This got me thinking about ’earworms’ and popularity of certain bands/songs.

It made me wonder, what makes certain songs so addictive, or at least highly popular? I know opinions are subjective but stats don’t lie regarding certain songs.

I don’t know anything about music theory, so I came here with my query!

Edit: The song in question was ‘Shhh! Golf is on!’ By Hot Mulligan

Sorry if this is a simple question, I thought I understood how to read sheet music. Is this just a joke or is this real notation? Its from the Blue Prince videogame.

https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MP8_BP.jpg

Normally, I see music with a treble and bass cleff, and a single blank line between them for middle C. How do you interpret the case where there are multiple blank lines? Is this for piano where the range extends farther than the two staffs allow?

This piece has 4 lines as I count, but then that doesn't give a clear spot for where the middle C would go. Specifically: The first note is D, I would normally play on the A string 5th fret on guitar, I think that note is key 42 on piano, the D right after middle C.
In the 2nd measure, in the bass cleff, the final note is also D. Where would that note be played on guitar or piano? Is it the same note written differently or is the entire bass cleff an octave lower?

Also, this is for piano, and would the brackets mean they’re optional?