A music theory book for non-musicians

The Big Scale and Chord Book

Music theory built up from a single vibrating string, and every scale and chord in every key. Everything is drawn on a keyboard and a guitar neck. You don't need to read music.

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Digital Edition, US$19 · coming soon

255 pages · PDF · 8 reference pages for each of 18 roots

The cover of The Big Scale and Chord Book: the title above a keyboard lettered C to B.

Three books in one

The narrative

Fourteen short chapters that start with one string and one question: why do some notes sound right together? Each chapter answers a question the one before it raised, until scales, chords and keys are things you understand rather than memorise. Chapters 1 to 11 each give you something to play.

The reference

Every root gets the same eight pages in the same order: scales, triads and sevenths, modes, extended chords, the chords of the key, common progressions, and shapes for keyboard and guitar. Learn the layout on C and you can find anything for F♯.

The concepts

Twenty two-page spreads for the ideas you look up rather than read through: cadences, Roman numerals, chord symbols, inversions, modulation, tuning. Each fits on one open spread, and a glossary follows.

Inside the book

The first page of the contents: fourteen narrative chapters, then the reference entries for C, C sharp and D flat.
The contents. Fourteen chapters that build the theory up, then a reference entry for every root.
The reference spread for C: every scale built on C on the left page, every triad and seventh chord on the right, drawn on the same twelve-column grid.
Scales and chords on facing pages, on the same grid, so a chord can be read straight off the scale beside it. Every root gets this spread.
The shapes page for C: keyboard diagrams for the main scales and chords, and the C major scale on a guitar neck.
Shapes for keyboard and guitar, on the last page of every root's entry.
A spread from Chapter 5, The seven letters and the keyboard: explanatory text with two keyboard figures, one lettered C to B and one marking where C and F sit beside the black keys.
From Chapter 5. The narrative explains where the names come from, instead of asking you to memorise them.
The Roman numerals concept spread: the seven chords of C major and of A minor numbered by degree, the technical name of each degree, and the same numerals written out in three keys.
One of twenty concept spreads: a single idea on two facing pages, with its examples worked out in more than one key.

Read a free chapter

Chapter 5, where notes get their letter names and the keyboard becomes a map, plus the complete eight-page reference entry for C. It's the same PDF layout as the full book.

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Questions

Do I need to read music?

No. The book uses no staff notation at all. Notes are shown on a keyboard, on a guitar fretboard and by name, which is enough to build every scale and chord in it. The flip side is that it won't teach you to read sheet music; one spread shows what a staff is so you can recognise one.

What instrument is it for?

Any. The diagrams are drawn for keyboard and guitar because those make the patterns easiest to see, but the theory is the same on every instrument.

What format is the Digital Edition?

A single PDF, laid out at 7 × 10 inches like a printed book, in colour, with a linked contents page and bookmarks. It isn't a reflowing ebook: the diagrams need the page to stay as designed.

What can I read it on?

Anything that opens a PDF. A tablet or a computer screen shows a full page comfortably; on a phone you'll be zooming. You can print pages for the music stand.

What if it's not for me?

Email support@musictheorybook.net within 30 days of buying for a full refund. No questions.

Is there a print edition?

Not yet. A paperback is planned. If you'd like to hear when it's out, the free chapter form above is the way to find out.