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Hack Music Theory

Hack Music Theory

By: Ray Harmony
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 Welcome to the unorthodoX thoughts of multi award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony (older episodes were co-hosted by Kate Harmony, his wife and protégé). As a songwriter and producer, Ray has made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine). This space is like a songwriters' ark, where all the music making skills are being preserved through this global AI flood. The flood shall pass. The skills will last. Join over 250,000 YouTube subscribers learning the fast, easy, and fun way to make music without using AI, cos it ain't no fun getting a robot to write “your” songs! Download Ray's free book @ HackMusicTheory.com© 2026 Revolution Harmony Music
Episodes
  • An Effortless New Year’s Resolution.

    An Effortless New Year’s Resolution.
    Jan 3 2026
    An Effortless New Year’s Resolution. One simple question that will change your future. New year’s resolutions don’t work. All the studies on them reveal this same finding. Yet every January 1st, millions of people make them. Again. Knowing that they’ve never worked before. In fact, the only thing that works about a new year’s resolution is its ability to make people feel bad about themselves. Because when they inevitably fail, they need a way to numb that pain. And whatever that involves, it usually ends up with them in a worse state than they were in before they started. One step forward, two steps back. If new year’s resolutions work for you, great. Keep on keeping on! If they don’t, though, then this essay is for you. I’m offering a completely different approach. And the best thing of all is that it requires no effort. So have you ever picked up your phone for a quick scroll, and then after what seems like a few minutes, you look at the time and realise you’ve been scrolling for an hour? This is what happens when we stop being aware. We shift into autopilot. There are many techniques available to help with this problem. But once we’re on autopilot it’s already too late, because even if we can become aware, it requires a huge amount of will power to snap ourselves out of this type of trance state. A far easier way, which requires no will power, is to simply ask yourself this one question before you begin any activity: What is the opportunity cost of doing this? Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. If you don’t know what an opportunity cost is, let me explain. Whenever you choose to do something (like scrolling on your phone), you’re sacrificing all the other activities that you could be doing instead (like making music). But more importantly, you’re sacrificing all the benefits that you’d get from doing the other activity. In this example, the opportunity cost is the benefit you would have got from making music. That’s the true price you’re paying when you choose to scroll. And the longer you scroll, the higher the price you pay. If you scroll for one hour every day, that’s 365 hours this year that you could have been making music. And even if you forget about all the health benefits you’ll enjoy from making music, that’s still a heavy price to pay. Because imagine how many songs you could write in 365 hours. And sadly, most people scroll a lot more than one hour a day. So there you go. That’s my effortless alternative to the usual new year’s resolution! Before embarking on any activity, ask yourself: What’s the opportunity cost of doing this? Then consciously decide if you’re happy to miss out on the benefits you’d gain from doing that other activity. Those lost benefits add up really quickly, too. Imagine two versions of yourself, one that chooses to scroll for an hour every day, and one that chooses to make music instead. Due to the compound effect, the difference between these two versions of you will be vast by the end of this year. Which one do you want to be? Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Remember, the trick is to ask yourself about the opportunity cost before you begin an activity. If you need to, write “Opportunity Cost?” on your hand every morning. Do whatever it takes to ask this question before you start doing something, especially if that thing involves looking at a screen. Screens hypnotize us. Literally. So before you give the screen that control over your mind, ask the big question! Even if you ask this question and then decide that scrolling is worth it, by asking it you’ve created some cognitive dissonance. This will bother your unconscious mind. And as this builds over time, you’ll find that you start choosing healthier activities simply to relieve your cognitive dissonance. Now, if you’re ready to begin your musical journey, you can start right now by reading my free book 12 Music Theory Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords. It only takes about half an hour to read, then you’ll have a solid foundation of the basics. And if you’re already making music but want to improve, then I’ve got 30 free PDF tutorials for you. They’re step-by-step musical “recipes” that you can follow to instantly make better music. And on top of the free book, 30 free PDFs, and over 220 free YouTube tutorials, I don’t paywall any of these essays either. I don’t want to exclude anyone. But, if you’re enjoying all these free offerings and want me to make more, please support my work by becoming a paid subscriber. It’s only about the cost of one coffee per month, but if enough people join, then I can pay the rent and keep doing this work. To sign up, please visit HackMusicTheory.com/Join. If you can’t afford to at the moment, though, no problem. You can give Hack Music Theory a 5-star rating in your podcast app, that supports my work too. Either way, thank you so much. Happy New ...
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    6 mins
  • The Best Music Is Behind Us. But That’s a Good Thing!

