Ge;ng Started

With Music Theory

Let’s start with the basics

So…What is a note?

All sound is caused by vibra&on. What we call a musical note is a sound of a specific
and stable pitch, meaning a specific and stable vibraAon.

How high or how low a note sounds depends on the frequency of the vibra&ons.
The higher the frequency of the vibraAons, the higher the pitch of the note, and vice
versa.

If you double the frequency of a note, you have gone up an octave. This means the
note will sound the same, but higher (if this sounds odd to you, you just have to try it
for yourself to understand). This also means means if you halve the frequency of a
note, you have gone down an octave, which sounds the same but lower. For
example, the note ‘A’ roughly in the middle of your keyboard will vibrate 440 Ames a
second, the ‘A’ above it 880 Ames a second, and the one below it 220 Ames a second
(vibraAons per second are measured in ‘Hertz’, shortened to ‘Hz’).

The Scale
When you look at a keyboard, you see a repeaAng paQern of 12 notes.

This is because in Western music we divide the octave in to 12 equal steps.

Even though we use just 12 notes in our music, our major and minor scales only use
7 notes. This is why when you have gone through all 7 notes of the scale and get
back to the same note, it is called an octave, meaning 8 (think of words like ‘octagon’,
‘octopus’ etc.).
So as you might have guessed, if we are not using all the notes when playing a scale,
we are skipping certain notes, meaning some of the distances between notes will be
bigger than others (the distance between any two notes is called an interval). To
move to the nearest note is to move a semitone, and to go one step further than this
(the distance of two semitones) is called a tone.

So for example, C to C sharp is a semitone:

and C to D is a tone:

Tones and semitones are also referred to as whole-steps and half-steps, but here
we’ll refer to them as tones and semitones, represented by T and S.

What makes a scale sound like a scale?

What makes musical scales sound different from one another is that they have their
own paQerns of tones and semitones. The major scale, which is the basis for most
music you hear, has this paQern of intervals: T T S T T T S. If you start the paQern on
the note C on a keyboard, you end up playing all the white notes.

C D E F G A B C

T T S T T T S
Whatever note you start playing on, this paQern of intervals will create a major scale,
just using a different set of notes. The only difference is that it will sound higher or
lower. Other scales, like the minor scale, have their own paQern of tones and
semitones.

Key signatures
As we have just seen, playing all the white notes on a piano starAng on C gives you
the major scale. All the notes in the C major scale are in the key of C major. If we
play the notes of a major scale starAng on a different note, say G, those notes are in
the key of G major. Simple, right?
Let’s have a look at the G major scale. Remember, that means we start on G and
move up the interval paQern T T S T T T S. You’ll see that we now have one of the
black notes in our major scale, an F sharp.

F#

G A B C D E G

So in the key of G major, there is one sharp, F. If we start on the note D and do the
same thing, our scale has two sharps, F and C, meaning that the key of D has two
sharps.

F# C#

D E G A B D

You see, it’s all preQy simple! Remember, when going up a major scale all the notes
go up alphabe&cally, whether they are sharp or flat. This is why in the D major scale
there is an F sharp and not a G flat, as it is the next note up from E and it is before G.
Other scales will use flats instead of sharps, for the same reason. For example, the
notes in F major are F, G A, B flat, C, D, E. It has to be B flat, not A sharp (even
though they sound the same), because it appears between A and C in the scale.

Minor scales and keys

Aber the major scale, the next most important and commonly used is the minor
scale. To play a minor scale, start on the note A and move up the white notes.

A B C D E F G A

T S T T S T T

You can see that this has its own paQern of tones and semitones, which is why it
sounds different to the major scale.
There are a few variaAons of the minor scale. This most basic version is called the
natural minor scale. Just as we saw with the major scale, the notes of a natural minor
scale form the minor key. So all the notes in the scale of A minor are in the key of A
minor.

You may have noAced that A minor has all the same notes as the key of C major. This
is because they are rela&ve keys: A minor is the rela&ve minor of C major. To find the
relaAve minor of any major key, you simply start on the sixth posiAon of the scale.
For another example, the relaAve minor of G major is E minor.

