I have been into music my entire life...sang in church when I was 12-15, learned guitar and bass at 14, and have played professionally in rock bands for many years. I have NO IDEA what music theory is! I can't even tell you the notes on my bass...but I can play them. Now that I'm a little older (58), I have slowed down my life where I can appreciate this "theory" now and want to learn more. Rick, I sincerely appreciate your videos and lessons. It's given me an inspiration to learn again what I missed when I was young and should have learned then when my brain was more eager and accepting. I know it will be laborious to grasp a lot of this, but time is now on my side. Thank you for all you do and making all this possible!
Check out the apps 'Fretwiz' and 'NGM Ultimate' (Ninja Genius Music Ultimate) . They're pretty fun ....have helped me out and Im lazy, but that Ninja Sensei can be harsh lol
Even though this is 'Just the basics", it is so powerful to have just this rudimentary knowledge. A musician armed with a thorough knowledge who understands the practical application of these basics is indeed a 'real musician'. And can progress with confidence into the more sophisticated concepts and structures. Just my opinion. Worth investing the time and effort - i think
If you are a beginner and think that this stuff is too difficult, you will need to hear it again and again....eventually it will start to make sense. And you cannot grasp everything at once. At least this how it is to me. And if you concentrate on intervals and you start there and practise on the instrument, you can build from there. It is up to you how you will use all this information. Thanks Rick and it is great to see things written and explained at the same time....showing stuff on the instrument is very helpful too. Cheers.
Rick is, to me, one of the best music communicators of the RU-vid community. His teachings, even the basics, demand attention and further study. He creates this small pills of condensed knowledge which we have to absorb little by little in order to learn effectively what he's trying to teach, and I am so grateful to him because he helped me A LOT.
I told myself that I would definitely buy your book before returning to China. I can't do it now due to the financial situation, but I will definitely put buying your book as my first priority budget in the last days before I go back to China, no matter how tight my budget will be.
When I was a child and took music lessons, neither my piano nor my guitar teachers taught me this stuff. They just gave me sheet music to learn. Now, some fifty years later, I regret not having put in the sustained effort to learn the intervals, scales, keys, cycles and orders of #'s and b's so that they were an instinctive and integral part of my being. I'm trying now, but if only I had my young brain to absorb it. I'm reading a lot comments about how hard it is and that this isn't for beginners. Yeah, my old teachers probably thought the same thing, and that it was a lot easier to simply teach the kid some songs. Leave the theory for later. What a dis-service that was to my young self! So to all of you complainers, here's the reality. It's hard but not THAT hard. And it's not very complicated if you take it step by step and have some patience and diligence. So get over it and get to work.
I totally get it it's the order of sharps & flats that I never got as a kid .Ric has opened up a new door . Or an easter way to find it and walk through it .LoL
I feel like you all feel this way because you're approaching it from a place of willful ignorance. Like, it really isn't that complicated or difficult especially on a surface level. Just be patient and pay attention and take notes lol. You have to give yourself the chance. Don't just tell yourself from the get-go that it's gonna go way over your head.
@@TheGuitarifier Too many people take the wrong approach to learning new things...which reminds me of the many people I've known who claim they can't learn to draw--it just takes a little effort...few things worth knowing are effortless. You're giving some excellent advice. My only problem with learning things, is that I get distracted a lot.
Rick, from one Educator to another one. Man you are such a great and patient teacher. God has blessed you with a gift and you are sharing it for free to us around the world. Thank You. I got a lot out of this lesson. You definitely connected some dots for me. I am looking forward to seeing your other videos.
Dude you ARE my new GOD! LOL. Friends at best could only teach me basic chords / power chords, YOU just TAUGHT me what no one could for 20+ years of "playing"!
This is pretty good. Paul Gilbert says that theory is just names for what you probably already know, and not to be afraid of it. If you've been playing for a few years, learning off of records by ear(like I did), or from tabs(which are chinese to me), then you will think"oh, ok, I know what that is", then go back to doing the same thing, but it will be WAY easier, and you will be able to hear something, and pretty much be able to play it straight back. "It ain't the note, IT'S THE SPACES"
Found myself constantly taking screen shots of the whiteboard. Will play this over and over and test the capacity of me olde grey matter. Now it’s down to me. Thanks Rick. You are the man and you’ve got my attention. 👍🎼🎹 Healthy and happy 2021🥂
rick you and many other music you tubers are helping us so much with all your videos, thank you! please don't ever stop teaching. if i ever get good enough i will teach my close friends as well. i believe it is a privilege to learn and an even bigger privilege to teach.
