Music Theory for Beginners - Lesson 1 - Learn the Steps of Major Scale on Piano Video Lecture | Piano Tutorials Course: Beginners to Advance - Class 6

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hi everybody back again this is my
do-it-yourself learned music theory
course I guess that's the title I'll
figure out an official title later but
anyway this is supposed to be like kind
of its own mini course but it's also
supposed it's intended to be used along
with the do-it-yourself learn to play
piano course and I'll add annotations to
the videos to tell you when you should
be watching these videos before you
continue with your progress with your
piano playing because music theory and
playing piano kind of go together and it
continued on and learn new things you'll
have to know some music theory as well
so what is music theory well music
theory is basically a way to describe
music so a way to look at music in a way
that music is put together by looking at
the relationships between notes chords
and all sorts of things two of the main
things you're going to be looking at
when we're looking at music theory or
two of the things we're going to be
observing is the distance between notes
and the movement between notes it gets a
little more complicated than that but
for now we're going to be talking about
those two things distance and movement
where notes are moving to music theory
is very helpful in playing music in that
you have a better understanding and what
you're playing and that kind of helps
you with with where your fingers have to
go where your hands have to go
understanding if you're playing the
right notes or not because you know if
something you know something's supposed
to sound like a major chord and it
sounds sad you'll know that you're not
playing it correctly another useful
thing it's good for is constructing
music if you understand the components
about how music is put together you can
compose your own music takes a little
awhile and finesse to figure out how to
do that and of course there are many
styles of music and different kinds of
music theory but it's useful for
composing as well and then like also
like I said it's very useful in just
kind of analyzing music and
kind of copying what some ideas from
other composers when you're either
playing your own stuff or composing your
own stuff so that's why we're learning
music theory just to get a better
understanding about music in general so
like I said this this is its own series
but it also goes along with the other
series I've been doing to learn to play
piano do-it-yourself series as well so
there you have it this is the first
lesson and in this lesson we're going to
be talking about whole steps and half
steps and I'll explain what that is and
we're also going to talk about how to
construct a major scale using whole
steps and half steps there's a formula
that we use so we'll be talking about
that as well so that's where we'll go
with the first lesson and then we'll go
from other places from there to other
places also we're going to be talking
about sharps and flats which we you will
see quite often in the music you'll be
playing and the examples I'll put
together for you later on alright so
today I'm gonna teach you a little bit
about music theory and some of the very
basic aspects of it so one of the first
things we're going to talk about today
is the difference between a whole step
and a half step so let's take a note
here let's play C you know the one we
all know and love there we go um and
let's say we want to move a half-step up
which means a half step towards the
higher end of the piano so what you want
to do is you want to take your C and you
want to hit the next closest note
touching to see which actually is this
black key right here the closest one to
it that's a half step is the smallest
movement you can make on the keyboard so
that is a half step above C now let's
take C again now let's do a half step
below C so you may be asking well how
come
going up a half-step we were hitting a
black key and we're going down a black
step we're hitting a white key well so
when we're going up the next closest
note is this black note here but notice
how when you're moving down there is no
black note between B and C so the
closest note below C is that be right
there so that's why when moving up you
hit a black key and moving down you hit
a white key well when we start with C
when you start with a different note it
changes which I'll show you in a second
so let's say we have D here let's say we
want to move a half-step up up this way
so we've got our half step is right here
this black key there so that's a half
step above D let's take D again
let's go half step below D well unlike
last time there is a black key
separating the two white keys so our low
the next closest lowest note next
closest note sorry I had a struggle with
words there is actually going to be this
snow here because they're touching it's
the closest note so just remember that a
half step is the smallest movement you
can make on the piano keyboard so let's
take a well a half step above B is
actually going to be F and it's gonna be
another white no because we don't have a
black note separating them so a half
step below E which is down this way is
going to be here
because there's a black key separating
the two white keys so let's take one
more here we have an egg and half step
above a half step below
[Music]
so the main thing you want to get out of
the half step is that it's the smallest
increment of movement on the piano so
we're gonna talk about whole steps now
so let me just ask you this question
what happens when you put two halves
together you get a whole right so let's
take C again let's play a whole step
above C well there's a half step plus
another half step whole step back to C
again
now let me ask you this is this a whole
step below C well nope because it's only
a half step between those two because
there's no black key in between will
actually be this one right here let's
try another key shall we let's pick D
sounds logical so a whole step above D
is going to be gonna be a black note in
between step below D is going to be
which you know take a second to think
about it remember that a whole step is
two half steps so right there so a whole
step below D is going to be C so that's
the explanation of whole steps and half
steps I will explain later exactly what
that's for I mentioned before that music
theory is a lot about the distance
between notes and how notes move
together so using half steps and whole
steps is just a way to describe you know
the distance between two notes so there
you have it whole steps and half steps
okay here in front of me we have this
interesting symbol here it looks like a
number sign and this is actually what's
known as a sharp and you'll usually find
this right before a certain kind of note
now I think I'll release some practice
examples with these in it so I'll show
you exactly what I mean in that but but
this is a symbol it means sharp and I'll
tell you what sharp actually means so
whenever we're talking about sharp a
note that sharp we're talking about
moving at one half step this way towards
the top of the piano
so let's say we have the notes C sharp
well the first thing you want to do is
you want to find the notes C and then