Intervals
As we saw earlier, the distance in pitch between two notes is called an interval. Let’s
have a look at the differences between the intervals in major and minor scales.

The first difference appears on the 3rd note of the scale. In a major scale, the third
note of the scale is 4 semitones up from the root, or tonic, of the scale. In a minor
scale, it is only 3 semitones up from the root. That’s why the interval of 3 semitones
is called a minor 3rd and 4 semitones a major 3rd.

C to E flat = Minor 3rd C to E = Major 3rd

Remember, a minor interval is always one semitone flaPer than its major
counterpart.

In both minor and major scales the 4th and 5th of the scale remain the same size
interval from the root. There is no minor 4th, or major 5th, for example. These
intervals are called perfect. C to F is a perfect 4th, and C to G is a perfect 5th.

In minor scales, both the 6th and 7th of the scale are minor intervals, meaning they
are one semitone flaQer than their major counterparts. In the key of C minor, the 6th
and 7th notes are A flat and B flat, and in C major the 6th and 7th notes are A
natural and B natural.

C to A flat = C to A =
Minor 6th Major 6th

C to B flat = C to B =
Minor 7th Major 7th
Chords
Chords are simply a collecAon of notes played simultaneously. The most common
types of chord are built with three notes, so are therefore called a triad (no relaAon
to the Chinese mafia). Triads are typically made out of stacked 3rds. For a nice, clear
demonstraAon of what this means, simply play a C on a piano, play the 3rd above it,
the E, and then play the 3rd above that, the G.

This is a major chord, or major triad. This is because the note in the middle, the 3rd,
is a major 3rd. If you lower it a semitone to a minor 3rd you get…you guessed it, a
minor triad. The 1st and the 5th of the chord are the same, it is only the 3rd that is
different.

If you build triads on every posiAon of the major scale, using just the notes in that
scale, this is the sequence of chords you create:

Major - Minor - Minor - Major - Major - Minor - Diminished

Ah yes, the diminished triad, I’m sure you noAced it. This is like a minor triad, except
the 5th of the chord is flaPened by one semitone. As we said earlier, fibhs are not
described as major or minor. If a fibh is lowered by a semitone, it is diminished,
hence the name of the chord. (If the 5th is raised by a semitone, it is augmented)

The most commonly used and most important chords in a major key are the ones
build on the 1st, 4th and 5th posiAons of the scale. In C major, these chords are C
major, F major and G major.
Key signatures and the Circle of Fibhs
So, we’ve already seen that C major has no sharps or flats, just the white notes on
the piano (the naturals). We’ve also seen that if you go to G, which happens to be
the fiTh note of the C major scale, the G major scale/key has one sharp, F. Go up a
fibh again, which takes you to D, and the key of D has two sharps, F and C. Well,
guess what? If you go up another 5th, to the note A… the key of A has three sharps,
F, C and G. And I’m sure that you’ll be staggered to learn that the key of E, a fibh
away from A, has four sharps! F, C, G and D! And so on…

This paQern is called the Circle of FiThs, and it’s preQy useful to get your head
around. We’ve seen that going up in perfect fibhs adds a sharp to your key signature.
Well, guess what going down a fibh does? It adds a flat to your key signature! (Or
removes a sharp, depending on what key you are in)

If you go down a fibh from C, you get to F, and the key of F major has one flat, B flat.
Go down a fibh from there you get to B flat, which has two flats in its key signature,
B flat and E flat. And so on and so on.

You can see that it is a very neat and logical system. There is a nice big picture of the
circle of fibhs in the glossary for you to wrap your head around. AdmiQedly, it does
look a liQle daunAng… If you find it confusing and difficult at first, don’t worry. Just
persevere, and it will all make sense soon enough. Once you understand it well,
understanding and navigaAng key signatures will be a doddle.

Conclusion

Everything covered here is essenAal knowledge if you want to really understand

music. If you are new to the world of music theory, then hopefully the last 25
minutes or so have been very enlightening! But trust me, you’ve sAll got a lot more
to learn: this really just scratches the surface.

If you are serious about music educaAon, and want to improve your skills as a
composer, make sure to check out our list of Premium courses, which you can see
here: hQps://thinkspaceeducaAon.com/courses/

Thank you for reading, and happy composing!

