Hey David,

Should I study the most important harmonic environments first? Or is it better to study all seven harmonic environments in order?

Thanks,
Karan

David's response:

Hi Karan,

Each of the seven harmonic environments of the major scale has important musical lessons to teach you, and each one will introduce you to beautiful sounds that you can use in your improvising. But if you're eager to get a jump on learning to understand songs by ear, you can start with the two harmonic environments which are the most common in popular music:

The 1st harmonic environment. This is the way we are normally accustomed to hearing the major scale. It's the way the scale sounds to our ears when note 1 is the tonal center. This is where you'll find the melodies to almost every song you've ever heard which sounds like it's in a "major key" to your ear.

The 6th harmonic environment. This is the way the scale sounds to our ears when note 6 is acting as the tonal center. This is where you'll find the melodies to almost every song you've ever heard which sounds like it's in a "minor key" to your ear.

So depending on your own personal taste, you might prefer to focus on these two harmonic environments first so that you can begin to look for these sounds in the music all around you. On the other hand, if you are a more methodical person, it might be more attractive and appealing to study all seven harmonic environments in order. Personally I prefer to study things in order because I like to see the full picture before worrying about practical details like which elements appear most often in popular music. But it's totally up to you!

Two great resources that will help you are Sing the Numbers 2: Seven Worlds and IFR Jam Tracks Level 1: Seven Worlds. Our Sing the Numbers audio course will teach you to recognize the notes of the seven harmonic environments by ear, and with the jam tracks you can practice improvising your own music in all seven harmonic environments.

Happy exploring,
David