So we’ve been playing the notes in each major scale. And they all follow this same pattern of whole-steps and half-steps. But as you’ve been going through each scale (1, 2, 3, 4 … 5, 6, 7, 8), you might have started thinking, “Hey … what about those other notes? The ones we don’t include

Well, what do you know? We’re back to the chromatic scale. And that means we’re back to square one (or circle one … pardon the pun). You see, nothing has changed about the 12 notes in this pattern. It’s just that we now have a huge advantage. Because we can see each note (and every

Nothing in music is random. And that’s why it’s so easy to learn. Patterns like the chromatic scale, the major scale, and the circle of fifths are all very simple. And because each pattern leads to the next, they’re also totally predictable. In fact, no one is throwing us any curveballs here … the science of sound

After playing all those major scales, you’re probably thinking, “Wow, that was easy. Musical patterns are basic.” And of course, you would be right. But you might have also noticed something strange in the last post. I mean, what’s up with the order of major scales? Why is the C major scale followed by G major … then D

In music, the first and most basic pattern to know is the chromatic scale. It’s actually so basic you might even say it’s the mother of all note patterns. Every scale and every chord comes from the chromatic scale. And nearly all instruments are based on this pattern of notes. The most common example of

So, it seems like color might help us see music patterns. But before we check it out, we should answer a couple of questions. I mean, we don’t want to waste our time if this isn’t going to work. The first question is, “Why haven’t we seen this before?” If color is really that obvious, then color

Right now, I’m reading an excellent book called “Leonardo: The First Scientist” by Michael White. I already knew it, but da Vinci was basically awesome. And this book has a lot of information that’s new to me. Like, did you know that Leonardo wrote over 13,000 pages of notes over his lifetime … but only half of

Pythagoras had a good brain. A very good brain. As the “father” of western music theory, he rates pretty high on the coolness scale. You may not recognize his face, but he looms large in the history of music. He was born in Greece around 580 B.C.E. and was famous in his day as a