MUSIC THEORY for guitar

[00:00] it all starts with a single note which

[00:01] on its own isn't music but if you start

[00:03] playing it with a pulse or a rhythm

[00:05] we're getting a bit closer here now if

[00:06] the pitch which is how high or low it

[00:08] sounds goes up or down we get different

[00:10] notes play these different notes with

[00:11] rhythm you get a melody or if you were

[00:13] to play them all at the same time you

[00:15] get a chord and it's these three

[00:16] components that make up the base

[00:18] elements of music The Melody is the

[00:19] single note line it's the tune it's the

[00:21] thing that the singer would sing the

[00:23] chords make up what we call the Harmony

[00:24] and the rhythm is the pulse that this is

[00:26] set to as it unveils itself over time

[00:28] now between two notes there is a

[00:29] distance in their pitch this note is a

[00:31] little bit lower than this one this one

[00:33] is much higher than this one the space

[00:35] between two notes is called an interval

[00:36] and the smallest spacing that we'll

[00:38] concern oursel with is called the half

[00:40] step the distance between these two

[00:41] notes is a half step and we symbolize it

[00:43] with this marking on a guitar when you

[00:45] go from one fret to the one beside it

[00:48] same string either up or down that's the

[00:50] distance of a half step on piano when

[00:52] you go from one key to the key directly

[00:54] beside it that's a half step sometimes

[00:56] the half step takes you to a black key

[00:58] sometimes it takes you to a white key

[00:59] and as far as we're concerned the half

[01:00] step is the smallest musical interval

[01:03] next is unlocking scales so check out

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[01:32] intermediate to the advanced level now I

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[01:36] like where you go next with this music

[01:38] theory stuff soloing rhythm guitar

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[01:46] in the description I'd love to see you

