Theory Lab
Most of music theory is a short list of patterns wearing a long list of names. Each experiment here takes one pattern at a time, show it on a circle, let you hear it, and hand you something to practice. Based on ideas Joseph Schillinger worked out in the 1930s, in plain words and on a guitar.
Play a pulse of 3 against a pulse of 2 and a rhythm falls out: 2-1-1-2. Every pair of numbers makes a groove. Hear it, see it on the circle, take it to the metronome.
Cut the octave into 2, 3, 4 or 6 equal parts and build the same cell from each: whole-tone, diminished and augmented scales in one picture.
Any phrase can be played as written, backwards, upside down, or both. Write a lick in scale steps, hear all four, take the frets to the guitar.
Progressions described by how the root moves: in fifths, in thirds, in sevenths, or by equal slices of the octave. Build one, hear it, play over it.
All 66 five-note scales: the pentatonics everyone plays, the Japanese scales, and dozens nobody has named. Hear each one and its modes.
All 80 six-note scales: the whole-tone scale, the blues scale, the augmented scale and dozens more. Hear each one and its modes.
All 66 seven-note scales, named or not. Hear each one and see its modes charted and on the wheel. Most players know five.
All 43 eight-note scales: the bebop scales, the diminished scales and the rest. Hear each one and its modes.
More experiments to come: melody around an axis and scale expansions.