Learn music theory
Music Theory Lessons
Clear, free lessons on the music theory you need to read, play and write music, taught by Dan Vrancic. Each guide explains one topic with notation you can hear and a quick check, and links to the full video lesson when you want to go deeper.
Free lesson guides
Treble and Bass Clef Notes
The notes on every line and space of the treble and bass clef, the memory sentences that make them stick, where middle C sits, and how to read notes above and below the staff.
Read the lessonTime Signatures
What the two numbers of a time signature mean, how to count 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 and 2/2, common and cut time, simple versus compound time, and how to place bar lines.
Read the lessonThe Major Scale
The major scale formula (whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half), the notes of all 15 major scales, how to build one from any note, and the names of the scale degrees.
Read the lessonMinor Scales
The natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales, how to find the relative minor of any major key, the minor scale formula, and the difference between relative and parallel minor.
Read the lessonTriads
What a triad is, how to build and recognize major, minor, augmented and diminished triads, their chord symbols, and the seven triads in every major and minor key.
Read the lessonKey Signatures
A key signature chart for all 15 major keys and their relative minors, the order of sharps and flats, and two quick ways to name the key of any signature.
Read the lesson
The full course: 27 lessons
The video course takes you from your first notes to harmonic analysis. Two lessons are free with no account; the rest come with a membership.
Unit 01
The Foundations
Read the staff, feel the pulse, and stop guessing at the keyboard.
- 1The Staff and Note Names
- 2Note Values and Rhythm
- 3Time Signatures
- 4Ledger Lines
- 5Rests
- 6Accidentals
- 7Semitones and Whole Tones
Unit 02
Keys & Scales
See every key as a map — not a list of accidentals to memorize.
Unit 03
Intervals & Transposition
Intervals become the distances you can hear, name, and use.
- 14Diatonic Intervals
- 15Minor, Augmented & Diminished Intervals
- 16Interval Inversions
- 17Transposition
Unit 04
Harmony & Chords
Build the colors you already love — then know why they work.
- 18Different Types of Triads
- 19Diatonic Triads
- 20Cadences
- 21Types of Seventh Chords
- 22Diatonic Seventh Chords
Unit 05
Putting It Together
Analyze chord functions, borrowed chords, and familiar progressions.
- 23Figured Bass for Triads
- 24Figured Bass for Seventh Chords
- 25Mixture
- 26Basic Harmonic Analysis
- 27Popular Chord Progressions