[01:47] there so here's the thing if I pick up a

[01:49] guitar and I have no idea how music

[01:50] works there are so many places that I

[01:53] could put my fingers the options are

[01:55] overwhelming where do you even start

[01:57] well it's a major scale that begins to

[01:58] narrow these options down and most of us

[02:00] first learned this as do M fa so T do

[02:04] there's seven different notes the eighth

[02:05] note the second do is the same note as

[02:08] the first o but it's an octave higher

[02:10] which means it sounds the same it's just

[02:12] higher in Pitch now the easiest place to

[02:14] find this on the guitar is starting on

[02:17] the third fret of the a string and we're

[02:19] going to keep everything on one string

[02:20] for now for Simplicity sake and it's

[02:22] also important to point out that we give

[02:23] our musical notes names these names

[02:25] correspond with the letters of the

[02:27] alphabet from a to G if I go back to my

[02:29] third fret on the a string that musical

[02:31] note is called a

[02:33] c and I get a major scale if I first

[02:36] play that c then play the fifth fret

[02:39] seventh fret eighth fret 10th fret 12th

[02:45] fret 14th fret 15th fret and if we refer

[02:49] to these notes as the names from the

[02:50] musical alphabet C D E F G A B C on the

[02:59] piano it's all all the white notes from

[03:00] C to

[03:03] C and so what we've done here is we

[03:05] played a major scale starting on a C

[03:07] note ending on a C note and that's

[03:09] called a C major scale and the easiest

[03:11] way to start creating musical ideas or

[03:13] Melodies is take a scale like this one

[03:15] and start mixing around the notes from

[03:17] it and since all these notes are coming

[03:18] from the same place the c major scale or

[03:20] what we refer to as the key of C we hear

[03:23] order within them when they're playing

[03:24] close to each other listen to how it

[03:26] sounds as I jump around to different

[03:27] notes that all come from this place

[03:33] whereas if I jump around to unrelated

[03:35] notes it sounds like random

[03:37] chaos the major scale is one of the base

[03:40] elements of Music we build our entire

[03:41] system relating everything back to it so

[03:44] it's important to thoroughly analyze it

[03:45] and understand it so we've got our C

[03:47] major scale c d e f g a b c let's look

[03:52] at the musical spacing between each one

[03:54] of these notes and remember from one

[03:55] fret to the next is a half step when we

[03:57] go from our C to our d we're going up

[04:00] two Frets that's two half steps we can

[04:02] call that a whole step from C to d

[04:05] That's up two Frets that's a whole step

[04:07] from D to e also two Frets also a whole

[04:11] step but from E to

[04:13] F that's up one fret so that's a half

[04:16] step F to G whole step G to a whole Step

[04:22] A to

[04:23] B whole step B to C that's a half step

[04:27] and if you look at a C major scale in

[04:28] piano it's especially easy to visualize

[04:30] this so if two white notes have a black

[04:32] note between them they're a whole step

[04:33] apart if they don't have a black note

[04:35] they're a half step apart and so we've

[04:36] just unlocked the first big piece of

[04:38] this music theory puzzle the spacing in

[04:40] a C major scale is whole step whole step

[04:43] half step whole step whole step whole

[04:45] step half step this series of whole

[04:47] steps and half steps is actually

[04:49] Universal to all major scales if I start

[04:51] on any note and follow that set of

[04:53] spaces I'm going to get a major scale so

[04:55] why don't we try this starting on an f

[04:56] and we'll use a piano to visualize this

[04:58] one so we got our F then we need to up a

[05:00] whole step we go to the G perfect then

[05:02] we go up another whole step to the a

[05:04] it's all working and then we need a half

[05:06] step we've run into a problem here from

[05:07] the white key a to the white key B

[05:10] that's a whole step and we need a half

[05:11] step so what we do is instead of hitting

[05:13] that white button the B we go back to

[05:15] the black note between the A and the B

[05:17] this note is a lowered version of B so

[05:19] we call it a B flat and in doing so it

[05:21] gives us the half step that we need for

[05:23] that major scale pattern and having made

[05:24] that modification the rest of the notes

[05:26] all follow the pattern let's try another

[05:28] example using the guitar this time time

[05:29] we'll start on the G on the low E string

[05:31] which is the third fret we go up a whole

[05:34] step to the A and why don't we play the

[05:36] open a here same note different place so

[05:39] we have G whole step to the open a whole

[05:43] step to the B half step to the C

[05:46] everything's working great so far whole

[05:48] step to the D whole step to the e but if

[05:51] I go up to the F that's a half step and

[05:55] I need a whole step here so instead of

[05:56] playing the f i play the note that's a

[05:59] half step Higher One fret the fshp so

[06:03] now I have between my e FSH whole step F

[06:07] Shar to G half step and that all

[06:10] fulfills my major scale

[06:16] formula and playing things horizontally

[06:18] like this it's a little bit clunky on

[06:20] guitar what if we played it more

[06:22] vertically and I jumped up to the next

[06:24] string every time I could I would get

[06:26] this g a b c d e fshp g and I could keep

[06:34] on going up the neck g a b c d e f g so

[06:42] the first thing you do when you're

[06:43] creating music is you narrow down which

[06:46] notes you're going to be using by

[06:47] picking a scale to draw them from if I'm

[06:49] composing I pick a scale to start if I'm

[06:51] jamming with someone else we agree that

[06:53] we're going to be all drawing Notes From

[06:55] a Certain scale I mean watch as I come

[06:57] up with something using only notes from

[06:59] that g scale that we just worked

[07:00] [Music]

