Music Theory

Understand the music you play and put it to use – one clear path through music theory, from your first note to advanced harmony, on any instrument.

Most of us come to theory wanting the same thing. We want to know why a song works, find our way around the instrument, play by ear, improvise, and maybe write our own music. This book takes you there one step at a time. It starts with what a note is and why we have 12 of them, and it goes all the way to substitutions, modal interchange and polytonality.

Music isn't math. Music is a language, and theory is its grammar. You don't learn a language from a list of rules, so every idea here is explained in plain words, shown on the piano keyboard where you can see every note, and tied back to how it sounds.

What's inside

• Notes and intervals: sound and pitch, octaves, why we have 12 notes, tuning and the overtone series, and every interval spelled out.
• Scales, modes and keys: the pentatonic scales and their five modes, major and minor, the seven diatonic modes, the modes of harmonic and melodic minor, key signatures and the circle of fifths.
• Chords: triads, sus, seventh, extended, altered and quartal chords, inversions and voicings, slash chords, voice leading, polychords, progressions and modulation.
• Rhythm: time signatures, simple, compound and complex meters, tuplets, polyrhythm, and 17 one-beat rhythm building blocks you can hear.
• Putting it together: chord and note function, the types of harmony, composing and improvising, timbre, dynamics and dissonance.
• Beyond: chord and progression substitution, the Coltrane cycle, modal harmony, improvising with chord tones and chord-scales, chromaticism, atonality and the avant-garde.

Hear it as you read. 47 audio examples go with the text. Each mode is played over a drone, so you can hear its character for yourself. In the paperback and hardcover, every example has a short web link next to the text; type it into your browser and the clip plays.

Who it's for. Self-taught players who want to know what they're doing, musicians coming back to music after years away, and curious beginners – on guitar, piano, bass, voice or anything else. Theory works the same on every instrument.

Before you start. This book teaches theory without sheet music, so you don't need to read notes. If you want to learn to read music too, my book How to Read Music covers that, and the two work well side by side. If you're starting from zero, take Part 1 slowly: the sections on tuning and the math behind the 12 notes are there for the curious, and I point out which ones you can skip on a first read.

It's a book to read more than once and keep near your instrument, with comparison charts for the modes, the major scale in all keys, a few short exercises on intervals, scales, modes and rhythm, and a cheat sheet at the back.

First published in 2016 and revised over four editions. Nicolas Carter's music theory books have sold over 100,000 copies.

Take a look inside, start with Part 1, and enjoy the process.