Music Theory
Music Theory Fundamentals
Learn to read and play music on the piano. 25 short lessons, one idea each: read it, practise it on a piano in your browser, prove it, and answer three questions. Free, no account.
- 1 The Piano Keyboard Layout Identifying the black key groups
- 2 Reading the Staff Five lines, and the clef that names them
- 3 The White Keys Naming notes C through G
- 4 Completing the Musical Alphabet Naming notes A and B
- 5 Half Steps and Whole Steps The distance between keys
- 6 The Sharp Sign Raising a note's pitch
- 7 The Flat Sign Lowering a note's pitch
- 8 The C Major Scale Your first 8-note scale
- 9 The G Major Scale Introducing your first sharp
- 10 The F Major Scale Introducing your first flat
- 11 Understanding Key Signatures Reading sharps and flats at a glance
- 12 The Natural A Minor Scale The relative minor concept
- 13 Melodic Intervals Seconds and thirds
- 14 Harmonic Intervals Fourths, fifths, and sixths
- 15 Major Triads Building bright three-note chords
- 16 Minor Triads Building sad three-note chords
- 17 Arpeggios and Chord Patterns Breaking chords into melodies
- 18 Chord Progressions The I–IV–V that powers a thousand songs
- 19 Note Values and Rhythm Whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes
- 20 Dotted Notes and Ties Making a note longer
- 21 Four Beats in a Bar What the 4/4 at the start means
- 22 The D Major Scale Building a scale with two sharps
- 23 Chord Inversions Rearranging the notes of a triad
- 24 The Dominant Seventh Chord A four-note chord that wants to resolve
- 25 The Perfect Cadence How music says 'The End'