[07:04] out now there are 12 different notes

[07:07] that we can build a major scale off of

[07:09] and it would be a lot to think about if

[07:10] every time I went to play music I picked

[07:12] my note to make my major scale off of

[07:15] and then had to analyze the whole steps

[07:17] and the half steps to figure out which

[07:19] notes were available to me there's a big

[07:20] shortcut here and that's what we're

[07:21] looking at next how to spell any major

[07:23] scale what you're seeing here is called

[07:25] the circle of fourths and around this

[07:26] circle we have all 12 different notes

[07:29] and potential neutal key is and we can

[07:30] use this to figure out what scales have

[07:32] What notes remember C is the neutral key

[07:34] it has no sharps or flats but every

[07:36] scale on this side of the circle will

[07:39] have flat notes added to it and every

[07:41] note on this side of the circle we will

[07:42] add sharp notes so the D major scale for

[07:45] example has sharp notes in it a flat

[07:47] major has flats and to figure out how

[07:49] many notes are sharp or flat in the

[07:50] scale we count how far away we are from

[07:52] the neutral keyc so a for example which

[07:55] is on the sharp side of the circle is 1

[07:57] 2 three spaces away from C

[07:59] it will have three sharps in it d flat

[08:02] on the flat side of the circle being 1 2

[08:04] 3 4 five spaces away from c will have

[08:07] five flats in it and then to figure out

[08:08] which notes are sharp or which notes are

[08:10] flat we have two nonsense sayings that

[08:12] help us remember this for Sharp notes we

[08:14] use Father Charles goes down and ends

[08:16] battle if you need one sharpen a scale

[08:18] you take the first word father and take

[08:21] the first letter F that's the note that

[08:23] needs to be sharp fshp if you need two

[08:26] sharp notes in a scale you take the

[08:27] first two words Father Charles the first

[08:30] two letters of those two words are the

[08:32] sharp notes so you would have an FP and

[08:34] a CP three Sharps farther Charles goes

[08:37] FP C gsh and so on for Flats we're going

[08:40] to be doing the same thing here but we

[08:41] have a new phrase which goes battle ends

[08:43] and down goes Charles father if you

[08:45] needed four flats you take those first

[08:46] four words battle ends and down B flat E

[08:50] flat a flat and d flat and those would

[08:52] be the flat notes in your scale so let's

[08:54] do an example here we're going to pick a

[08:55] key and figure out what notes are in it

[08:57] from top to bottom how about I don't

[08:59] know e major so first I see that e is on

[09:01] the left side of the circle so I'll be

[09:03] adding Sharps it's 1 2 3 four spaces

[09:05] away from C so I'll be adding four

[09:07] sharps the first four words of my Sharp

[09:09] saying are Father Charles goes down f c

[09:12] Shar G sharp dsharp so in order to play

[09:14] an E major scale I would make those

[09:16] notes sharp let's see if it works e f g

[09:19] Shar a b csharp dsharp back to e and

[09:24] with this information you can now spell

[09:26] any major scale now when you listen to a

[09:27] major scale it has an inherent

[09:29] joy and happiness to it but music's

[09:32] definitely not always happy you

[09:33] sometimes hear a sad dark character and

[09:36] this is called minor and when you listen

[09:38] to this set of notes it has that

[09:40] Melancholy built into

[09:42] [Music]

[09:46] it that is the minor scale let's start

[09:48] breaking it down we'll keep things all

[09:50] on the a string and to get the minor

[09:52] scale we go open a b c d e f

[09:59] G A and on the piano it's all the way

[10:02] keys from an A to an

[10:04] [Music]