Came across a decent guitar player at a music store yesterday and we chatted a bit. I was surprised that he didn't know the basics of theory and was lost when I explained to him the changes he was playing. I take it for granted that this is the basic of the basics and all guitarists know this. Playing by ear is okay, but when communicating with other "musicians" I think it is paramount.
Rick, Thank you. You have filled in so music of the little things I could just not understand from music theory. More teachers need to watch this before they try to teach this and put people of forever. Your absolute love of music and way your teach has made me pick my bass back up and enjoy it so much more.
Im 13 and I ve been learning since I was in third grade with music and this video has already taught me more than all of that combined! I wrote down everything. Thank you so much Mr.Beato
Wow, good lesson. My tenth-grade music teacher for concert band required we know all of that to pass the class. He spent months getting us to absorb it. You summed it up in 40 minutes. I have your Beato Book and look forward to reviewing this. Regarding Nashville musicians, Drummers also have to know a similar system. Thank you, Rick
Many thanks for all of your videos and the sharing of your knowledge. Your explanation of the circle of fifths was extremely clear and concise. I finally understand!
ive never in my whole 20 years took notes on a notebook seriously in school, on something like audio engineering, or anything, only did it when the teacher forced me to, and for the first time ever i actually went out and bought a big ass notebook and seeing how you wrote your own beato book that if im not wrong were notes you wrote for yourself, i decided to write my own notes so i can force myself to actually apprehend instead of just listen to the information
Thanks a ton rick! Ive been playing guitar for like 10 years but never took the time to learn theory and now that im tryin to write music im regretting it. Thankfully your videos get me a little closer each time to understanding what im actually doing lol
(Favorite Chord Gives Dad An Energy Boost). That's how I remember the order of sharps and flats. I just take the first letter of each word and reverse it for flats. I'm a dad who plays guitar trying to learn music theory. Thanks for your music knowledge Rick. Most helpful. Liked and subbed.🎸👍
Finally, someone has made this make sense. I had the worst music teacher at school, hence I learned a few chords, but could never understand keys, why certain chords sound better with others, why certain notes sounded like they suited each other etc. I love listening to music but was always frustrated about not being able to play anything. At aged 35, I’m trying again. I’ve been with my partner for 2 years, who is Czech, and decided to learn Czech. In 1 year, I’ve learned more Czech than I learned with 5 years of German lessons, and 3 years of French, despite it being much tougher. Key difference: no RU-vid at school. I needed to get the basic rules down, but I couldn’t replace the teacher if I couldn’t understand it. Now, if I want to learn the building blocks of anything, I can change ‘teachers’ until I find one that explains things in a way that computes with the way my brain works. Now all I need to do is somehow co-ordinate my clumsy, oversized hands and I might get somewhere. Guess that means I oughta buy the book, which is only fair for doing me that favour. Where do I go to buy it (and do they ship to the UK)?
Rick, thank you so much for unlocking the order of sharps and flats for me! I've never been able to find any theory book (other than yours, I'm sure - so I'll have to go looking for it) that adequately explained in a visual way which sharps and flats to use, in which order, for each key. I really appreciate this! Your theory lectures are gold, sir. Thank you again!
Rick Beato’s Master Playlist of all “Music Theory and Composition” (165 videos by Rick) Beato Basics of Music Theory (this video) Beginning 0:33 Intervals 1:54 Harmonic Intervals and Melodic Intervals 6:00 Chord construction 10:42 Scales 13:00 Keys + Circle of 5ths 14:53 Order of Sharps and flats 17:06 Construct Major or Minor Scales + Triade Chords (Maj, min, dim) 20:37 7th chord construction 23:25 What Key am I in? Based on what chords I see in the song? 28:58 So… Why should I learn all this music theory? 36:16 Q about Secondary Dominance chords The other two Music Theory videos by Rick Music Theory Lecture - What Every Pro Musician Needs To Know Pt 1 Music Theory Lecture - What Every Pro Musician Needs To Know Pt 2 Notes and Helps GO SLOW! Re-watch each section several times, and write out exactly what Rick is saying in several different keys or scales. Rick is also covering 12 - 18 months of music theory in 1 hour 43 minutes over these three videos. Don’t expect to watch one of these videos and understand every nuance of music theory. Read, Watch, Write it down, Play the notes and chords, and LISTEN to your instrument. HEAR the intervals, scales, and chords across the entire fretboard. This stuff is way beyond simple pentatonic scales that you started with. But, Rick is opening up a vast new doorway to mastering music and is helping you become a professional musician.Peace and practice hard!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was just realizing that I need to get my head into music theory but I was finding a lot of content over complicated. This definitely did it for me. Now I have to write all this out for myself and get memorizing :-)
Tips for remembering the order (and the exact notes) of flats and sharps in the keys the 'new' sharp that comes with the key is a fifth* above the last one you already got with the previous key of the sharp side of the circle. in other words, if in G major we have F♯, then in D major (the next sharp key), we'll have C♯ (a perfect fifth above F♯..) and F♯ (which we already had..) so for example in order to know how many (and exactly which) sharps you have, say, in B major, you simply count which key B major is, starting from G major (it's the fifth one (G_D_A_E_B), then you do four steps upwards starting from F♯ , going by fifths, and the notes you get (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯) are the signs (sharps) you have in B major same goes for flats, just in the opposite direction. the next flat you get is a fifth below the previous one. also, whatever flat comes with the key is the first degree of the next key (of the flat side), that is F major gets B flat, which is the next key, B flat get B flat and E flat (the new flat), and that's the next key, and so on and so forth... *a perfect fifth
Hi Tigran - Use this phrase for sharps: "Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle". Then reverse the Phrase for Flats: "Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father". Hope that helps!
