The Piano Theory Course
Welcome. Every lesson of the course is on this page, in order. Bookmark it, because this link is yours and it does not expire. Watch in order the first time through if you can, then come back to any lesson as often as you like.
- Demonstration Lesson
- 1A · Keyboard Orientation
- 1B · Musical Intervals
- 2A · Triad Chords
- 2B · Chord Inversions
- 3A · Major Scales
- 3B · Scale Degrees
- 4A · Chord Progressions
- 5A · Minor Scales
- 6A · The Circle of Fifths
- 7A · Seventh Chords
- 7B · Seventh Chord Inversions
- 7C · Seventh Chord Progressions
- 7D · Major Seventh Chords
- 8A · Chord Substitutions
- 8B · Chord Substitutions in Minor
- 9A · The Diatonic Circle
- 10A · Secondary Dominants
- 10B · Guess Why They Call It The Blues
- 11A · Sus Chords
- 11B · Moldur Chords
- 11C · I Just Called To Say I Love You
- 12A · Ninth Chords
- 12B · Eleventh Chords
- 12C · Thirteenth Chords
- 12D · Two Five One with Extensions
Start here
Demonstration Lesson
A full lesson from start to finish, so you can see how the course is taught before you begin.
Unit 1 · The ground
1AKeyboard Orientation
Where everything is. The pattern of black keys, how to find any note without counting from the bottom, and why the keyboard repeats.
1BMusical Intervals
The distance between two notes, which is the unit every other idea in this course is built from. Seconds through octaves, by ear and by sight.
Unit 2 · Chords
2ATriad Chords
How a chord is actually built: a root, a third and a fifth. Major and minor come out of one changed note.
2BChord Inversions
The same three notes in a different order. This is what stops your hand jumping around the keyboard between chords.
Unit 3 · Scales
3AMajor Scales
The formula behind every major scale, so you can build one in any key instead of memorising twelve of them.
3BScale Degrees
Numbering the notes of a scale. Once you think in degrees, a song in one key is a song in every key.
Unit 4 · Progressions
4AChord Progressions
Why some chords follow each other and others do not. The handful of progressions most popular music is made of.
Unit 5 · Minor
5AMinor Scales
Natural, harmonic and melodic minor, what each one is for, and how minor relates to its major.
Unit 6 · The circle
6AThe Circle of Fifths
The map. How the keys relate to each other, where the sharps and flats come from, and how to read it in both directions.
Unit 7 · Seventh chords
7ASeventh Chords
Adding a fourth note, and the moment chords start to sound like real music rather than exercises.
7BSeventh Chord Inversions
Four notes, four positions. Voicing sevenths so your hand stays in one place.
7CSeventh Chord Progressions
Putting sevenths into motion, and hearing why the dominant seventh pulls the way it does.
7DMajor Seventh Chords
The warm one. How the major seventh differs from the dominant seventh, and where each belongs.
Unit 8 · Substitutions
8AChord Substitutions
Replacing one chord with another that does the same job. The first step from playing a song to arranging it.
8BChord Substitutions in Minor
The same idea inside minor keys, where the options are richer and the rules bend.
Unit 9 · The diatonic circle
9AThe Diatonic Circle
The chords that belong to a key, in the order they tend to move. This is the skeleton under most songs you know.
Unit 10 · Secondary dominants
10ASecondary Dominants
Borrowing a pull from outside the key. One of the most useful tricks in popular harmony.
10BGuess Why They Call It The Blues
A full tutorial that puts the last ten lessons to work on one piece.
Unit 11 · Sus and moldur
11ASus Chords
Chords with the third suspended, neither major nor minor, and the open sound that comes with them.
11BMoldur Chords
Chords that sit between major and minor, and where they turn up in songs you already play.
11CI Just Called To Say I Love You
A full tutorial on the Stevie Wonder song, using the chords from this unit.
Unit 12 · Extensions
12ANinth Chords
The first extension. What a ninth adds, and which notes you can safely leave out.
12BEleventh Chords
Going further up the stack, and handling the note that clashes.
12CThirteenth Chords
The top of the stack, and how to voice it with two hands so it sounds full rather than muddy.
12DTwo Five One with Extensions
The most common progression in music, played with everything this course has taught.