Music Theory

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How to Read the Circle of Fifths

Understanding how to read the circle of fifths will help you understand the relation between music's major keys and their relative minor keys. A major key and its relative minor use the same key signature [more…]

How to Read Key Signatures

Key signatures are important when reading music. You must understand how to read key signatures in order to know how to play the notes the way the composer intended. The key signature is a grouping of [more…]

What Is Music Theory?

Understanding music theory means knowing the language of music. The main thing to know about music theory is that it is simply a way to explain the music we hear. Music had existed for thousands of years [more…]

How to Recognize the Beat in Music

Recognizing the beat in a song means finding the pattern and speed of the music. If you know how to recognize the beat, you can control all of the other elements of the music. [more…]

How Musical Notes Are Constructed

You couldn't read or write music without notes. If you think of music as a language, the notes are like letters of the alphabet. If you know how to recognize the notes, you can learn the language. [more…]

Understanding Half Steps and Whole Steps

The distance between any two musical notes is called and interval. In Western musical notation, the smallest interval is the half step, or semitone. A [more…]

How to Read Note Values

Reading notes means understanding their value and how they fit together in sheet music. To know how to read notes, you'll need to learn the different types of notes and their timing. How note values fit [more…]

How to Read the Rests in Music

Knowing when not to play notes during a song is as important as knowing the notes you do play. Understanding how to read rests will help you keep up with the beat and pacing of the music. Sometimes the [more…]

How to Read the Key Signature to Determine What Key to Play

Knowing how to read the key signature to determine what key to play is critical to reading music, but it isn't difficult. Count the number of sharps or flats in the key signature, and then you can use [more…]