43 Music Theory Concepts Every Modern Composer Should Master

If you're trying to learn music theory on your own, you can get lost if you don't learn the right things in the right order. Here's my roadmap to self-taught success, exactly as it's laid out in my Theory and Songwriting course, with a brief explanation of each topic:

Click any topic to jump straight to it in the video.

1. 1 The Musical Alphabet and Chromatic Scale 2:23
2. 2 Understanding The Music Staff 2:41
3. 3 Knowing the Fretboard 3:01
4. 4 The Major Scale 3:19
5. 5 Rhythm Basics 3:50
6. 6 Triplets, Swing, and Advanced Tuplets 4:16
7. 7 Meter and Time Signature 4:42
8. 8 Audiation and Melody 5:18
9. 9 Key Signatures and Enharmonics 5:58
10. 10 Scale Degrees 6:55
11. 11 Triads 7:33
12. 12 Movable Chords 7:53
13. 13 Diatonic Major Chords and Roman Numerals 8:22
14. 14 Writing Progressions in Major 8:44
15. 15 Soloing with the Pentatonic Major Scale 9:33
16. 16 Suspended Chords 9:54
17. 17 The Minor Scale and Diatonic Chords 10:23
18. 18 Writing Progressions in Minor 10:42
19. 19 Soloing with the Pentatonic Minor Scale 10:57
20. 20 Ear Training Intervals and Chords 11:40
21. 21 PowerChords 12:25
22. 22 Relative Scales and Tonal Center 12:55
23. 23 Combining Pentatonic Shapes 13:29
24. 24 Arpeggios and Chord Tone Soloing 13:55
25. 25 Chord Inversions and Slash Chords 14:20
26. 26 Popular 7th Chords 14:51
27. 27 Diatonic Seventh Chords 15:28
28. 28 12-Bar Blues Variations and Minor Blues 15:44
29. 29 Secondary Dominant Chords 16:19
30. 30 Diminished Chords 16:42
31. 31 Augmented Chords 17:11
32. 32 Harmonic Minor 17:44
33. 33 Writing Melodies 18:17
34. 34 Passing Tones and Chromaticism 18:50
35. 35 Introducing Modes 19:27
36. 36 Transpositions and Modulations 20:38
37. 37 Borrowing Chords from Minor 21:15
38. 38 Parts of a Song 21:37
39. 39 Song Structure 22:13
40. 40 Writing Bass Lines 23:32
41. 41 Writing Drum Parts 22:37
42. 42 Creating a Full Song 23:48
43. 43 Advanced Theory Concepts 24:24