[10:06] A and when we go and analyze our

[10:09] spacings we see that from the first to

[10:10] second note we have a whole

[10:12] step then a half step then a whole step

[10:17] whole step half step whole step and then

[10:22] a whole step if you start on any note

[10:25] and play this set of spacings you get a

[10:27] minor scale and if we look at the notes

[10:28] from the C major scale and the notes

[10:30] from the a minor scale we'll see that

[10:32] it's actually all the same notes just

[10:35] organized slightly differently there

[10:37] must be some relation between these two

[10:38] right the c major scale is the relative

[10:40] major to a minor and the a minor scale

[10:43] is the relative minor to C major every

[10:45] major scale has a relative minor with

[10:47] the same set of notes and vice versa as

[10:49] you can see I've laid them all out now

[10:51] on the circle of fourths you can take

[10:52] any major scale start it on the sixth

[10:54] note play it to the sixth note an octave

[10:56] higher and you've got its relative minor

[10:58] and now you know how to spell any minor

[11:00] scale next step in unlocking the

[11:01] mysteries of music is playing multiple

[11:03] notes at the same time or playing chords

[11:05] to start looking at this we're going to

[11:06] bring back our nice neutral scale C

[11:08] major so what we're going to do is we're

[11:09] going to pick any note from the scale to

[11:11] be the lowest note in our chord it's the

[11:13] note that we're going to build things

[11:14] off of we call this the root note we'll

[11:15] start with the c and what we're going to

[11:17] do is we're going to skip over the next

[11:19] note in the scale the D then go up to

[11:22] the E and we're going to play this e

[11:25] alongside our root note C now on guitar

[11:28] I have bit of a problem because I can't

[11:30] play these two notes at the same time

[11:32] since they're on the same string so what

[11:33] I'll do is I'm going to take this e note

[11:36] play it

[11:37] here and when I play these two notes

[11:39] together I get this sound so to this

[11:42] point we have the root note C and then

[11:45] this next note that we've added to the

[11:46] chord the third note in the scale is

[11:47] called the third these are two pieces of

[11:50] a chord they are the root and the third

[11:54] but we're going to keep adding here and

[11:55] to do so we continue up the scale in the

[11:57] same way so we were at the e skip over

[12:00] the next note on the scale the F and

[12:03] then take the next note the G and add

[12:06] that to our root in our third so now we

[12:08] have c e and now

[12:12] G and now we have three notes in our

[12:15] chord we have the C root note we have

[12:17] the E which is the third and the g which

[12:19] we call the fifth root third fifth and

[12:23] these three notes make up what's called

[12:25] a major Triad let's do some analysis

[12:27] here from our C root to the third e

[12:31] we're going up 1 2 3 four Frets four

[12:34] half steps which is two whole steps and

[12:37] we call the spacing of two whole steps a

[12:39] major 3 so from the root to the third is

[12:43] the musical interval of a major third

[12:45] from the third of our chord E to the

[12:47] fifth G we're going up 1 2 three Frets

[12:52] three half steps three halves makes one

[12:54] and a half whole steps that spacing is

[12:57] called a minor third and so when the

[12:58] spacing from the root to the thir is a

[13:01] major third and from the third to the

[13:03] fifth is a minor third that gives us a

[13:06] major Triad and it's called major

[13:08] because it has that happy tonality and

[13:10] it's called a Triad because it has three

[13:12] different notes in it now let's try the

[13:13] same thing off of the next note in our

[13:15] scale the D that becomes the root note

[13:17] we skip following note in the scale the

[13:19] E add the next one F so the F becomes

[13:23] the third we have a d and an

[13:26] F go back to the F skip over the next

[13:29] note in the scale which is the G and

[13:31] then add the a to the chord so now we

[13:33] have the D the F and the a now already

[13:36] we can tell that this chord sounds quite

[13:38] a bit different and that's because this

[13:40] is a Minor triad let's take a closer

[13:42] look at it from the D to the F we're

[13:44] going up three Frets so that is a minor

[13:47] third spacing here and from the F to the

[13:49] a we're going up four Frets that is a

[13:52] major third spacing so our spacings from

[13:54] the root to the third of the chord are a

[13:56] minor third and our spacing from the

[13:58] Third to the fifth are a major third and

[14:00] when you have a chord with this spacing

[14:02] It's A Minor triad and if we compare

[14:04] this chord to a major Triad we see that

[14:06] the distance between the root and the

[14:08] fifth stays the same however from the

[14:10] root to the third in the Minor triad the

[14:12] third is a half step lower than it is in

[14:14] the major Triad and so in A Minor triad

[14:16] we refer to the third as the flat third

[14:18] or the minor third which gives us root

[14:20] flat thir Fifth and these two Triads the

[14:23] major and minor Triad form the basis for

[14:26] just about all the harmony that one will

