Is There an Understanding of the Major Scale?

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There's some half steps and some whole steps in the major scale. And it sounds good when you play them together. Is there an understanding of why that sounds good? Or do we just say this is how this sounds? Let's put it to work. Why does that sound scary? Well, itSounds scary because it is a cluster that's called an X cell. They're not played consecutively chromatic. But they give because of the way the overtone series works, there's a lot of beating of intervals,. So you have all these beating intervals that are beating really quickly. It gives a very tense sound. And it just sounds scary.

There is no human endeavor that does not have a theory of it — a set of ideas about what makes it work and how to do it well. Music is no exception, popular music included — there are reasons why certain keys, chord changes, and rhythmic structures have proven successful over the years. Nobody has done more to help people understand the theoretical underpinnings of popular music than today’s guest, Rick Beato. His YouTube videos dig into how songs work and what makes them great. We talk about music theory and how it contributes to our appreciation of all kinds of music.

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Rick Beato obtained a master’s degree in jazz studies from the New England Conservatory of Music. He is currently a producer and owner of Black Dog Sound Studios in Georgia, as well as host of a popular YouTube channel. He has worked as a session musician, songwriter, and lecturer at Berklee College of Music and elsewhere. He is the author of The Beato Book Interactive as well as other music-training tools.

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