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howdoistudy

Learn music theory by building the chord and hearing it

Music theory · harmonyC
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C→EM3E→Gm3

That is C. The name is not a fact about these keys: it is a description of the gaps, which is why moving the whole shape up a key renames it and changes nothing about how it sounds.

Click the keys or the staff and the chord is named from its intervals, with a slash showing the lowest note.

Music theory is two notations and a lot of naming, and people stall between what they read and what they play. The names are not arbitrary. A chord is a set of distances, and its name describes them. The block below builds a chord from either notation, names it and plays it, so a major third is something you hear.

What people come here to do

You describe the goal in your own words and the plan asks questions back until it is one you would follow. Goals usually look like these.

  • “Understand the theory behind the instrument I already play”
  • “Read a lead sheet without decoding every chord symbol”
  • “Pass a grade exam that has a theory paper”
  • “Write my own progressions rather than copying them”

What a music theory plan covers

There is no fixed syllabus. The plan is built around your goal and drops what it does not need. These are the topics it draws from.

  • Intervals, and why the names are distances
  • Scales, keys and the circle of fifths
  • Triads, sevenths and inversions
  • Harmonic function and cadences
  • Voice leading and part writing
  • Rhythm, metre and notation