[14:28] ever come across and we continued at the

[14:29] major scale doing the same thing we get

[14:31] a Minor triad off of the E major Triad

[14:34] off of the

[14:36] F major Triad off of the G Minor triad

[14:40] off of the A and then off of the B

[14:43] something interesting

[14:45] happens for this B Triad the notes are b

[14:48] d and f from B to d That's a minor third

[14:51] spacing and from D to F that's also a

[14:54] minor third spacing which is unlike

[14:56] anything else we've come across so far

[14:57] so this chord has a root a flat third

[15:00] but now it also has a flat Fifth and

[15:02] when you come across a chord with these

[15:04] notes this spacing that's called a

[15:06] diminished Triad diminish Triads aren't

[15:08] nearly as common as the major and minor

[15:10] chords but it is worth acknowledging

[15:12] their existence and so now we have all

[15:14] the different Triads available to us in

[15:16] the key of C and much like how you can

[15:18] make a Melody picking out notes and

[15:19] mixing and matching them from this scale

[15:22] you can create a chord progression by

[15:23] mixing and matching these chords

[15:26] C A minor

[15:29] E

[15:30] minor F D minor G C and you might be

[15:36] thinking well wait a second Sammy G I

[15:38] was watching your fingers there and you

[15:39] weren't just playing three notes for

[15:41] those chords what's going on so assuming

[15:43] that you're keeping the root note as the

[15:45] lowest note in your chord you can take

[15:47] some liberties with the other notes you

[15:49] can double them move them up in octave

[15:50] and it doesn't really affect the

[15:51] character of the chord like take the

[15:53] open C campfire chord for example we

[15:55] have a c e and a g that's our Bas Triad

[15:59] but then we also have another C here and

[16:01] then we have another

[16:03] G or check out the c bar chord with this

[16:06] we have a c g c now we get an e there's

[16:11] the G and another C we still only have

[16:15] C's e and G's the C is the lowest but

[16:17] the other notes kind of get flipped

[16:18] around and duplicated and so like the

[16:20] spacings of the major scale are

[16:22] Universal for all major scales the

[16:24] series of chords that we use here

[16:27] applies to all major scales as well any

[16:29] major scale the first chord will be

[16:30] major the second chord will be minor

[16:32] third minor fourth major fifth major

[16:35] sixth minor seventh diminish Tri and if

[16:37] we bring minor scales into the mix well

[16:39] we know that the notes between a

[16:40] relative major and it's relative minor

[16:42] are the same set of notes well the

[16:44] chords that we attach onto these notes

[16:46] stays the same let me show you what I

[16:48] mean we know the chords in C major and

[16:49] all the chords in a minor stay the same

[16:51] they're just a different order so now

[16:53] you can take any key you know which

[16:54] notes are available to you in it you

[16:56] know why they're available to you and

[16:57] you can start using those to build a you

[16:59] also know what chords are available to

[17:00] make a chord progression to make your

[17:02] Harmony you combine your Melody with

[17:04] your Harmony set it to a rhythm and

[17:06] you're making music and right there you

[17:07] have the core principles of

[17:09] understanding music that first piece of

[17:10] the puzzle is laid out for you you can

[17:13] speak the same language as everyone else

[17:15] who knows this stuff and the more time

[17:16] you spend with music the more you

[17:17] realize that all the stuff that we just

[17:19] looked at is merely the most common

[17:21] expectation but it would be incredibly

[17:24] boring if everything just followed the

[17:25] expectation music often toes this fine

[17:27] line between expect and surprise and

[17:30] balancing both Keeps Us engaged this is

[17:32] really just the beginning but what I

[17:34] would encourage you to do is going

[17:35] forward try to see your musical world

[17:37] through this theoretical lens that we've

[17:39] started to unravel today look at chord

[17:41] progressions look at Melodies and ask

[17:43] yourself do these make sense with what

[17:44] I've learned so far if it does great if

[17:46] not well it's cuz there's always another

[17:48] puzzle on the horizon to solve and the

[17:50] more puzzles you solve the more you

[17:52] realize the more of them there are out

[17:54] there ladies and gentlemen there you

[17:56] have it that is the foundation of Music

[17:57] Theory if you're looking for more more

[17:59] in-depth look at this stuff I've got a

[18:00] chorus on that if you're looking for the

[18:01] next steps in music theory I've got a

[18:03] chorus on that I've got courses on

[18:04] soloing rhythm guitar and a bunch more

[18:06] now I also do weekly lessons in the

[18:07] samurai guitar dojo and for Black Friday

[18:09] if you sign up for that you're going to

[18:10] gain access to all my other courses as

[18:13] part of the monthly membership it's only

[18:14] $7.50 a month you can gain access using

[18:17] the link in the description until next

[18:18] time thank you all for watching look

[18:20] after yourselves look after each other

[18:21] look after the planet I'm Sam Ray

[18:23] guitarist and I'll see you again soon