Complete Guide to Music Theory

Learn how to write your own melodies and progressions,
and the fundamentals of making and understanding music.

Become a Better Musician

Learn songs faster, improvise, and write your own music! Move beyond guitar tabs and sheet music and understand how music actually works.

Why Learn Music Theory?

85% of people that have taken music lessons at some point in their life can no longer play even one song from memory. Why is this?

Frankly, it's because most people are only taught to robotically read guitar tabs or sheet music. They don't understand how or why the music works, only when to play certain notes.

Music Theory is the missing piece that brings it all together. By understanding how music works, you'll be able to make sense of your favorite music, and even create your own!

Not Your Typical Theory Book

Most Music Theory books seem to deliberately make music confusing and tedious. Cryptic notation, complicated rules, and an unintuitive vocabulary make sure of it.

This course is not like that. We've brought back the exploration that music is suppose to have. We've done away with reading sheet music, and instead provide you with tons of playable examples and instruments right in the browser.

What You Will Learn

  1. Learn the basic chord progressions that make up 90% of today's popular music.
  2. Understand what notes to use when playing a melody over different chords.
  3. Learn the underlying structure of Pop, Rock, and other genres.
  4. Understand why your favorite artists use certain chords in a song.
  5. Learn to recognize different chord progressions and intervals just by hearing them.

And much more!

Much More Than a Book

Interactive lessons, playable exercises, virtual instruments, and many other musical tools allow you to truly explore new concepts.

Hundreds of Exercises

To best understand concepts, we've included hundreds of listenable exercises for you to work on.

Digital Instruments

Learning requires experimentation. Do so with a virtual piano or chromatic tool from any lesson.

Ear Training

Music is as much about hearing as it is about playing. Tune your listening skills with Ear Training.


Take a Look Inside

We cover everything from the basics of sound to creating your own chord progressions. No prior Music Theory knowledge required.

Fundamentals

  1. Introduction
  2. Fundamentals of Sound
    1. Sound Waves
    2. Harmony
  3. Scales
    1. Pentatonic
    2. Chromatic
    3. Note Naming
  4. Basic Chords
    1. Major
    2. Minor
    3. Diminished
    4. Diatonic
    5. Relative Notation
  5. Keys
    1. Major Keys
    2. Minor Keys
  6. More Chords
    1. Seventh Chords
    2. Using Sevenths
  7. Chord Inversions
    1. Deriving Inversions
    2. Applying Inversions

Melody & Harmony

  1. Introduction
  2. Melody
    1. Intervals
    2. More Intervals
    3. Consonance & Dissonance
  3. Chord Progressions
    1. Tension and Resolution
    2. Chord Maps
  4. Melody & Progressions
    1. Chords with Melody
    2. Melody with Chords
    3. Passing Notes
  5. Modes
    1. Deriving Modes
    2. Switching Modes

Rhythm

  1. Introduction
  2. Tempo
  3. Building Blocks
  4. Time Signatures
  5. Accents

Guitar Theory*

  1. Fretboard
  2. Octaves
  3. Pentatonic Patterns
  4. Major Patterns
  5. Major Chords
  6. Minor Chords
  7. Sevenths
  8. Progressions

*only in the Complete Package

Ear Training*

  1. Introduction
  2. Intervals
  3. Chord Progressions
  4. Tuning and Pitch

*only in the Complete Package

Testimonials

Join over 1000+ students who have purchased the Lightnote Course!



Wow. I've spent a lot of time teaching myself Music Theory from other books and this is the first time where it has actually made sense! I skipped the exercises for some of the concepts I already knew but they were very helpful for the more advanced topics.

I just bought the Complete package and I’m going through the basics and frankly, while I’ve tried other methods, this is the best $100 I've ever spent!

As a music educator, I really enjoyed your music course. I found your unique approach to music and harmony to be refreshing and different than the rote before note I have become so well acquainted with. The interactive demonstrations worked well with my students.

Thank you so much for creating such a useful course. Everything is explained in a simple and unique way. So easy to understand with the tools and the information you provide. This must have been a lot of work to make.

Just wanted to say that I loved this course. Took me a few days to complete, but it was great with very simple explanations. I wish I had this back when I was in school! I spent so much time memorizing stuff without really understanding it. Now I actually get it.

Thank you Nathan, your course ROCKS!!!

Pricing

30-day 100% Money Back Guarantee

Complete

$99
$59

Essential

$29
The Essential Music Theory Course

Over 30+ brand new lessons to teach you all the fundamentals of Music Theory. It's what we've spent most of our time building (and it's great).

100+ Interactive Exercises

Really test your knowledge with interactive excercies following every lesson.

Virtual Keyboard & LightNote Instrument

Built-in virtual musical instruments that you can pull up in any lesson to test your understanding and experiment with the concepts.

Ear Training Package

Repeatable training exercises to teach you to recognize intervals, chord progressions, and more by ear.

Guitar Package

Apply each of the lessons to your guitar with an interactive virtual guitar and new content specifically for Music Theory for Guitar.

Interactive Chord Charts & Maps

To simplify your songwriting we'll give you interactive chord tools to help you quickly write songs in any key.

Complete

Buy Now $59
or

Essential

Buy Now $29
or

Frequently Asked Questions

Which package should I buy?

That mostly depends on your budget. The Complete Package is the best, but the Essential Package still has all of the core ideas and principles.

What is your refund policy?

If you don't like the course, I don't want your money. Email me within 30 days of receiving the course and you will get 100% of your money back. No questions asked.

I've never played an instrument before. Is this course for me?

Probably not. This course assumes you've spent some time playing any instrument, even if it's just learning a few songs from tabs.

Is this a monthly subscription?

No! This is a one-time purchase that will grant you lifetime access to the course. When I create new lessons, you'll gain access to them at no additional cost!

What if I have more questions?

If you still have questions after reading this page you can email me and I will do my best to answer as quickly as possible.