What’s Next?

This is the final lesson of Music Theory for Guitar II!

In this lesson we do a little review, a little clarification about what it actually means to be in a key, and we discuss where to go from here.

The most important question you can ask yourself is this: Where do I WANT to go from here? Following your interests is the single best way to keep playing guitar for the rest of your life. There is no "ought" from here. There is no "proper pathway." Below, I'll provide some suggestion based on your interests. Your job is to pick the path that seems most exciting. Of course you could go through ALL of these lessons if you want to, and you might find yourself bouncing around as questions arise, but definitely start down the path that seems most interesting to you.

Read More

V of V

In this lesson, the major key steals the minor key peoples' hard work one more time.

Read More

Melodic Minor

In this lesson, the minor key people figure out a way to fix a problem, resulting in yet another extra chord.

Read More

V of vi

In this lesson, the fictional story continues in order to explain why the major key stole a chord from harmonic minor

Read More

Harmonic Minor

In this lesson, I introduce a fictional story to help explain why the minor key gets to have an optional extra note to create harmonic minor. This sets up the drama for future lessons.

Read More

Chords in a Minor Key

This lesson shows how minor keys and major keys have all the same chords, in the same order, creating a tidy set of a major key and its relative minor key.

Check out the PDF for helpful homework and chord charts.

Read More

7th Chords

In this lesson, we'll turn your plain old triads into 7th chords! On top of that, you'll learn about 7th chords in a key, and start to create chord progressions with more depth and sophistication. Check out the attached PDF for helpful homework and chord charts.

Read More

Roman Numerals

This lesson is going to make things easier for you. In the previous lesson, we talked about chords in a key, but the language we used to talk about it was clunky. Roman Numerals make it so much easier to "see" and understand how chord progressions work and how they transcend any particular key. Check out the attached PDF for helpful homework.

At the end, I mentioned my online note name scratch paper (beautifully designed by one of my awesome Patrons!) There is also a link at the very bottom of any page on my website.

Read More

Chords in a Key

In this series you’ll learn one of the most important concepts in music theory: what it means to “be in a key.” We'll use popular songs as examples to help you understand chords in a key, secondary dominants, 7th chords, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. Download the attached PDF for access to the homework section.

This series will give you a strong foundation in music theory, making it much easier to write music, play solos, learn new songs quickly, learn ear training, and play music with other people.

If you’re not familiar with Major Scales, Minor Scales, Intervals, the Circle of Fifths, and Triads - you should watch Music Theory for Guitar I first!

Read More