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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
  • The Music Theory of Fun.

    The Music Theory of Fun.
    Feb 6 2026
    The Music Theory of Fun. These two things make songs feel good… In my previous essay Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun? I told the story of how music was intentionally transformed from a fun and communal activity into fear propaganda that’s consumed alone. All within a few decades. I concluded with an invitation to make something fun, and then to share it with the world. We need it! The most revolutionary thing we can do in this age of consumption is to create. But, there’s a caveat. If our creations add to the fear and division, then the world is better off without them. That’s why it’s essential that what we make adds love and unity to society. And arguably the best way to do that is to spread light-hearted fun. Fun, and I mean healthy fun, is the antithesis of fear. Now, when it comes to music, there’s generally two characteristics that make a song fun. These two characteristics map onto the two elements of music: pitch, and rhythm. The first characteristic of fun music is an uplifting vibe. That’s the pitch element. The second characteristic is a dancey groove. That’s the rhythmic element. So in this essay we’ll be taking a look at what specific features make music uplifting and dancey. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. When it comes to uplifting songs, they tend to be in major keys, and inspire us to sing along. As this characteristic falls into the pitch category, what we’re talking about here in practical terms is melody and harmony. In most songs, the main melody will be the vocal line, and the harmony will be the accompanying chords, usually played on a guitar or synth. So, put simply: singing a melody in a major scale makes us feel good. And by the way, if you’re new to music and you want to understand scales and chords, you can learn all the basics in my Free Book 12 Music Theory Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords. Now let’s look at the second characteristic, danceability, which falls into the rhythm category. Songs with dancey grooves tend to have a backbeat snare drum on the 2 and 4, and often include a syncopated rhythm played on the kick drum and/or bass guitar. This moves us to dance along. And by the way, if you’re new to syncopation, it’s just the fancy word for accenting an off-beat. To learn about this and everything else you need to know about drums, read my Hack Drum Beats PDF. It’s worth mentioning here that the classic four-on-the-flour kick drum pattern, which pretty much every song in the Dance genre uses, is also a great way to get people moving. However, unless a syncopated rhythm is added to it (perhaps in the bass line), it gets really boring, really quickly! Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Okay so let’s bring this music theory to life with a couple examples. For uplifting music, listen to “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys. You’ll instantly feel that this song is in a major key. It’s almost impossible not to sing along, and it feels so good when you do. Go on, I dare you, just surrender and sing along! And for an example of dancey music, check out “Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved” by James Brown. It’s almost impossible not to move to that groove. And don’t resist. Resistance is futile. Let your body dance, you know you want to! Now, while the Beach Boys song is obviously in a major key, the James Brown song is actually in a minor key, which is normally considered to sound sad. But, in the context of a super funky groove, minor keys can feel super fun, especially when they’re using the minor pentatonic scale, like in this song. If you’re new to pentatonic scales, the minor pentatonic is simply the natural minor scale without its second and sixth notes. This scale is a funk favourite, along with its even funkier sister: the blues scale. To learn my hacks for these scales, as well as all the modes, check out my Songwriting & Producing PDF. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. This James Brown song is a great example of how fun music doesn’t need to have both characteristics. You can either use a major key to create an uplifting vibe, or you can use a backbeat snare and syncopated rhythm to create a dancey groove. However, while you don’t need to use both characteristics, please feel free to do so if you want double the fun! Lastly, if you’re interested in reading my free book or any of the PDFs I mentioned, you can download them from my website. There’s also 30 free PDF tutorials over there, which are step-by-step musical “recipes” you can follow to instantly make music in any genre. Electronic to hip-hop, classical to metal, and everything in between. They also cover all the instruments, from piano to synth to vocals to bass to drums. It’s all there. Enjoy! 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 ...
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    7 mins
  • Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun?

    Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun?
    Jan 24 2026
    Who Killed the Fun, Fun, Fun? Music used to be our greatest joy, then this happened… 1964. Fun, Fun, Fun. That was a song on the album “Shut Down, Volume 2” by my childhood heroes, The Beach Boys. Go have a quick listen, the song is only two minutes long. But they’re two minutes of pure joy! “Fun, Fun, Fun” was released 62 years ago. So now I’d like you to compare it to any new single from 2026 in the New Music Friday playlist. What do you notice? Yep! Somewhere between the mid-1960s and the mid-2020s it seems we lost all the fun. In six decades we’ve gone from musicians playing real instruments while their fans dance together, to AI-generated songs that are consumed alone via earphones. Wow! It’s no wonder so many people are depressed nowadays. This is the story of who killed the fun, fun, fun in music. And more importantly… Why? Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. The first thing we need to understand is that music is only one piece of the puzzle. Take a quick look at the new releases on Netflix, and compare those to the movies from the mid ‘60s. Then take a quick look at the new books on Amazon, and compare those to the ones from the mid ‘60s. It won’t take long to see the pattern. The majority of media being pumped out to the masses nowadays is designed to cause fear. Whether it’s nonfiction books about climate change, fiction books about the end of the world (and to be honest, it’s almost impossible to tell those two apart), or whether it’s movies about pandemics, TV shows about serial killers, YouTube videos about alien invasions, or Substack essays on global financial collapse. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes to see that the Fun, Fun, Fun has been thoroughly replaced with Fear, Fear, Fear. Welcome to the future. And yes, there have always been fear narratives in human civilizations. It’s how emperors control the masses. But, what’s vastly different now is the ubiquity of media. In the past, if an emperor wanted to pump out a new fear narrative to the people, it took years to circulate. And even then, vast areas of the empire were utterly oblivious to what they were supposed to be scared of. Nowadays, though, thanks to social media. When the emperor decides to circulate a new fear narrative, within hours it’s implanted into the consciousness of the masses all around the world. If it’s an extremely scary narrative, it can be global within minutes. These are the conditions we’re living in today. Once again, it’s hardly surprising that the majority of people are suffering from mental and physical health problems. So what’s the solution? You guessed it! Fun, fun, fun :) Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Sadly, though, with the fear propaganda constantly attacking us from every angle, it’s become extremely difficult to have fun. And for the record, when I say fun, I mean healthy enjoyment, not self-medicating. If you’re also a highly sensitive person (HSP) like me, then you’ll feel everyone else’s emotions as if they’re your own. So even if you’re staying offline and away from screens, you still absorb that fearful energy from other people. Therefore, the first step in this process is to snap ourselves out of the fear trance. And the best way to do that is to laugh. Whatever it takes to make you laugh. Do it every day, as a matter of utmost importance. For me, a short YouTube video of dogs eating peanut butter does the trick. Even just thinking about them makes me smile. And now that we’ve broken the spell of fear, the next step is to create something from this place of light-hearted energy. Being a music teacher, obviously I’d love it if you felt inspired to make music, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you bring something joyful into the world. A song, a drawing, a dance, a flower arrangement, a story, a joke, a cake, whatever you feel like creating in the moment. As long as you’re having fun making it. That’s the sole purpose! Enjoy every moment of the process. You’re creating something that wasn’t there before. It’s magic. How cool is that?! Then when you’re done. Share it. If you can, share it with someone in person. If not, that’s okay, share it online. But if you do that, be prepared for some trolling, as the internet doesn’t much appreciate cheerful things. This is how change happens, though. Because fun, like fear, is contagious. The more fun we share, the more positive the world becomes (including us). And the change will be exponential. We know that’s true, because it’s exactly how fear was spread over the last few years. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. If you’re still reading this, you obviously care deeply about the world. We need you. We need your fun creations. So please make something light-hearted this week, and share it with as many as possible. And please share it here in the comments too, so we can all enjoy your ...
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    8 mins
  • Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks.

    Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks.
    Jan 13 2026
    Musical Memoirs & Sonic Scrapbooks. How to find purpose, passion, and meaning in your life. Okay so what’s a musical memoir? Well, the Oxford Dictionary defines a memoir as “an account written by somebody about their life and experiences”. So a musical memoir is a musical account written by somebody about their life and experiences. This is an idea that’s been on my mind for a while, so I’d like to share it with you in this essay with the hope that you may find it inspiring. It’s a totally different way of approaching music, which we desperately need in this new AI age. Depending on the person, music is usually considered to be in one of the following six categories. And obviously this list is not exhaustive, but these are the most common ways of approaching music: Artistic, where the focus is on creativity and originality. Entertainment, where the focus is on performance and enjoyment. Social, where the focus is on community cohesion and bonding. Spiritual, where the focus is on connecting with the divine and worshipping. Soundtrack, where the focus is on enhancing and/or manipulating emotions. And for some, business, where the focus is on profit and revenue growth. So those are the conventional categories: artistic, entertainment, social, spiritual, soundtrack, and business. But as AI-generated music steals more and more work from all of these categories, we’re facing a meaning crisis as musicians. When the world doesn’t want our gifts any more, what do we do? And where do we find meaning and purpose in our lives now? Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. That’s where my “musical memoir” idea comes in. I suggest we start approaching music in the same way that we approach photos. Most people have a smart phone in their pocket nowadays, so they tend to document their daily lives through pictures. Like a photographic memoir. These captured memories then get uploaded to an online gallery, which is the modern equivalent of those dusty old-school photo albums that used to fill our shelves. On a side note. Don’t you think it’s weird that so many people share their online galleries with the public? Any stranger can look at them. How creepy is that?! Back in the day, photo albums were private. Only family members got to look at them, and even that was embarrassing. I don’t remember ever letting any of my friends open my photo albums. No way! They were strictly family-only. What does it say about our modern culture that people are so willing to share their photos with strangers? Interesting times. But I digress. So I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. I’m proposing that we start capturing our memories in sound as well, by making autobiographical music. In other words, music as a memoir. And in between creating our musical memoir, we can constantly be working on our sonic scrapbooks. A sonic scrapbook is where we can keep all our musical ideas, which may or may not be turned into songs later. There’s no need to turn every idea into a song. Sometimes ideas are perfectly happy exactly the way they are. If you write a beautiful melody or chord progression or whatever, and you never feel the desire to turn it into anything more, then it’s complete. It has served its purpose. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. When Picasso did a pencil sketch and left it at that, it was complete. If he’d wanted to turn it into a painting, he would have. That’s what our sonic scrapbooks should be: A place where all our ideas are collected. They form a vital part of our musical journey, even if they don’t make it into the final narrative. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. The reason I feel so excited about this new approach to music, is that the work and its meaning can’t be stolen by AI. Remember, a memoir is “an account written by somebody about their life and experiences”. Let that sink in. AI will never be able to do that. Because, a memoir must be written by the person it’s about, as it’s an account of their life and experiences. AI will never know what it’s like to be you. Therefore, AI can never steal this work and its meaning from you. So if you’re like me, and AI has stolen over 80% of your work and over 80% of your income (and yes, that’s true), then I offer you this idea as a way to rebuild your musical life from the devastation of this global AI flood. Then at the end of your life you’ll have a one-of-a-kind musical memoir to show for your time here. How meaningful is that? Now that’s what I call a life well lived! On that note, if you’re feeling inspired to begin your musical memoir and sonic scrapbook, I invite you to join my online apprenticeship course. Through a series of in-depth videos, you’ll learn my Song-Whispering method. It’s an intuitive way of writing, where you let the music guide you from blank screen to finished song. If you’re new to music, though, no problem. You can ...
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    7 mins
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