The ThinkSpace Team

 Glossary
Augmented - If an interval is increased by one semitone, it is augmented. This
generally doesn’t apply to major and minor intervals, but the ‘perfect’ intervals. For
example, C to G sharp is an augmented 5th, C to F sharp is an augmented 4th etc.
An ‘augmented chord’ (or ‘augmented triad’) is a major triad with an augmented 5th.
So a C augmented chord has the notes C - E - G♯.

Circle of fibhs - See diagram at the end.

Diminished - If an interval is decreased by one semitone, it is diminished. This

generally doesn’t apply to major and minor intervals, but the ‘perfect’ intervals. For
example, C to G flat is a diminished 5th. A ‘diminished chord’ (or ‘diminished triad’) is
a minor triad with a diminished 5th. So a C diminished chord has the notes
C - E♭- G♭.

Enharmonic - DescripAve of two notes of the same pitch but of different

funcAon. For example, G flat and F sharp are ‘enharmonic equivalents’, meaning they
have the same pitch but are used in different contexts.

Flat - Represented by this symbol:♭. It indicates a lowering in pitch by one

semitone. So, to flaQen the note E would give you the note E ♭.

Half-step - The American term for ‘semitone’.

Hertz - Shortened to Hz, this is the standard measurement of the frequency of

pitch. One Hz means one vibraAon per second. So if you see the note A described as
440 Hz, this means there are 440 vibraAons per second.

Interval - The distance in pitch between any two notes is an interval. This is
generally done with numbers represenAng the distance between the notes along the
scale, preceded by a descripAon as either major, minor, perfect, augmented or
diminished, depending on the interval. For example, C to D is a major 2nd, C to E♭
is a minor 3rd, C to F is perfect 4th, C to G♯ is an augmented 5th, and C to G♭is a
diminished 5th. The terms ‘semitone’ and ‘tone’ also relate to intervals.
 Intervals can either be ‘harmonic’ or ‘melodic’. Harmonic means they are played at
the same Ame, and melodic means the notes are played following each other
sequenAally. For example, if I play C and E at the same Ame that is a harmonic
interval, and if I play them one aber the other that is a melodic interval.

An interval can be described as ‘compound’ if you make it an octave bigger. For

example, C to E (the octave above) is a compound major 3rd.

Key - The key of a piece of music refers to the group of notes it uses. A key is
either major or minor, meaning that is based on a major or minor scale. For example,
if something is in the key of G major it uses the notes of the G major scale. A note
used in that piece that falls outside the key is known as an ‘accidental’ (even when it
is on purpose).

Natural - This simply refers to a note that is not sharp or flat, such as the white
notes on a piano. It is represented by the symbol

Octave - An interval between one musical pitch and another with double its
frequency, equivalent to 12 semitones. Notes an octave apart have the same note
name. So to go up (or down) an octave from G for example will take to G.

Perfect - DescripAve of an interval that is neither major or minor. This relates to

the fourth, the fibh, the octave and the unison (to play in unison is to play the same
note at the exact same pitch).

RelaAve key - Major keys have relaAve minor keys, and minor keys have
relaAve major keys. A relaAve key uses the same set of notes, but starts at a different
point along the scale, therefore it has its own paQern of tones and semitones. A
major scale has the interval paQern of T T S T T T S. A minor scale begins on the 6th
posiAon of the major scale (in C major this is on the note A), and therefore has the
interval paQern T S T T S T T.

Semitone - The smallest interval typically used in Western music, equal to one
twelbh of an octave, or half a tone. On a piano the distance of a semitone would be
the nearest key, on a guitar it would be the nearest fret, etc. It is the same interval as
a minor 2nd.

Sharp - Represented by this symbol: ♯. It indicates a heightening in pitch by one

semitone. So, to sharpen the note D would give you the note D♯.
Tone - An interval equivalent to two semitones. It is the same interval as a major
2nd.

Tonic - The root note of a scale or key. For example, in the key of D major, the
tonic is D.

Whole-step - The American term for ‘tone’.

The Circle of Fibhs: