In this lesson you will learn: Pick a key and know which chords belong in it. Build a progression on purpose instead of by trial and error. Name what you wrote well enough to register and split it. Know which theory to skip until you actually need it.
Most theory tuition is built for exams, so it front-loads notation and interval drilling — and most artists quit before it becomes useful. This lesson is the opposite: the smallest set of ideas that lets you finish a song this week. If you want to go deeper afterwards, musictheory.net does drills better than any video we could make, and we'd rather point you there than pretend otherwise.
A key gives you seven notes that agree with each other, so anything you play from that set will broadly work — it narrows the choices rather than restricting you.. Major tends to read as settled, minor as unsettled. That's a starting bias, not a rule; plenty of desolate songs are in major keys.. Pick the key that fits the top and bottom of your own vocal range, not the one that's easiest on the keyboard. Transposing later costs you nothing digitally and can rescue a flat-sounding vocal.
Three jobs cover almost everything: home (chord I), tension (chord V), and the in-between (chords IV and vi). Most popular songs cycle these four in some order.. Progressions feel different depending on where you start and where you land, not just which chords you use — the same four chords in a different order is a different song.. When a section feels stuck, change how long each chord lasts before you change the chords themselves. Harmonic rhythm is the most under-used lever a beginner has.
The chords and melody you wrote are the composition — a separate copyright from the recording you'll make of it. Both can earn, and they don't have to be owned by the same people.. If anyone else was in the room contributing musical ideas, they may be a co-writer. Agree the Royalty split now and put it on a Split sheet while everyone still remembers and still likes each other.. Registering the composition with your PRO is what lets Performance royalty income find you. Your Distributor does not do this for you — see the Royalties & business track.
Reading standard notation — useful for session work and sheet-music licensing, unnecessary to finish a track in a DAW.. Modes beyond major and minor — genuinely useful later, a distraction while you still can't finish an arrangement.. Advanced reharmonisation and voice leading — reach for these when a song is nearly right and you can hear what's wrong, not before.