Music Theory for Beginners

Starting to learn the ukulele is exciting, but beginners in particular can feel overwhelmed by the music theory that comes with it. I always tell people that learning music theory is not a necessity, but it will help you to understand what you're playing and how the music works. This post breaks down essential music theory concepts into easy to understand bites that aren't quite so scary!

Notes and the Musical Alphabet

The musical alphabet has seven letters:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G

After G, the sequence repeats. On the ukulele, each fret on a string raises the pitch by one half step (semitone). For example, the open C string plays the note C, the first fret plays C#, the second fret plays D, and so on. The full order of the notes from C is:

C, C#, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, Bb, B

Some of these notes can be written in two ways - you might have seen Ab before - this is the same note as G#. Every sharp note can also be written as the flat of the note above.

Why This Is Important

Knowing notes helps you:

• Find your way around the fretboard

• Understand scales and chords

• Improvise melodies

  
  

How a Chord is Made

A chord is a group of notes played together. Most songs use chords to create harmony. The simplest chords are major and minor chords.

• Major chords sound bright and happy (e.g., C major)

• Minor chords sound sad or serious (e.g., A minor)

Chords are made using a specific formula:

• A major chord uses notes 1, 3, and 5 of the scale

• A minor chord uses notes 1, flat 3, and 5 of the scale.

• 7, sus2 and sus4 chords still use 1, 3 and 5, but add in their respective notes.

For instance, here is the scale of C, with note letters and numbers (called degrees of the scale):

We can use this to work out:

• A Cmaj7 chord uses notes C (1), E (3), G (5), and B (7)

• A Csus4 chord uses C (1), E (3), F (4), and G (5)

Rhythm and Timing Basics

Music isn’t just about notes; it’s also about timing. Rhythm tells you when to play notes and how long to hold them.

• Beat is the steady pulse of the music

• Tempo is the speed of the beat (measured in beats per minute)

• Time signature tells you how many beats are in each bar (e.g., 4/4 means four beats per measure)

  
  

Transposing

Transposing is the fancy musical word for "Changing key." This can be useful if, for example, a song you like is too low to sing, or has too many complicated chords in it. Transposing is very easy, and works like this:

• Make a note of the chords in the song you want to transpose, for example C, F and G7.

• If you move the C chord up to D, you've moved up the scale by 2 half steps.

• Now move the rest of the chords up 2 half steps as well - F becomes G, and G7 becomes A7.

• Tadah! You've just transposed a song!

An Introduction to Roman Numerals

Occasionally you might hear musicians talking about songs that use a sequence 1, 4, 5. This is a way of notating a song's chords no matter what key you're in, and generally uses roman numerals. Upper case means a major chord, and lower case is a minor chord. A small degree symbol like ° means diminished. So in the key of C, your roman numerals look like this:

So when you hear mention of I, IV and V, in the key of C this means chords C, F and G. Now use the diagram below to figure out what the sequence I, IV, and V would be in the key of D:

Answer: It's D, G and A.

How Music Theory Improves Your Ukulele Playing

Knowing music theory helps you:

• Learn songs faster

• Create your own music

• Improvise solos and melodies

• Play along to your favourite songs more easily

• Understand what you’re playing, not just memorise shapes

  
  

I always say that knowing some music theory helps you become not just a ukulele player, but a musician. Getting a good understanding of how the music actually works helps you to pick up songs much faster - you know what chord is likely to come next following the formulas, and you know the chords of the key you're in.

Questions?

As always, if you have any questions on music theory or would like a more in-depth lesson, do get in touch and we can break it down further! If you're looking for some music theory lessons or exercises for your ukulele group too, that's something on offer as well. Head to my services page to find out more.

In the meantime, thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!