Charts for a music room
A music room wall is the one place a reference genuinely gets used, because the alternative is putting the instrument down. Everything here is arranged for that: read from two metres, answered in a glance, no interruption.
Theory on one side — the circle of fifths, note values, intervals. The instrument on the other — the fretboard, the keyboard, first chords for guitar and ukulele, the pentatonic box, scale fingering, and the alternate tunings. For a room that records as well as practises, the two mixing sheets: what lives where in the spectrum, and where things sit across the stereo field.
A3 is the sensible default here. A4 only if it hangs within reach of the stool.
THE MIDI PROTOCOL
one top bit separates status from data, seven commands per channel, and how much time a serial wire actually takes
MICROPHONE POSITIONS
where to place a mic around an acoustic guitar and how each spot sounds — after Shure’s guides
AUDIO CONNECTORS
analog, digital, and speaker wiring · pinouts and balanced signals
AUDIO CARRIERS
seven carriers over a century at one scale, and what each one brought first
BARRE CHORDS
two shapes, twelve chords each
KINDS OF BASS
eight instruments at one scale · what each is about and how it sounds
BIT DEPTH
how many steps the level is cut into, what a bit adds, and why floating point is not the next row
CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
12 keys · key signatures · relative minors
CURWEN HAND SIGNS
one hand for each degree of the scale, with the mental effect John Curwen gave it
DECIBEL SCALES
what stands at zero on each of them, and why −10 and +4 are not fourteen apart
DI, REAMP AND PREAMP
three boxes on one ruler of levels — where each one leads from and to
DRUM KIT NOTATION
where every drum and cymbal sits on the staff — per the Percussive Arts Society standard
THE ELECTRIC GUITAR PICKUP
one coil or two · six builds · where it sits along the string, and how high above it
EQUAL TEMPERAMENT
how many cents each interval misses the pure one by, and why exactly that much
AMP MIC POSITIONS
where to place a mic in front of a guitar cab and how each spot sounds — after the Shure chart
ARPEGGIOS ON TWO STRINGS
major and minor in one position · the bare triad, no octave
ARPEGGIOS ON THREE STRINGS
major and minor in one position · a whole octave on three strings
ARPEGGIOS ON FOUR STRINGS
major and minor in one position · exactly an octave, one note per string
ARPEGGIOS ON FIVE STRINGS
major and minor in one position · an octave and a fifth from the root
ARPEGGIOS ON SIX STRINGS
major and minor in one position · two octaves from the root
ACOUSTIC BODY SHAPES
what each one was made for · from the front room to the stage, at true scale
FIRST CHORDS
15 chords every beginner starts with · standard tuning E A D G B e
NOTES ON THE FRETBOARD
standard tuning E A D G B e · first twelve frets
THE PENTATONIC
three positions · the root is marked