Jam Pages – Music Theory Cheat Sheet

An eBook for Chords & Scales in All Keys

Have you ever been jamming with your friends or practicing to a backing track and struggled for the next note or chord to keep the music going?

Do you hesitate when you need to find the V7 chord in the key of B Major? Or the chords of a 12 Bar Blues in D Major?

We’ve all been there. While the pros make it look effortless to play all the right notes at the right time, it takes a lifetime of dedication and practice to get there.

What if there was a short cut? What if everything you needed to know to pick the right notes and chords in any key could fit on a single page?

 This is Jam Pages – a music theory cheat sheet eBook for every major & minor key, to help you quickly find the right next note, chord, or progression when jamming or practicing.

Music Theory Cheat Sheet - Jam Pages

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What You Get

Jam Pages is a PDF eBook that you’ll receive as a digital download when purchased.

Included in the eBook are ‘Jam Pages’ – music theory cheat sheets for every major and minor key following the Circle of Fifths. The material will guide you within the bounds of most popular music like rock, blues, pop, country, and basic jazz.

Everything included can be understood with basic music theory knowledge, including intervals, the Circle of Fifths, 7th chords, and modes.

For the advanced music theory fans, theoretical keys are not covered. The material also doesn’t go beyond 7th chords or into exotic scales & modes.

Jam Pages is not currently available in a physical printed version. If you wish to make a paper copy for yourself, it will fit on standard 8.5” x 11” sheets of paper.

How To Use Jam Pages as a Music Theory Cheat Sheet

Key

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 01 - Key

This is your starting point that tells you the parent key of the Jam Page, and the notes that make up the key.

Quick Reference

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 02 - Quick Reference

The Relative Key & Parallel Key tell you which keys are most closely related to the parent key. This is useful if you want to borrow notes or chords from these keys to add variety to your playing or change the mood of the music.

The Pentatonic Scale & Blues Scale tell you what notes to play to sound generally ‘good’ in the key. These notes can be played over any chord in the key without having to worry about them sounding out of place or creating unpleasant dissonance.

The Common Chord Progressions tell you what chords to play in succession with one another to keep the music moving from tension to release. I-IV-V is a popular chord progression in rock music (the one-four-five progression), I-V-vi-IV is popular in pop music, and iim7-V7-Imaj7 is popular in jazz music (the two-five-one progression).

12 Bar Blues

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 03 - 12 Bar Blues

This is a straightforward 12 Bar Blues Chord Progression.

Approach of each cell as a bar of music going from left to right. For example, 12 Bar Blues in the key of C Major is:

  • 4 bars of the C Dominant 7th chord,
  • 2 bars of the F Dominant 7th chord, then 2 bars of C Dominant 7th,
  • 1 bar of the G Dominant 7th chord, 1 bar of F Dominant 7th, then 2 bars of C Dominant 7th.


Dominant 7th
chords are used here for a bluesy sound, but you can replace them with triads or root notes (for a bassline) instead too.

The Circle of Fifths

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 04 - Circle of Fifths

Use the Circle of Fifths to quickly reference the relationships of other notes & intervals.

Each Jam Page includes a Circle of Fifths diagram arranged so that the tonal centre of the key is at the top in the 12 o’clock position. For example, on the Jam Page for the key of C Major you’ll find C at the top of the Circle of Fifths. On the Jam Page for the key of D Major you’ll find D at the top.

The numbers in the ring between the outer and inner notes tell you their intervals, with the top note in the 12 o’clock position being the root (marked with a ‘1’).

The inner lower-case notes tell you the notes of the relative minor key.

The staff in the middle of the circle tells you the key signature, for quick reference when reading standard notation.

Chords in the Key

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 05 - Chords

This table shows the 7th chords built from the key, and how they interact together.

  • Chord: These are the 7th chords in the key, and the notes that construct them. You can use the triads here too by using the first 3 notes of each chord instead of 4 (C-E-G instead of C-E-G-B for a C Major triad).

  • Mode: Each chord in a key has a modal character. For example, the V7 in any major key is also the I7 of the Mixolydian mode (you can build G Mixolydian from the notes and chords of C Major if G is your root note instead of C). This is useful if you’re modulating between tonal centres.

  • Attract: This tells you which chords have the strongest attraction so that you know where to go from one chord to the next in a progression. For example, if you’re playing a Dm7 in the key of C Major, it’s the iim7 chord of the key. It has a strong attraction to V7, so you can safely go from Dm7 to G7 and it will sound good!

Modal Interchange Table

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 06 - Modal Interchange

If you want to get experimental with chord borrowing & substitution, this table lists the related modes and scales based on your parent key.

You can use these notes & chords to give your playing more variety without it sounding too jarring.

Piano Keyboard

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 07 - Piano Keyboard

The dots tell you where the notes of the key are found on a piano keyboard.

You’ll also find recommended finger placement for playing the notes on each hand. ‘1’ is your thumb & ‘5’ is your pinky.

Guitar Fretboard

Jam Pages - Music Theory Cheat Sheet - 08 - Guitar Fretboard

This chart shows you where to find the notes of the key on a standard tuning 6-string guitar fretboard starting at the open position and up to the 12th fret. The root note is marked in a white circle. The other notes in the key are in black circles.

This also works for a standard tuning 4-string bass guitar if you exclude the top two strings in the chart.

On Sale! Get Jam Pages as a Digital Download (PDF) for $14

This is a digital download. When your purchase is complete you’ll be redirected to a page to download Jam Pages as a PDF. 

By purchasing you agree to the Terms & ConditionsPayments are securely processed through Stripe.com