Free Music Theory
Lesson #1

First things first!!

Line 'um up

Music Theory is just getting to know 12 notes well, how they relate to each other and what they, themselves, are like.

We will start with only 7 since each team, the MAJORS and the MINORS only have 7 members.

A=red B=purple C=brown D=gray E=blue F=orange G=green

Use colored buttons, or paper. By using colors in addition to the names of the notes you are reaching deeper in the brain and its ability to understand and retrieve.

Run with me on this. It works. (By the way, play an E. It is cold with no overtones. Something like blue? Now play an A. Warmer? Sure there are lots of overtones, just like red.)

Now for the first lesson.

There are usually 7 notes played in a song. The notes can be in many different octaves, (meaning higher of lower in pitch) but there are still only 7.

If a B is played, then some kind of A and some kind of C are on either side of the B.

'Some kind of' means, on some teams there might be a C# or an A#,
but we don't need to think about that right now.

We just need to understand that there is always some kind of A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

And then they start all over again with A. So on either side of A is B and G.

It's easy!

I've written a game to help establish this concept in such a way that it is simply a fact that is known, not something that needs to be analyzed.

The game gets to be a bit of a challenge though.

Someone puts down an A or B etc. and the other player puts down the note that is on either side of the note placed down.

Simple?

Pick up the speed as you play.

To enjoy the extras that come with my games, be sure to include the color attached to the note with whatever you use.

Beginner Spit-cato

A foundational game to understanding just about everything. First you need to know the order of notes. What note comes before or after the other. Beginner Spit-cato teaches the basics. There is a total of some kind of seven notes. That's it. Forget about learning them and it is like trying to learn to read without knowing the alphabet. Start here!!