Major and Minor Keys (Music Theory)

More music theory! Working on major and minor keys this time. This is a pretty good place to start if you're new to music theory, but you'll need to know what "whole step" and "half step" means. If you're not sure, I explained it in this video: http://youtu.be/5Y01jIorpeA That video is also good if you'd like to start learning about chords, which you'll want to know anyway for when we start fitting everything together for chord progressions, melodies, and just songwriting/improvising in general.

Also, in mostly-unrelated news, I just finished creating an iPhone game. It's called Bird Jumper, it's on the App Store, it's free, and you should check it out. I wrote the music for it too, so it's kinda relevant :)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bird-j...

• Category

  Education

[iwishiwasjonforeman]

Guys, I think you should all think of the major and minor keys as basically THE SAME THING. Think about it - a major key and its relative minor key use the same notes and the same chords (if you stick with the natural minor). In fact, you can even play melodies/solos in a major key using its relative minor scale (and the other way around)! The only difference is that they use different patterns, for example the scales. That should free you up and help you understand their relationship.

[Michael New]

I know a lot of people think this way, but I really don't recommend it. I teach them as two different things because they really are fundamentally different. Even though a relative major/minor key pair shares the same notes, they have a different root, and every single note plays a completely different role. Playing the note B in C major has a completely different effect than playing it in A minor, and if you try to think of them as the same thing then you won't understand the difference at all.

[nespio01]

for every one of your videos I watch, I take notes

[Michael New]

Ha, cool. I'm kind of curious what they look like.

[Sonny Alves]

i see a lot of teacher to learn keys, you the smartest way, thanks

[Polish2075]

thank you :)

[jacoboi]

great vid, thanx

[matcstudent1]

P.S.

I've yet to do the "3rd pass notes" (pun intended).

I'm thinking to capture some of the white-boarded ideas, along with some of the definitions and examples.

For instance:

major chord

---------------

def := root + III + V

alt :== root + M3 + M3

mnemonic := "Major chords are a major 5th on top of a major 3rd"

[matcstudent1]

I take notes the 2nd or 3rd time I view each video.

On the first pass through each lesson, I try to absorb the "key" points (groan) Michael is making, at least at a cursory level.

After the first time through, I "plink away" for a while, exploring the concept just presented, to try and "hear the feel" what was just presented.

On the second viewing of each video, I'll take some "scribbled notes" on 4x6 index cards as mnemonics for practice. I shuffle the note cards to vary my practice drills.

[Larry Diamond]

Wonderful video. 10 years of piano lessons some 40 years ago and I finally understand some theory. Thanks. Keep it up.

[HELLAMACHOPPER]

same here. Three videos and 5 pages full of smashed notes and detailed scribbles haha

[Dj Nvs]

Great videos.. I took piano lessons for 1 year when i was 11, and now 22 years later, you are explaining it way better than my piano teacher ever did haha

[matcstudent1]

Your bicycle is in the background.

Stage props often help engage viewers and clarify exposition.

Bike wheels usually have 30, 32, or 36 spokes.

Challenge: Can you use your bike wheel's "cyclicity" (groan..) of the circle of fifths (or fourths) to demonstrate how key changes leave all the relationships among intervals unchanged, and merely "rotate" the position of the starting point?

[matcstudent1]

I know you're an expert, because "experts make difficult things seem simple", and you make music theory seem simple, just as great math teachers and great science teachers make their topics seem simple.

For example, "major chords consist of a root note, the root note's major third, and the root note's perfect fifth." Simple!

"Minor chords consist of a root note, a MINOR third and a perfect fifth". Likewise for augmented and diminished chords.

I like simple rules that always work!

K.U.T.G.W!