7 Best Articles on Music Theory
The most useful articles on music theory from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Music Theory Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved on music theory by Refind users in 2023 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
Learn music theory in half an hour.
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Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles on music theory—all under 10 minutes.
Music Theory Cheat Sheet: Keys, Scales, Chords & Notes
An interactive music theory cheat sheet with scales, diatonic chords, notes on the piano, notes on the staff and key signature for all major and minor keys.
Music theory 101: notes, intervals, scales and chords explained
Best of 2022: The basic nuts and bolts of music from a piano roll perspective
Did Bach "invent" the rules of music theory? — Michael Berry
(I posted this on my clock app page too…) In a previous video, I mentioned that I had a theory about where this “Bach created the rules of theory” idea came from. Allow me to introduce you to Allen…
Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom
Music Theory for the 21st–Century Classroom is an openly–licensed online four–semester college music theory textbook. This text differs from other music theory textbooks by focusing less on four–part (SATB) voiceleading and more on relating harmony to the phrase.
Get started making music
In these lessons, you'll learn the basics of music making. No prior experience or equipment is required; you'll do everything right here in your browser. To get started, check out the boxes below.…
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles on music theory.
Music theory for nerds / fuzzy notepad
Not music nerds, obviously. I don’t know anything about music. I know there are letters but sometimes the letters have squiggles; I know an octave doubles in pitch; I know you can write a pop song with only four chords. That’s about it. The rest has always seemed completely, utterly arbitrary. Why do we have twelve notes, but represent them with only seven letters? Where did the key signatures come from? Why is every Wikipedia article on this impossible to read without first having read all the
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