10-15 Minute Theory Practice

I've been working on Chad Mannings theory for fiddle and mandolin on peghead nation and I think his 10 minute theory practice routine is great. In short, you pick a key and;
1. Run through the major scale
2. Run the same major scale from each different scale degree
3. Run the same scale in thirds from each degree for each chord (diatonic triads)
4. Same scale with seventh chord arpeggios
5. Play I-IV-V arpeggios in the key
6. Play modes, major and minor penatonic and minor blues scale in the key

To help me process all of this and also help understand the notes I am playing, scale degree and learn the fretboard I made a spreadsheet that you are welcome to try out. It's at the link below. You can change the key in the drop down and it updates every scale mode and arpeggio to that key. then you can just work your way down the list. I think it's pretty helpful. Any constructive criticism would be great. The first time I did this it took a lot longer than 10 minutes but I am getting better at it. I pick a key at each practice session and am working my way around the circle of fifths. Have fun!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Aaron

Nice job ….. now get a free copy of Finale and do it in notation and TAB ….. C.M.'s Peghead course is a good one …. Play on! R/

Aaron: That's a very helpful spreadsheet you've developed, regardless of how folk wish to use it. Thanks for sharing!

Great spreadsheet. Now if only it could somehow be made to play all the notes in it, we could hear what all these different scales and modes sound like and that would aid with ear training as well!

This looks really cool. Lot of information and things to think about here. I don't immediately see the drop down to change the key though. I imagine I am missing something obvious, or, as my Mom used to say, "If it was a bear it would bite you."

One row says "KEY" - next column "A" - next column "drop down arrow to change key"

Just click the "A", then the little dropdown arrow that will appear

I've got a technical issue then. When I open it, where you see an "A", I see a "B". And nothing appears when I click it :(

Wow, I just noticed the bottom row that switches to the guitar, mandola and bass! My suggestion would be to color the triad notes for visibility and if you have anoter week of spare time :)) make another version with interval numbers instead of note names.

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Originally Posted by Sue Rieter

I've got a technical issue then. When I open it, where you see an "A", I see a "B". And nothing appears when I click it :(

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For anyone else who might have the same issue I did, I made a copy of the spreadsheet into my own google area, and the copy works :)

You can also click on 'File' and then 'Download' to download a Excel copy to your own computer.

Excellent spreadsheet and wonderfully helpful! Thank you for sharing it with us! Great practice concept -- if people practice and absorb all that information for each key, even if it takes more than 10 minutes each day, they will become fantastic musicians with a lot of soloing tools in their toolbox.

For people who may feel overwhelmed by 13 different keys available in that spreadsheet, start with the most common ones for the musical style you're working on. Most likely G, D, A, C, F, Bb. Master them in that order and use any of a number of play-along aps (iReal, Band-in-a-Box, play-along book/mp3 combos from Mel Bay and Hal Leonard, to solidify mastery of one key before starting to work on the next.

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Originally Posted by Sue Rieter

... I don't immediately see the drop down to change the key though. ... missing something obvious ...

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I clicked on the "View Only" button and got: "You must be logged into a Google account to request access from the owner." So there's that!

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Originally Posted by EdHanrahan

I clicked on the "View Only" button and got: "You must be logged into a Google account to request access from the owner." So there's that!

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Click under "FILE" and you can either download or save a copy. There's a number of formats you can download to. If you don't see FILE at the top, look all the way over to the right in the same row where "View Only" is, there's a little arrow there that hides/shows the menu. Hope that helps.

Sue

Wow, that's really helpful. Music theory still looks like astrophysics to me....

Thanks Aaron, unfortunately Numbers did not import the vlookup formula, fortunately I know how to fix it. A great resource thanks for sharing.

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Originally Posted by bigskygirl

Thanks Aaron, unfortunately Numbers did not import the vlookup formula, fortunately I know how to fix it. A great resource thanks for sharing.

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If you need it, I can send you the excel file or try to export it to Numbers. Just let me know.

Thanks Aaron, I’m very familiar with the vlookup and other Excel functions, when I had a real job I used Excel extensively to manipulate data. Since I’ve become a iMac person I’ve had to learn how to workaround or fix imported wks.

The issue was that Numbers did not import the formula but pasted the results as text. I just inserted the vlookup formula as appropriate and it’s fine now.

I got it fixed so if anyone here needs a Numbers version I can send it, just drop me a private message with your email.