    The Best Music Is Behind Us. But That’s a Good Thing!
    Dec 29 2025
    The Best Music Is Behind Us. But that’s a good thing! Here’s why… This essay began as a “Best Album of 2025” post, where I was going to share my favourite album of the year and what I loved about it. As you would have noticed from the title, though, it grew into something entirely different. Why? Well, according to Spotify’s Wrapped analytics, my favourite artist of 2025 (who I listened to for 5,495 minutes) has been dead for 275 years. Yep! The genius of geniuses J.S. Bach is my favourite artist of the year. In fact, Spotify tells me I’m a top 0.07% global fan of Bach. That’s my new claim to fame! And my favourite Bach pieces of 2025 are the Goldberg Variations, which were published in 1741. So my favourite music of this year is almost 300 years old. My favourite recording of this masterpiece is by Trevor Pinnock and the Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble. This album is new, but it’s not from 2025 either. It’s five years old. So now you can see why my “Best Album of 2025” essay morphed into this post, which will be a reflection on the state of music. And unsurprisingly, my conclusion is that the best music is old. Very old. But (and it’s a big but), that’s a good thing. Very good. Let me explain why… Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. The great composers of the past, like Bach, reached a level that we can’t comprehend. It’s like the architecture of ancient civilizations, which we can’t even recreate nowadays, let alone surpass. Exactly how this level of genius was achieved is beyond the scope of the present essay, though it is a fascinating question with many fascinating hypotheses. For now, though, it’s enough to simply acknowledge the fact that we can’t reach Bach’s level nowadays, let alone surpass it. “So how’s that a good thing?”, I hear you asking. Well, there are two answers. One from a listener’s perspective. And one from a songwriter’s perspective. For the modern-day listener, who’s being bombarded by hundreds of thousands of new songs uploaded to Spotify and Apple every day, the fact that the best music is behind us should come as a monumental relief! We can all rest assured that nothing new is ever going to come close to the great composers, so we can let go of our FOMO (fear of missing out). By all means, listen to some new music here and there, if you want. I do. And I enjoy a lot of it, too. For example, I’m absolutely loving the new Chronixx album titled “Exile”. But, let’s all continually remind ourselves that while some new music is good and enjoyable, when we compare its level of composition to Bach and the other great composers, it doesn’t come close. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. In other words, instead of going down the bottomless rabbit-hole of new music, find your favourite handful of Bach albums (or Mozart, or whichever of the great composers resonates most with you), and get to know their music intimately. And we can all do this relaxed in the knowledge that we could not be listening to anything better. On that note, I’d love to know which of the great composers is your favourite, so please let me know in the comments. Also, I don’t paywall any of these essays as I don’t want to exclude anyone. If you’re enjoying this and want me to make more, please support my work by becoming a paid subscriber. It’s only about the cost of one coffee per month, but if enough people join, then I can pay the rent and keep doing this work. To sign up, please visit HackMusicTheory.com/Join. If you can’t afford to at the moment, though, no problem. You can give Hack Music Theory a 5-star rating in your podcast app, that supports my work too. Either way, thank you so much! Right, now back to the topic at hand… In addition to ridding us of the fear of missing out, this minimalist approach to listening (i.e. focusing on the great composers) also decreases the stress and anxiety we feel from trying to keep up with new music. Living in this day and age of infinite music is overwhelming. It’s impossible to keep up, like trying to drink from a firehose. Yet we feel that we should try. The only thing this accomplishes, though, is turning joyful activities (like listening to music) into stressful chores. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Now, why is the fact that the best music is in the past a good thing from a songwriter’s perspective? Because, it takes all the pressure off us. Hallelujah! We’ll never be as good as Bach, or Mozart, or any of the other great composers (of which there are hundreds). But nobody else will be as good as them either. None of us will even come close to their level. So there’s no competition. What a monumental relief, right? In this extremely competitive world we’re living in, it’s liberating to know that this competition is closed. The winner has been announced. It’s over. So, we can all let go of our competitive...
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    7 mins
  • The Geography of Musical Scales.

