Articles on music theory
Longer pieces on single questions: why intervals sound the way they do, what one semitone does to a harmony, and why every piano plays a compromise. Each article stands on its own and needs no prior knowledge.
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Why the fifth sounds hollow
Consonance is not a matter of taste but a ratio of numbers. What 2:1, 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4 do to the ear — and why a bare fifth sounds empty although it is nearly perfect.
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The leading tone — what one semitone does to an entire harmony
The seventh degree lies a semitone below the tonic and pulls upward with a force that carries the entire major–minor system. Where that tension comes from, and why minor has to borrow it.
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Equal, meantone, just — why your piano is slightly out of tune
Twelve pure fifths stacked up miss the octave by 23 cents. That Pythagorean comma is why every keyboard plays a compromise — and why there is more than one of them.
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Major and minor are one single note — the third as a switch
Between radiant and sorrowful lies one semitone in an inner voice. How the third switches the character of a chord, what that means physically, and how composers use the switch.
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The pentatonic as a first improvisation — why nothing can sound wrong
Leave two notes out of the major scale and every semitone step disappears — and with it every way to land audibly wrong. How this five-note scale is built and how to start with it.
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Understanding and counting syncopation — from ragtime to funk
A syncopation is an accent where none is expected. Why that only works as long as the underlying pulse stays audible, and which counting method hits syncopations reliably.
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Using a capo properly — transposing without learning new shapes
A capo shifts pitch, not the shape. How to accompany any key from four familiar forms, why the sound changes as you do it, and which fitting mistakes are costly.
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The shift on the fretboard — and why patterns break there
Five of the guitar’s strings are a fourth apart; one pair is only a major third apart. That single exception between the G and B strings shifts every pattern by one fret — and explains the commonest source of error in learning the fretboard.
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The diminished seventh — a turntable between four keys
Four notes a minor third apart divide the octave evenly. The chord therefore has no unambiguous root — and can lead onward into four different keys without a single note changing.
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Sight-reading — what actually happens in the head
Practised readers do not decipher single notes but recognise groups — and their eye runs about a second ahead of the hand. How that lead is built and which exercises produce it.
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One pattern predicts the chords of almost any pop song
Four chords, four orders, countless songs. Why I–V–vi–IV works so often, how to move the progression into any key, and how to recognise it by ear.
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Practice that actually works — instead of “once more from the top”
Most practice time goes on playing through, and playing through changes little. What works instead: small sections, error-free repetition, spacing between sessions — and why slow practice is not a concession.
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Dorian, Mixolydian, Aeolian — the modes through familiar pieces
Seven modes from the same seven notes, distinguished only by the reference note. Which note identifies each mode, how to hear it, and why the names have nothing to do with ancient Greece.
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Why children learn rhythm through language
A child clapping “wa-ter-me-lon” has understood four semiquavers before knowing what they look like. How syllable systems carry rhythm, which words work, and when notation joins in.
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The first year on the guitar — which five chords, and in what order
Five open chords accompany thousands of songs. Which five, in which order they hurt least, how to practise the change, and what defeats most people in month three.
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