you're going to sharp it so you're gonna
move one half step this way
let's say we have a sharp right actually
let's get that one that one's a little
bit different we'll do that in a second
so let's do F sharp sharp just move in
one half step this way what about a
sharp here's me and then here is a now
let's do a sharp I mentioned that this
one's a little bit different here Z
where Z sharp well remember before I was
talking about whole steps and half steps
and now some of the notes don't have a
black note in between so an e sharp is
actually going to be F and that term we
have for that is n harmonic equivalence
or just equivalence if you don't want to
sound too fancy I can't remember the
whole thing so your is f so n harmonic
equivalence now let's take this one the
flat and let's find a sorry flat let me
explain the concept of flat whenever we
have a flat we're gonna take the note
and move a half step the other way
towards the bottom of the piano so let's
say we have a D flat so whenever you
hear your D flat or D sharp the first
thing you want to do is you want to find
the bass note which is d so D flat is
going to be right
d-flat what about G flat G there's what
what about F flat
here's that well there's no black nose
in between those so what is also e so an
harmonic equivalents again so let me
tell you another thing that will blow
your mind or not so let's uh let's find
out so let's find D sharp so remember
sharp is this one looks like a number
sign D sharp is here so recognize where
that is now we're gonna go back to the
flat which actually looks like a little
B and let's find a flat so there's D
sharp
and here's B flat so again and harmonic
equivalence or just equivalence whatever
you like to say so d sharp is equal to e
flat on the keyboard so there you have
it a brief explanation of sharps and
flats you'll see those a lot in music as
we continue on I'll add those in our
examples as we move forward so like
always leave me any comments or
questions that I'll be happy to answer
and there you have it
sharps and flats okay so before we were
talking about whole steps and half steps
remember that a half step is the
smallest amount of movement on the
keyboard to move a half step you just
find the next closest note and you can
either move up this way or down this way
like so and there's also whole steps
which is two halves just put together
just like that so I'm gonna play the C
scale first I'm gonna do it without any
kind of fingering at all so all you do
for C scale it's a little bit different
for every scale and I'll explain but C's
the easiest because your first note is C
and your last note is C
you're just gonna play c2c and all the
white keys in between so you're gonna
place like that and you can also go down
[Music]
there you go so there is a formula for
this scale and that's formula we're
gonna say in terms of whole steps and
half steps so let's take the first note
here what's the distance between the
first note and this the second note well
that is a real step because we have two
half steps in between the next note is
another whole step what about this note
between the E and the F that is actually
going to be a half step because there's
no note in between so we have another
whole step another whole step another
whole step what about this very last one
here that's right it's a half step so
the formula is start from the first note
that you start counting formulism
[Music]
now if you use this formula you can play
any major scale starting on any note so
long as you're careful to keep
consistent the order of whole steps and
half steps so let's take D for example
well remember the first one's a whole
step and remember the second one's a
whole step 2 so it's actually going to
be there so we're gonna have an f-sharp
in the in the D scale and then we have
whole so we have a c-sharp there because
we have another whole step and then we
have a half step so the same formula
can be applied to any scale remember to
keep formula the same so again the
formula is whole step whole step half
step whole step whole step whole step
half step again whole step whole step
half step whole step whole step whole
step oh wait I messed up here oh that I
know why cuz when you start counting you
want to start from the first note first
you don't want to say whole step and
play the first note that's a little bit
of a mistake if you do that you you
won't work out quite well so you want to
play the note first just or no first and
then you want to say like that and you
can do that starting on any note you can
practice around with that I will think
later on I'll show you the correct
fingering there's a fingering to go
along with the scales as well which I'll
talk about later so there you have it
how to construct and by the way this is
for the major scale is what we're
getting across here
there's a definite formula for the minor
scale and then there's a ton of other
different modes or different scales like
durian and Lydian that you may have
heard about that are used in pop pop
music so there you go that is the
formula for the major scale and there
you have it that concludes lesson one of
the duty or self learned music theory
course that we have put together for you
so like I said it's its own course but
it also goes along with the
do-it-yourself piano course and I'll
leave little notes and annotations to
direct you from the piano course to the
theory course and back and forth like so
so today we talked about some very very
very basic things in music theory we
talked mostly about distance and a
little bit about movement if you
remember those are two important things
when you're first learning music theory
we talked about whole steps and half
steps and that a half step is the
smallest amount of movement you can move
on a piano and then a whole step is
simply just two half steps put together
and you can move either a a whole or
half step one way towards the top of the
keyboard or you can move another way
towards the bottom of the
keyboard and we also talked about the
major scale and about how the major
scales made up of whole steps and half
steps remember the formula is whole step
whole step half step whole step whole
step whole step half step so two whole
steps a half step three whole steps a
half step you can think about it that
way if you want to group them together
just remember you play the starting note
first if you don't do that and you start
counting from the first note it won't
work out so you can rewatch the video to
see what I'm talking about
in case you missed it and then we also
talked about sharps and flats which is
just kind of another way of moving a
half step one way or another yeah that's
pretty much it so anyway I hope you look
forward to lesson 2 lesson 2 we're going
to be talking about chords and chord
progressions so it should be kind of
interesting anyway I'll see you guys and
girls next time if you would please you
don't have to but if you would like
subscribe comment any activity positive
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know if you have any questions I like
answering questions I can't get to
everybody if I forgot about your
question I'm sorry try try sending again
and maybe I'll see it but there are so
many out there and I'm so busy but
anyway I hope everybody has a good one
and I'll see ya next time