Guitar Theory Knowledge
In-depth guides built for guitarists. No fluff — just the theory you actually need, explained in terms that make sense on the fretboard.
Not sure where to start?
Follow the guided Learning Path — these lessons sequenced from beginner to advanced, with your progress tracked.
Foundations
The Circle of Fifths
One diagram. Every key. Understand how all 12 keys relate, read key signatures at a glance, and build better chord progressions.
Understanding Intervals
Every chord and scale is built from intervals. Learn all 13 — from minor 2nd to perfect octave — and unlock the ability to construct any sound by ear.
How Chords Are Built
Triads, 7th chords, extensions — decoded. See exactly which intervals stack to create every chord quality and why each one has its emotional character.
Chord Progressions
Roman numerals, harmonic function, and the progressions that power thousands of songs. Learn to build and analyse chord sequences in any key.
Functional Harmony
Why V resolves to I, what makes a ii–V–I so compelling, borrowed chords, secondary dominants — the mechanics of tension and resolution explained.
The Nashville Number System
How session pros chart songs by number instead of chord name, so a whole progression transposes to any key instantly. Roman numerals for the bandstand.
Modulation & Key Changes
How songs change key without sounding wrong — pivot chords, moving to the dominant or relative key, and the dramatic whole-step lift. With live before/after audio.
Scales & Modes
The 7 Modes Explained
Ionian through Locrian — what each mode actually sounds like, how the intervals differ, and when to use each one over a chord progression.
Pentatonic Scales
The backbone of rock, blues, and country guitar. Learn all 5 box patterns, the major/minor relationship, and how to connect positions across the neck.
Harmonic & Melodic Minor
Why minor keys have three scales. Hear natural, harmonic and melodic minor side by side, see which degrees change, and why the raised 7th powers a real V–i cadence.
Harmony & Jazz
Extended & Altered Chords
Beyond triads and 7ths: how 9th, 11th and 13th extensions and altered tensions (♭9, ♯9, ♯11, ♭13) are built and where they belong — the colours of jazz, soul and funk, with live audio.
The Jazz ii–V–I
The most important progression in jazz. Hear major and minor ii–V–I, the guide-tone voice leading that makes it flow, and the tritone substitution — in any key.
Modal Interchange
Where those unexpected-but-perfect chords come from: borrowing from a parallel mode. Hear the minor iv, ♭VI, ♭VII and ♭III in a major key, and the progressions that made them famous.
Chord Substitutions
Swap a plain chord for a richer one that does the same job. Hear the four workhorse substitutions — relative, secondary dominants, the tritone sub and diminished passing chords — before and after.
Voice Leading
The difference between chords that lurch and chords that glide. Keep common tones, move each voice the smallest distance, and hear the same progression played jumpy vs. smooth.
Guitar-Specific
Triads & Inversions
The three-note chords behind all harmony, and how flipping their bass note creates inversions. Compact fretboard shapes for the top three strings, with audio for every key.
Arpeggios
Chords played one note at a time — the bridge from rhythm to lead. Major, minor and 7th arpeggio shapes with ascending, descending and up-down playback.
The CAGED System
Five open chord shapes that repeat all the way up the neck. Master CAGED and you can play any chord or scale in any position, anywhere on the fretboard.
Blues Theory
Dominant 7ths everywhere, the 12-bar form, and the blue note. Understand the theory behind the most influential sound in modern guitar.
Blues Turnarounds
The last two bars are where the blues gets its swagger. Learn the 12-bar form and the classic turnarounds — basic, quick-change, the circle turnaround, ♭VI–V and the tritone-sub ending — with live audio.
Guitar Technique Fundamentals
The expressive moves that make a guitar sing: hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, bends, vibrato, palm muting, legato and alternate/economy picking — what each is, how to play it, when to use it, and how it reads in tab, with live audio.
Rhythm Guitar & Comping
The groove side of chords: strumming choreography, the campfire pattern, boom-chick, palm-muted chugging, funk 16th scratch, the reggae skank and jazz comping — the feel, the genre and how each is counted, with live audio for the rhythms.
Practice & Skills
Practice Strategy for Guitarists
How to actually get better: deliberate practice vs. mindless repetition, structuring a session, the understand→internalize→perform arc, spaced repetition, slow-with-a-metronome, isolating hard spots, and a concrete weekly plan routed through the right tools.
Transcription Methodology
Learn music by ear from recordings. The toolkit, the step-by-step method — find the key, get the bass, outline the chords, then melody and rhythm — what to listen for, the mistakes to avoid, and a graded practice ladder from pop to blues to jazz, with live ear-cue audio.
Ear Training
Theory you can hear. Interactive interval and chord-quality trainers with real guitar audio — build the relative pitch that lets you learn songs by ear and improvise with intent.
Rhythm & Counting
Make timing visible. Watch the counting (“1 e & a”) light up in time, tap the rhythm for a timing grade, build your own bars, and tap a groove to have it notated — quarters through sixteenths, triplets, dotted notes and compound meters.
The Improvisation Framework
Stop running scales and start soloing with intent. Target chord tones, build lines from arpeggios, choose the right scale per chord, and phrase with tension and release — over a ii–V–I and a blues, in any key, with live audio.