Maddie knows stuff. The Circle of Fifths lies at the center of the skillset needed to be a successful musician. It tells us about key signatures, identifies the three primary chords in each key  – i.e., the 1,4, and 5 chords – and helps us quickly figure out what notes are in every key.   […]

Maddie knows stuff. The Pentatonic (Penta=5; Tonic=tone therefore the 5-tone scale) is the backbone of popular Western music, especially when it comes to soloing. Take the 7-note major scale, throw away the troublesome 4th and 7th note…. and voila! The Pentatonic Scale. Yup…. Maddie knows stuff.

Maddie Knows Stuff! Professor Maddie tells us that there are almost unlimited note combinations from a single Major Scale. One scale, seven notes…. we will never finish exploring the musical possibilities of those seven notes. There are enough scale and chord possibilities contained in that mothership called the Major Scale to occupy us for the […]