Studio Lessons

Welcome to Music Theory 101! In this video, I explain what music theory is and what it isn't - in my opinion. Ever wondered what came first, the music or the theory? Believe it or not, music actually came first, and then the theory came later when academics tried to analyze what exactly made a musical composition "genius," which is basically just a code word for "good-sounding." Knowing this order of events is crucial for understanding music theory and using music theory effectively!

The important aspect of music theory to realize is that it's not simply a set of rules that all musicians must follow. On the contrary, especially if you play jazz or gospel music, many of the "rules" we learn in music theory are supposed to be broken! Here's the catch: You actually do have to learn the "rules" before you can really break them and still sound good, so that's why we music teachers teach it. In this video, I'm going quickly through each major phase of music theory instruction, including how to learn rhythm, how to learn harmony, and how to learn scales.

Rather than get bogged down with a bunch of math and pitches and minutiae, let's first zoom out to a bird's-eye view of the entirety of music theory to begin to understand the purpose of each of these three big puzzle pieces, as well as the context of how they fit together to help you develop a well-rounded musical education. Then, as we move forward into more focused concepts, you'll have a sense of "how to use this stuff" rather than me giving you a bunch of information that you have no use for!

 It is a 3-part video series explaining three basic concepts that most young pianists learn in their level 1 and level 2 lesson books. I call it the Baby Level because all of these music theory concepts, as well as the music theory and the challenges they contain, should be easy enough for young musicians between the ages of 6 and 10 years old. I have also included a few slightly more advanced twists and turns throughout this level for the late beginners or those of you who might be more experienced and just want a quick refresher!

Tell you the distance in semitones between musical pitches, just like inches tell you the distance between two points at varying lengths. The reason we use intervals in music is the same reason we use inches to measure physical distances - it helps us maintain accuracy when discussing notes, chords, and melodies. Knowing all your intervals will also greatly increase the speed at which you can read musical notation on a staff, so learn your intervals!

It refers to a specific chord progression. All Western music, and even most non-Western music, utilizes the concept of the chord progression (changing chords), even if they don't use these exact chords. The underlying important concept behind V-I is essentially tension resolution. This video also briefly explains how chords relate to scales and keys.

It is my intermediate online piano course for musicians looking to improve their timing, rhythm, feel, and understanding of some less "fun" areas of music theory. These include capitalizing on playing "off time," understanding all the scales and modes by analyzing what they all have in common, and finally, a complete breakdown of Blues Music from a music theory perspective. Not that classical piano or jazz piano is unimportant, but there are some aspects of blues piano that all pianists should know if they want to be versatile players!

The definition of a "groove" is, in my opinion, a consistent inconsistency. Instead of every rhythmic part playing exactly perfect and robotically accurate, there is a very slight inconsistency that takes place when two humans attempt to play together. As long as this slight inconsistency is consistently present and not completely off-beat, the inconsistent "gap" between the two parts creates a pocket. When all the musicians begin to feel that same exact space between rhythms, you have established a groove!

Give us musicians a simple set of 7 notes that all sound good together, out of the total possible 12 chromatic tones. That way, instead of randomly hitting notes that sound like dissonant garbage, we have a nice order to our music that greatly reduces the possibility of playing "wrong notes" - any note that lies outside of the scale. There are, of course, 500,000 different types of scales and modes because music theorists love to make things way more complicated than they need to be, but I'm going to group all the scales and modes into two easy ones that will pretty much cover all your bases. And these 2 "super" modes are the ones I'm actually using 99% of the time anyway!

It is also known as the blues formula, the blues chord progression, or the 12-bar blues form. This song form was used with many types of songs popularized as early as the late 1800s, including work songs, spirituals, and narrative ballads. I think the last 4 bars of this progression have some reminiscent qualities of American folk music and European classical music, even though the 12-bar blues is a black American homegrown song structure with roots in West Africa.

In this video, I show you how to play the blues scale on piano, how to learn the blues scale, and how to turn any other scale into a blues scale. There's also a secret concept in here that I love to use because it adds some extra jazzy, bluesy flavor to your boring old blues scale. I like to call this little secret the "super blues" Scale, where we blend in even more chromatic tones for a super outside-of-the-box yet still super easy-to-memorize scale.

Refreshes and re-contextualizes basic music theory for the late intermediate pianist, which means these topics may seem simple at first glance. But this course isn't just about knowing the basics; it's about applying master mind frames to discover secrets about chords, scales, and harmony that took me over a decade to discover on my own. These super cool secrets will help you condense all the complexities of music theory into a simple "practice process" that you can use to improve your ability to hear, learn, and play music of all genres, as well as expand your reharmonization abilities to new horizons. But most importantly, I share some easy practice drills that will help you discover your own musical secrets! Ever wonder how guys like Cory Henry, Herbie Hancock, and Jacob Collier have a seemingly infinite supply of advanced harmonies, yet their music is still listenable and understandable? I mean, sometimes they do get a little too weird, but this class is all about understanding that balance and how to tip the scales with swagger and musicality.

Chord Secrets is all about what happens when you employ the Miles Davis approach: "Learn your music theory, then forget it." The big secret of chords - specifically 7th chords with lots of notes and lots of added color tones - is that you don't actually need all 4, 5, or 6 notes of the chord in order to play advanced chords! You can actually imply almost any chord by understanding which color tones should be emphasized and which ones are kind of unnecessary. So start simplifying your chords using these super cool chord secrets. Your left hand will thank you, and so will your listeners. Most normal music lovers don't want to hear chords with 5,000 notes in them; a 3-note chord with the right kind of emotional qualities and a powerful melody will do the job every time!