    The Geography of Musical Scales.
    Dec 19 2025
    The Geography of Musical Scales. Finding peace in pentatonic places. It’s thought that pentatonic scales are the most ancient of all the musical scales. Regardless of whether that’s true or not, it’s worth paying attention to these five-note scales because of their unique consonance. You see, they contain two fewer notes than the scales we’re used to hearing, so they have a spaciousness that no other scales have. It’s that characteristic which makes pentatonic scales sound so peaceful. Those two extra notes we use in seven-note scales create semitone intervals, which cause tension. But it’s precisely those tense semitones that add the excitement, which we love. So as you can see, there are pros and cons to both. Five-note scales are peaceful, but lack excitement. Seven-note scales are exciting, but lack peace. And by the way, if intervals are new to you, read my free book to learn all the basics. What got me thinking about this topic is a brilliant book that I just finished reading. It’s called The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently... and Why by the psychologist Dr Richard E. Nisbett. It’s one of the most insightful books I’ve ever read. It’s full of fascinating psychological studies jointly conducted by American and Chinese researchers. The results are extremely nuanced, obviously, but I’ll oversimplify them here for the purpose of brevity. The “eastern” mind is built on a cultural foundation of collectivism, which originated in Confucianism. The “western” mind is built on a cultural foundation of individualism, which originated in Ancient Greek philosophy. Over the last two and a half thousand years, these two geographical areas developed vastly different mindsets, which in turn created vastly different societies. Before I continue, though. It’s vital to acknowledge that both mindsets have pros and cons. The book is crystal clear on that, as well as what those pros and cons are. That’s why you should read the book for yourself. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Now, when it comes to the music that these two different mindsets invented, things get even more interesting. In the west, our music has traditionally been more complex. The scales have more notes, and therefore more tension. Western musicians also invented counterpoint, where individual melodies are played simultaneously. While these layered melodies create harmony, which is beautiful, they also create tension. How perfectly does that reflect western individualism? And in the east, their music has traditionally been simpler. The scales are pentatonic, so they have fewer notes, and therefore less tension. Not only that, but they don’t layer melodies either, as that would create competition between them. If two musicians play together, they play the same melody, or very similar melodies. How perfectly does that reflect eastern collectivism? You can think of these two different approaches in terms of a choir. In the east, they would all sing the same (or similar) pentatonic melody. In the west, the choir would be divided up into different ranges, and each group would sing a different melody. For a breathtakingly beautiful example of this, listen to the Renaissance composer, Palestrina. And for an equally beautiful example of the eastern mind’s music, listen to the album Emerging Lotus by the pipa player, Liu Fang. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. In these stressful times we’re living in, I invite you to find peace in pentatonic places by making music using the major or minor pentatonic scales. For the major, if you begin on C as your root, the scale is C, D, E, G, and A. For the minor, if you begin on A as your root, the scale is A, C, D, E, and G. As soon as you start playing around with these pentatonic scales, you’ll feel in your body exactly how peaceful they are. And for extra peace, keep your song instrumental. If you want to know why, check out my previous essay titled This Is The Only Pure Music. And if you’re not making music yet, then you can begin your journey right now by reading my free book 12 Music Theory Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords. It only takes about half an hour to read, then you’ll have a solid foundation of the basics. And if you’re already making music but wanna improve, then I’ve got 30 free PDF tutorials for you. They’re step-by-step musical “recipes” that you can follow to instantly make better music. Lastly, I don’t paywall any of these essays. I don’t want to exclude anyone. But if you enjoy my work and want me to keep doing this, please support me by heading over to HackMusicTheory.com/Join. Becoming a paid subscriber is only about the cost of one coffee per month for you, but if enough people join, then I can pay the rent and keep helping you every week. A heartfelt thank-you for being here. And welcome aboard the Songwriter’s Ark, where all the music making skills ...
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    6 mins
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