Modern Drummer founder Ron Spagnardi wrote an excellent book called Understanding the Language of Music, a Drummer’s Guide to Theory and Harmony. This book spells out the basics of theory and harmony in a very easy to understand way. It is a fantastic book for drummers looking to learn about the language of music beyond drumming. We are honored to reprint the parts of Ron’s book here in Modern Drummer for everyone to read and learn. The last time we learned about key signatures and the 12 major scales. Now you’ll see why scales are the foundation of chord structure. A chord can be defined as three or more notes played simultaneously, in harmony with one another. The most basic chord consists of three notes and is called a triad. Triads are built by stacking three notes from a scale. Look at the C major scale below. Major Triads To […]

August 2023 Issue