Fundamentals
Relative and Parallel Keys Explained: Major and Minor Partners
A major key has two close minor partners. The relative minor shares its key signature, the parallel minor shares its tonic, and each pair connects keys in a different way.
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Glossary
- KeyThe tonic and scale that a passage centres on, against which its notes and chords are heard.
- Key signatureThe sharps or flats written after the clef that set which notes are altered throughout a piece unless…
- Parallel keyThe major or minor key with the same tonic, such as C major and C minor, which differ in key signature and…
- Relative keyThe major or minor key that shares the same key signature, with its tonic a minor third above or below.
- Borrowed chordA chord taken from the parallel major or minor key, such as iv or ♭VI in a major key, which adds colour…
- Major scaleA seven-note scale with the pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, which is the basis of…
- Minor scaleA family of seven-note scales with a minor third above the tonic, existing in natural, harmonic and melodic…
- ModulationA change of tonal centre in which the music settles into a new key with its own tonic and cadence, often…
Articles
Fundamentals
Circle of Fifths Explained: Keys, Signatures, Changes
The circle of fifths organizes every key by signature and closeness. How to read it, memorize it, and use it for modulation and chord choice.
Tuning & Temperament
Meantone and Well Temperament: Why Keys Used to Sound Different
Quarter-comma meantone, the wolf fifth and the well temperaments in between: what keyboard tuning did to each key before equal temperament settled the argument.
Harmony
Modulation: How a Key Change Is Confirmed
A modulation is not a chromatic chord; it is a new key confirmed by cadence. The routes into one, and how to read them off the page.
Fundamentals
Key Signatures and the Order of Sharps and Flats
Sharps arrive in the order F C G D A E B and flats in reverse. The order is the circle of fifths written out, one signature at a time.
Guitar & Fretboard
Capo and Transposition: How a Capo Changes the Key
A capo raises every open string by one semitone per fret, so a G shape played at fret 2 sounds in A. This shows how to find the sounding key and how to choose a capo position.
Harmony
Diatonic Chords in Major and Minor Keys Explained
Diatonic chords are the triads built on each scale degree from the key's own notes. Here are their qualities in major and minor, worked out in C and A.
Music History
The Rise of Functional Tonality: From Modes to Keys
Around 1600 the bass became the foundation of harmony and the modal system narrowed to two keys. What changed in the documents, and what the change cost.
Fundamentals
The Major Scale Formula: Whole and Half Steps Explained
The major scale is seven notes spaced whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Here is the formula, four scales built from it, and the sharps and flats it forces.
Songwriting & Composition
Common Chord Progressions: Loops, Numerals and Why They Work
The chord loops that songwriters reuse most, in Roman numerals and in the keys of C and G, with the reasons they work and how to vary them.
Fundamentals
How to Read Sheet Music: Staves, Clefs and Note Names
The staff, the treble and bass clefs, line and space names, ledger lines, and where the key and time signatures sit, with a table to learn from.
Ear Training & Practice
How to Transcribe Music by Ear: A Step-by-Step Procedure
Transcribe by ear in a fixed order: key and bass first, then chords by root and quality, then the melody by scale degree, and rhythm last.
Fundamentals
Scale Degrees Explained: Numbers, Names and Solfège
Scale degrees number each note of a scale from its tonic, and solfège names the same positions do, re, mi. Degree names, movable and fixed do, and why degrees travel between keys.
Harmony
The ii V I Progression in Major, Minor and Jazz Styles
Why ii V I is the backbone of tonal music: voice leading, turnarounds, minor-key forms, and the jazz reharm toolkit.
Harmony
The Neapolitan Sixth Chord: Sound, Spelling, Resolution
The flat-II chord that darkens minor keys: how the Neapolitan sixth is built, voiced, resolved, and used from Bach to Schubert.
Form
Rondo Form: How Refrains and Episodes Structure a Movement
Rondo form alternates a returning refrain with contrasting episodes. Learn classical key plans, sonata-rondo hybrids, and why refrains return altered.
Harmony
Figured Bass: Reading Intervals Above the Bass Line
Figures name intervals above the bass, not chords. What each shorthand means, how accidentals override the key, and what the player decides.
Music History
Romantic Chromaticism and the Expanding Tonic
Chromatic harmony widened a key without leaving it: the resources that do the work, the Tristan chord, and how to analyse it without over-labelling.
Form
Sonata Form: The Tonal Plot
Sonata form is a tonal argument, not a set of labelled boxes. What matters is which key you are in, and how the music gets home again.
Guitar & Fretboard
Barre Chords Explained: The E Shape and the A Shape
A barre chord is an open chord moved up the neck. The E shape and the A shape are the two to learn first, and each one is built from its open chord by a simple rule of offsets.
Guitar & Fretboard
CAGED System Explained: Five Shapes That Cover the Neck
CAGED turns five open chords into movable shapes. This explains how the shapes connect, how to name a moved chord from its root string, and how to find one chord in several places.
Jazz & Popular Harmony
Chord Extensions Explained: Ninths, Elevenths and Thirteenths
Ninths, elevenths and thirteenths are chord tones stacked above the seventh. Which of them fit a chord depends on its quality, and some clash with the third.
Jazz & Popular Harmony
Chord-Scale Theory Explained: Which Scale Fits Which Chord
Chord-scale theory pairs each chord quality with a scale whose notes fit it. This article gives the pairings, the spellings in C, and the notes to avoid.
Harmony
Chord Symbols Explained: Major, Minor, Seventh and Slash Chords
A chord symbol names the root, the quality, the extra notes and the bass. Here is how to read Cmaj7, C7, Cm7, C/E and C7b9, and the notes each one contains.
Rhythm & Meter
Compound Meter: 6/8 vs 3/4 and How to Hear the Difference
Six eighth notes per bar can group as 3+3 in 6/8 or 2+2+2 in 3/4. Accent, contour, hemiola and conducting show which grouping you are hearing.
Ear Training & Practice
Ear Training for Intervals: A Method You Can Practise Daily
Interval recognition comes faster with a method: three intervals tied to a tonic, sung before they are named, and a short daily routine you can keep.
Music History
Gregorian Chant and Neumes: How Early Scribes Wrote Melody
Gregorian chant is unaccompanied Latin liturgical song. Neumes were the signs that recorded its melodies, first showing only the direction of movement and later placed on lines.
Guitar & Fretboard
Guitar Fretboard Note Names: Learn the Neck String by String
Every fret is one semitone, so the fretboard is a grid of note names. This covers standard tuning, the landmark frets and a two-week routine for learning the whole neck.
Songwriting & Composition
How to Write a Melody Over Chords, Note by Note
Put chord tones on strong beats, approach tension notes by step, and keep the line singable. A worked melody over C, G, Am and F shows each choice.
Jazz & Popular Harmony
Jazz Chord Voicings: Shell and Rootless Voicings Explained
Shell and rootless voicings keep the third and seventh of each chord and leave room for a bass player. Worked examples use Dm7, G7 and Cmaj7.
Pages
Key guides
- A major keyThree sharps · relative F♯ minor
- A minor keyNo sharps or flats · relative C major
- A♭ major keyFour flats · relative F minor
- B major keyFive sharps · relative G♯ minor
- B minor keyTwo sharps · relative D major
- B♭ major keyTwo flats · relative G minor
- B♭ minor keyFive flats · relative D♭ major
- C major keyNo sharps or flats · relative A minor