Harmony for people who play
From the names of the notes to the harmonic field, in the order in which one thing explains the next, with the instrument in your hands and ear practice at every step that has something to hear.
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1. The material
- Notes, semitones and the rule of names
Twelve sounds per octave, seven letters, and why the same sound sometimes has two names.
- Intervals, in number and quality
The smallest unit of harmony, with two independent measures, and the ear practice that fixes it.
2. Scales and keys
- The major scale is a formula
A sequence of tones and semitones which, applied to any note, produces that note's scale and decides the whole spelling.
- Key signatures, and the fixed order
A key's accidentals gathered at the start of the staff, in an order that never changes, and the trick that reads the key in a second.
- Three minor scales, and one problem each
The natural minor, its missing leading tone, the harmonic minor that fixes it, and the melodic minor that fixes what the harmonic broke.
3. Chords
- Four triads, and the third that decides
Two thirds stacked, four combinations, and the note that makes a chord major or minor.
- Reading a chord symbol in parts
The songbook's chord symbol read in five fields, each answering one question, with nothing to memorise.
- Seventh chords, and the tritone that pulls
A fourth note on the triad, five qualities, and the interval that makes the dominant want to resolve.
4. Harmony at the instrument
- The major harmonic field
Seven chords born from one scale, and the reason each quality falls where it falls.
- The neck as a ruler
Six strings, one fret per semitone, and two rules that save you memorising the whole neck.