Harmony - Hack music theory. Part 1: learn scales & chords in 30 minutes

Hack Music Theory

Part 1: Learn scales & chords

in 30 minutes

Ray Harmony

The most brilliant, fast, easy, and fun music theory book Ive ever seen!

DEREK SIVERS, CD Baby founder, TED speaker, musician, author of Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

This is the kind of book I wish I had when I first started out a book that straightaway emphasises the simplicity of how these twelve notes are connected, rather than presenting every scale and interval as a separate mystery.

IHSAHN, Emperor

Ray has his own unique style of teaching. His methods are fun and always bring music theory to life for me. Trust Ray, and in no time youll have a watertight music theory skillset you once thought impossible to obtain.

PAT LUNDY, Modestep, ex-Funeral for a Friend

Ray Harmony, making music theory punk since 1979. Going from Grade 0 to Grade 8, the highest grade, in a year seemed like an impossible task; however, after my very first lesson I was truly blown away. Ray manages to make learning music theory fascinating, digestible, and damn right cool! He opened my eyes and ears to a whole new world of music, and did so in an artistic and creative way that Ill never forget.

JOE COPCUTT, AxeWound, Zoax

There is beauty in simplicity, and an art to making complexity seem simple. In Hack Music Theory, Ray Harmony gifts us a personal guided tour around the foundation principles of western tonal music. This book would be of particular interest to adults who are undertaking music education after a long break or perhaps for the first time. The explanations are accessible and the hacks take advantage of memorable visuals. If you have been put off music theory in the past, then this is the book to inspire and empower you.

VICTORIA WILLIAMSON, PhD, Vice Chancellors Fellow Researcher and Lecturer in Music at the University of Sheffield, UK, author of

You Are the Music: How Music Reveals What it Means to Be Human

Ray has a totally unique approach of hacking music theory, which gives you the essentials in a fraction of the time.

VESPERS, Warp Academy founder, music producer

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ray Harmony in his natural habitat.

My names Ray Harmony (n Holroyd), and Ive dedicated my life to using the power of music to inspire positive change in the world, which I do through Revolution Harmony. Im a British African based in Canada, and an award-winning music lecturer, composer, performer, producer, and journalist, as well as a few other things, too.

Ive been studying music for over thirty years, and teaching it for over twenty. My first No. 1 single was back in 1996 in my birth country of South Africa, and during the last few years in Canada Ive been making music with multiplatinum Grammy-winning artists (Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, and many more), then donating all the proceeds to charities that restore harmony between people, animals, and the environment.

Between my time in South Africa and Canada, I immigrated to England where I spent a decade (20012011) lecturing music theory and composition at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, one of Europes largest colleges. I was also the course director and lead internal verifier for the music department, and was honoured to win EHWLCs prestigious Vocational Qualification Hero and Learner First awards.

My education is a unique blend of classical from the UKs Royal Schools of Music (piano, guitar, and theory, all to the highest grade) and contemporary from the USAs Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, where I graduated from their guitar program. I studied education and did my teaching qualification at EHWL College in London.

Ive been writing for various publications (Kerrang!, Terrorizer, and more) every month since 2009, and I used to be the editor of a guitar magazine as well, until I once again moved countries. Ive run a couple of record labels, too, but nowadays I spend all my time making music, teaching music, and writing about music.

Learn more at HackMusicTheory.com

Come say hello at RayHarmony.com

This book is dedicated to all my past, present, and future students.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Wanna learn Music Theory in 30 minutes?

No prob! Each chapter is preceded by a hack (i.e. a cheat sheet) that delivers all the vital info you need to know about that topic. Read through all the hacks in 30 minutes or less, ignoring the full chapters, and youre good to go. Youll miss out on a bunch of bad jokes and deep insights, but youll be making good music in less than an hour from now.

Oh yeah, one more thing. To keep you skipping merrily along, Ive added a handy glossary for quick reference. All terms in bold have their definitions waiting patiently for you in the back. And it goes without saying, which is silly cos now Im gonna say it, but the debut of a term will always have its explanation with it. However, later in the book if you come across a term you know was mentioned earlier but now looks Greek, please use the glossary. Unless its Pythagoras, he looks Greek cos he is Greek.

Wanna learn more about why and how music works?

Great! Read this book cover to cover, then use the hacks as references afterwards.

Important tips

Music is sound and hearing is believing, so try playing the examples in this book on a piano app, a virtual piano online, or a real piano if youre old-school. Doing this or not doing this wont affect your understanding of the content, but hearing it all come to life sure is fun.

Also, you definitely dont need to read this book in one sitting, though you easily could. Please remember, however, that understanding music theory is an accumulative action, so youll probably have questions at the end of each chapter that will be answered in subsequent chapters. And, just like in a murder mystery where you have to get to the end before the whole picture becomes clear, our music theory story is still unfolding, too. All shall be revealed soon, so keep reading!

Lastly, youll get the best results from reading this book cover to cover, and then repeating that until its all soaked in. Ive been told that using the book as a pillow while youre sleeping also helps this osmosis. (Disclaimer: please dont sue me if you sleep on your e-reader and the screen cracks.)

P.S. If there's a blank space here instead of two musical symbols that kinda look like a hash sign and a lower-case b, then your e-reader's current font doesn't like musical symbols. Boo! Not to worry though, just change fonts and refresh your page until you see these symbols miraculously appear out of thin air. However, if they're still not showing up, then please download the PDF version of this book from HackMusicTheory.com

HELLO

Musical harmony has the power to improve personal harmony, mindfulness, health, and connections, and can even fuel revolutions towards a societal harmony. Power to the people, and that power is music!

Growing up in apartheid South Africa, I was surrounded by people of all colours united through music, and only through music. Heroic bands like the multiracial National Wake and my personal favourites South African singers Lucky Dube and Johnny Clegg, created the pot of gold out of which Nelson Mandela would later build the Rainbow Nation. Most inspiringly, they did this in the 1970s and 1980s, right under the nose of the apartheid regime. Music is invisible and can be orally shared, making it impossible to confiscate or suppress. We can feel music but we cant touch it, and if thats not the best party trick ever, I dont know what is! Black and white together in harmony, like the keyboard of a piano: that was my introduction to the power of music and why I believe access to music education should be a human right.