Music Theory by Numbers: Notes as Numbers, Intervals, Scales from Step Patterns, Chords, Transposition, Fret Positions & Rhythm

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Turn note numbers into pitch classes, note names and octaves, and turn a name plus an octave back into a note number.
• Measure eight intervals in semitones (also across the octave line), name them from a lookup table and work out their inversions.
• Add up step patterns into offsets from the root and build the E major, E natural minor and E major pentatonic scales note by note – and they work for any key you type into B3.
• Build the seven triads of G major by stacking every other scale note, measure their thirds and fifths in semitones and name each chord major, minor or diminished.
• Move an original eight-bar chord chart up by three semitones, rebuild the chord symbols, work out capo positions and find the shortest shift into a singer's key.
• Generate the twelve major keys with MOD(7 × k, 12), spell them with sharps or flats, count their key signatures and find each relative minor.
• Work out where the frets of a 650 mm guitar neck go, calculate note frequencies from note numbers and compare simple frequency ratios with equal-tempered intervals in cents.
• Add up the note values of a rhythm, turn time signatures into quarter beats per bar, work out how long each section of an original song lasts and chart the song's structure.