As someone who has played completely by ear up to now, this is really helpful. My problem is that I can play something and know whether it sounds 'right' or not, but it takes a lot of trial and error to find combinations that fit.
I bought the Beato book the other day and overwhelmed by the information in it even though I can play the guitar without the theory. This video made it a little bit more understandable for me. I wish you had this for the whole book. Maybe something like a udemy class.
I understood it! Been playing many years but never delved into theory that much. I have holes in my knowledge but that’s filled a lot of them. Thanks!!
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and passion of musical concepts! You've really inspired me to keep learning and stay dedicated to it. Your lessons are fast paced and very straight forward and it's amazing. I hope we can jam together one day so I can show you what you've taught me.
I have been learning guitar for a few years and trying to understand theory as a way to learn new songs more quickly. I always felt circle of 5ths was important and have seen many explainations but this video helped hit home some vital points and importantly how its actually applied. I will write out the circle daily for a month to drill it into my brain. Thanjs
Thanks for taking the time to present this topic in such detail. Not that I expect you to re-do it, but it would have been much easier if you had covered scales before chords since, as you said, If you don't understand the circle of fifths and scales, you can't understand chord construction and progressions. ;) Perhaps a note advising viewers to jump ahead, then back would be in order. Again, many thanks!
This was awesome Rick, thank you for your time and knowledge. At the stage personally where I can follow along with all you covered, but need to work on memorizing all you've suggested. Thanks for the guidance Jedi master! I'll have to upgrade my Beato book now to new version!
Teaching a friend of mine base 🎸. I am going to forward this over to him. Also pass this on to various people. These kind of videos would have saved me years of study. Primarily last 20.. Really like the hand signals. 3 down Eb.3.up A. I am going to try.that out. Gets messy on Gb.
thanks for that clip. sus Lyd is acutally the opening of "Maria" from "west side story": 1(ma) #4(ri) 5(ia)| Sometimes sus Phryg mens 7sus4(b9 hence: 1 4 5 dom7 (b2)
Love these videos, and looking forward to hopefully seeing more in the future! Will hopefully be buying the Beato Book soon so I can have both these "lectures" and the "textbook". Despite lots of commenters saying this is below or above their theory level, I really appreciate this one!!
If I were to once again pick up an instrument, I'd not only buy your rather excellent book but watch all these streams avidly. As it is I can only applaud your efforts to educate a tough audience. Keep it up.
He's talking about diatonic chords and says the 'borrowed' chords from other keys, you don't really need to know. But if you want to be a great songwriter, not just a good songwriter, admired by people who appreciate your skill, (the musician's musician), you will use non-diatonic (outside the key) chords. Think Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, or Sting. And the music of the Carpenters.
Rick could you please talk about what type of mics and recording gear you like the best to make your tutorials, a type of behind the scenes would be very interesting, i'm sure many out there are curious and would enjoy it. thanks again for all the FANTASTIC tutorials, I'm taking notes! GREAT STUFF! I rate it A++
Very cool, Rick. I've been playing for 35 years. I've learned to hear these things but was never able to put it into words. Just as you said. Theory enables you to talk about music without an instrument in hand. That's all it is. I glazed over when you got into dominant 7s though. Not your fault. :)
Hahaha it would have been nice to know how to use the circle of keys before I tried learning scales the hard way! Like I managed to get to the key of E major and all the keys (from Fb) to E in a year. Lol books are great but when you have RU-vid.. someone can explain how to do these things so thank you Rick!!
