Learning your scales with the Circle of Fourths

Knowing scales is the most important part of your music theory foundation. The Circle of Fourths framework is the shortcut to understanding all twelve major scales.  Use the framework to play through all your scales.  It’s not about fast technique at first, just the mental connections. Start with C major, then go around the circle for each scale.

Identifying the key with the Chord Reference Sheet

Clearly identifying the key is the most important step when learning a new song. The process is part art, part science.  Often, you will hear the song’s home note.  When it’s less obvious, compare the chords of the song with this chart.  The key that contains the highest number of the song’s chords is likely the key of the song.

Applying music theory to your playing

Improvising

To get start improvising, try choosing just 2-3 notes from the song’s scale (like the first, fifth, and seventh notes) and play them with simple rhythms in between chords. You will begin to know what the notes will sound like before you play them. Then, you will be ready to branch out and include other scale notes in your improvising.

Chord Altering

Often, to achieve the sound you hear from great players or recordings, you need to alter the chords on the page.  The best ways to alter chords involve knowing the key and scale of the song you are playing. 

One method that almost always sounds great is to add in the 1st or 5th scale note from the song’s key.  For example, in the key of C major, the 1st scale note is C and the 5th is G.  When you need to play an F chord in that song, add the G adds a more “solid” sound to the chord.

A second method requires more care, but can add a lot more color: adding the 3rd or 7th scale notes. These notes aren’t as fail-safe as the 1st and 5th, but the results can be more dramatic.

The video below shows examples of improvising and altering chords.