Music Theory in One Lesson: Discover How Easy Music Theory Can Be!

by Ross Trottier

This powerful little 52 page music theory book is a great place to start for any music lover wanting to understand how music works. Also a YouTube sensation with over a quarter million students, this method shines a fresh light on music theory. The most basic and necessary topics in music theory are covered in depth here, using easy to understand visual aids and straight-forward English. This book applies to anyone who plays any instrument. The Musical Alphabet - Begin to associate pitch with letters. Scales - Use those letters to build scales, the most basic building block in music. Intervals and Musical Distance - Use scales to build intervals and create beautiful harmony. Melody - Use scales to create beautiful melodies. Harmony - Create chord progressions that make your melodies sing. Inverting Intervals and Chords - Learn to manipulate your intervals and chords for more interesting sounds. The Tritone - Use this spicy interval to create tension and resolution in your audience. Other Types of Chords and Their Functions - More chord flavors so you can begin mixing unique sounds together. The Circle of Fifths - This secret ingredient for knowing all chords and scales instantly is covered in depth. Borrowing Across Keys - Learn to borrow from other scales to create a mixture of feeling. Modes - Learn modes to create even more melodies!

Genres: Music

52 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2015

About the author

Ross Trottier attended CU Boulder as a Classical Guitar Performance Major under the virtuoso Jonathan Leathewood, where he received the highest marks for theoretical studies. He currently resides in Colorado Springs, where he teaches and performs full time.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd recommend this to beginner piano and guitar students (Ross Trottier is a guitarist himself).

[Trudy Nye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, clear explanation of basic music theory.

[Tiago F · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started off well, but I soon got lost. With a lot of effort sometimes I could make sense of something by re-reading it over and over, but eventually I just gave up. Although given how many good reviews this book has, perhaps I'm just a lost cause for music theory.

[Furqan Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Peter]

I found the book a good way to go deeper but I started with you tube videos from the same source. The purchase of the book was more to support the creator.

[Viktoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, especially accompanied by the youtube video.

[Christina Monson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot

And one of the things I learned is that I still have a lot to learn! Somewhere in the midst of chord inversions I got a bit confused, but I recovered in the circle of fifths and key signatures. Practice is definitely necessary in order to fully absorb this material but I feel the book was written well and provided a solid base for my curious mind!

[Steven Weinstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, short lesson. Starts from scratch. Builds methodically. Great use of visuals/charts/grids to show how it all relates.