Modes don't have to be 'sophisticated.' They're just another TYPE of scale in addition to major or minor, using DIFFERENT combinations of intervals between each step, as you move from the 1st note to the 7th note. It's about knowing where the half steps appear, just as with major and minor scales.
Perhaps you covered this but I missed it. It's about the order of #'s and b's. For each you show seven orders: (F#,C#,G#,D#,A#,E#,B#) and (Bb,Eb,Ab,Db,Gb,Cb,Fb). But in the cycle wheel you only show 6 orders of each. I assume that the keys having 7 would be C# (same as Db), and Cb (same as B). That would be a tough modulation to follow - seven fingers up to seven fingers down.
I’m getting old and the brain has gone from being a sponge to a bit thick as a brick so I used a quick mnemonic memory trick to help me with quickly remembering the sharps and flats. Sharps: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle Following that order the last sharp of the key is the 7, e.g., A has F#, C# and G#(vii), B has F#, C#, G#, D#, A#(vii) Flats Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’ Father Following that order the last flat of the key is the 4 (or the letter ahead of the key you’re playing in the mnemonic), e.g., Bb has Bb and Eb (IV), Cb has Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb and Fb (IV) Anyway helped this blockhead remember, thought others may find it helpful as well.
After years of gigs experience and having been trouble analyzing scales and keys; all I really need was to memorize the circle of 5th's. Thanks Rick should have learn it sooner heheh
lol this started out at the Algebra 1 level, and jumped to multivariable vector calculus for me! I'm gonna have to process this slowly. Never learned any of this Suzuki method for Violin or Clarinet.
Teaching music theory is akin to teaching mathematics and uses a progression I call "The Theory of Diminishing Deception". At first, it doesn't look all that difficult. Then the instructor takes you to the next level and it gets hard. Next level is much harder. And so forth. By the time you get to the end, there is no longer any deception about how "easy" it might be.
Excellent! I wish I had this explanation when i was learning. in a class of 30 kids at 10 years old I was taken through it at lightening speed and expected to know it in minutes after a brief explanation. With this you can understand it and if you don't, go back if you miss anything. It took me 35 years to get back to the basics! (life gets busy with homes, work and kids), then trying to learn as an adult. Thanks Rick - I hope people appreciate this. Buy the book people!!
Good one Rick, my only suggestion would be to use good microphone, preferably collar mic as the output , especially when listening through the mobile speaker is bit challenging.
A bit strange you're describing chords and chord tones in context of scales before introducing the scales themselves. At that point, if no viewer understood anything beyond intervals, you might lose them with the 1-3-5 labeling. Regardless, I found this to be an excellent review.
IsawUupThere this seems to be aimed at more of an intermediate student. If you're learning a subject and have to stop to Google the terms or whatever it is you don't understand then the student is either not ready for this yet or the teacher's method isn't a very good one. Now I'm not saying Beato is a bad teacher. Again this seems to be aimed at more of an intermediate student who understands the fundamentals of intervals and diatonic theory.
I disagree. These are the absolute basics. You could sit anyone down and hammer this into their head in an hour or two even with no prior knowledge. I know because I've done that many times. A big part of learning anything is knowing how to use your resources, and the internet is a great resource. This video is meant as a summary, not a course. If someone doesn't know what the 3rd note in a C major scale is, that's a 10 second google search and then they can come back and continue watching. If someone really doesn't know that, but is interested in learning they can pick that up really quickly.
IsawUupThere if the video is meant as a summary then who does that apply to? Those who are just learning or those with a understanding of the fundamentals? I’m not arguing that this video isn’t helpful or anything. The comment you were replying to was making a observation that he started with triads before explaining where they came from and for someone who’s just starting to study this stuff might have already gotten them lost seeing 1 3 5. He does explain where they come from a few minutes later. but my replay to yours was that I find it kinda of a cop out at the idea of “ if you don’t understand X on a video about learning X then you should research it“ I shouldn’t have to search for anything if I’m watching a video where it’s being explained right? Don’t get me wrong, using the internet as a resource to learn is great. That’s why we come to a channel like this in the first place. Put it this way, say I’m watching a video about the basics of voice leading and they start off with examples of a open and closed harmony. Let’s say I have no idea what that means and the video continues to go on with out explain it going deeper and deeper into the subject of voice leading. If it’s truly for beginners then they would explain the subject correct? Sure I could look up what those terms mean, but if I’m watching a video on the basics of voice leading am I simply not ready for the subject yet or is this particular method not a good one for a student just starting out on the subject? To be fair Beato is teach in a classroom type setting so not everyone is going to be on the same level and some things would simply take up waaaay too much time to explain.
