Music posters
LearnPosters has 100 free printable music posters, grouped into 7 topics: Notation, Theory, Scales & modes, Instruments, Rhythm. The theory a player needs on the music stand, not in a textbook. They are made for any age — a nine-year-old and a forty-year-old reach for the same chart. No account and no watermark.
Notation, keys, intervals and chord shapes. Every one of these is something a learner looks up mid-practice and then forgets again by the next lesson — which is exactly what a wall chart is for.
100 free printable posters · 7 topics · vector PDF
Notation
Reading the page: note values, rests, the staff and what the marks mean.
Note Values
Every note length from a whole note down to a sixteenth, with both naming systems.
Rests
Silence has the same lengths as sound — and the same names.
The Staff & Clefs
Five lines, four spaces, and the two clefs that tell you which notes they are.
Time Signatures
What the two numbers mean, and how the common ones feel to count.
Dynamics & Tempo
How loud and how fast — the Italian, in order, with numbers where they exist.
Articulation
The marks that say how a note is played, not which note it is.
Repeats & Road Map
The signs that tell you where to go next, and the order to obey them in.
Accidentals
Sharps, flats and naturals — and exactly how long each one lasts.
Ties, Slurs & Dots
Three marks that change duration or phrasing, and how to tell them apart.
Ornaments
Trills, mordents, turns and grace notes — what each squiggle actually asks for.
Parts of a Note
Notehead, stem, flag and beam — the four parts and the rules for each.
Ledger Lines & Octave Marks
Reading beyond the five lines, and the shorthand that avoids it.
Reading a Score
How a full score is organised, and where to look for what.
Transposing Instruments
Which instruments sound a different note from the one written, and by how much.
Theory
Keys, intervals, chords and the relationships underneath them.
The Circle of Fifths
Every key signature in order, sharps one way and flats the other.
Order of Sharps & Flats
Sharps and flats always arrive in the same order — and the order is one list, backwards.
The Major Scale
One pattern of tones and semitones builds every major scale there is.
Intervals
Every interval in semitones, with a song that opens on each one.
Building Chords
Every chord is a stack of intervals measured from its root.
Major Key Signatures
All fifteen major keys with their signatures, and how to name one on sight.
Minor Key Signatures
Every minor key, its signature, and the major it borrows that signature from.
Relative & Parallel Keys
Two ways a major and a minor key can relate, and why they get confused.
Chord Inversions
The same chord with a different note at the bottom, and how it is written.
Seventh Chords
The five seventh chords, what each one wants to do, and where it appears.
Roman Numerals
Naming chords by their position in the key, so a progression works in every key at once.
Chord Progressions
The handful of chord progressions that carry most of popular music.
Cadences
The four ways a musical phrase can end, and how final each one sounds.
The Harmonic Series
Why some intervals sound consonant — the physics under all of harmony.
Consonance & Dissonance
Which intervals settle and which ones pull, ranked.
Voice Leading
Four rules that make chord changes sound smooth rather than blocky.
Secondary Dominants
Borrowing a chord's own dominant to strengthen the move to it.
Modulation
Four ways to change key without it sounding like an accident.
Extended Chords
Ninths, elevenths and thirteenths — what gets added and what gets left out.
Suspensions
Delaying a note so it clashes, then letting it fall into place.
Borrowed Chords
Taking a chord from the parallel key to darken or brighten a progression.
Tritone Substitution
Swapping a dominant chord for the one a tritone away, and why it works.
Scales & modes
Every scale worth practising, with its formula and its sound.
The Natural Minor
The minor scale formula, and the shortcut from any major scale you already know.
The Harmonic Minor
One raised note that gives the minor key a proper dominant chord.
The Melodic Minor
The scale that changes on the way down — and the jazz version that does not.
The Seven Modes
All seven modes in order, each with the one note that defines it.
Dorian
The minor mode with a raised sixth — the sound of folk, funk and modal jazz.
Mixolydian
Major with a flattened seventh — the sound of blues rock and bagpipes.
Lydian
Major with a raised fourth — the floating, cinematic one.
Phrygian
Minor with a flattened second — the darkest common mode.
Major Pentatonic
Five notes that cannot sound wrong over a major chord.
Minor Pentatonic
The five notes behind almost every rock and blues solo ever played.
The Blues Scale
Minor pentatonic plus one note, and what that note is doing.
Chromatic & Whole Tone
The two symmetrical scales — every semitone, and every whole tone.
Instruments
Fingerings, chord shapes and layouts you can hold a hand against.
The Piano Keyboard
Why black keys come in twos and threes, and how to find any note.
Guitar: Open Chords
The eight shapes that between them play most songs ever written.
Guitar: Barre Chords
Two movable shapes that give you every major and minor chord on the neck.
Guitar: The Fretboard
Every note on the neck, and the three shortcuts that avoid memorising all of them.
Guitar: CAGED
Five chord shapes that connect to cover the entire fretboard.
Guitar: Strumming
Six patterns that cover most songs, written in down- and up-strokes.
Ukulele Chords
The first dozen shapes, in standard GCEA tuning.
Bass Guitar
Tuning, the role, and the two patterns that cover most parts.
Violin Fingerboard
First position on all four strings, and where the semitones fall.
Cello Basics
Tuning, first position and the bowing terms on the page.
The Drum Kit
What each drum and cymbal is called, and what it usually does.
Drum Rudiments
The core sticking patterns everything else is assembled from.
Basic Drum Beats
Six grooves, written out, covering most popular styles.
Recorder Fingering
The full descant fingering chart, thumb and all eight holes.
The Brass Family
How brass instruments make notes, and what distinguishes each one.
The Woodwind Family
Reeds, no reeds, and what actually separates the instruments.
The String Family
The orchestral strings by range, tuning and clef.
Harmonica Layout
Blow and draw notes on a ten-hole diatonic in C, and what cross harp means.
Orchestra Seating
Where each section sits, and why it is arranged that way.
Vocal Ranges
The six standard voice types with their comfortable ranges.
Percussion
Pitched and unpitched percussion, and what each is used for.
Instrument Ranges
Where each common instrument sits, so an arrangement stays playable.
Rhythm
Counting, subdivision, and the feels that resist notation.
Counting Rhythms
The syllables that make a rhythm countable out loud, and where each one lands.
Subdivision
Counting the smallest note in the bar fixes most timing problems.
Syncopation
Stressing the weak part of the beat, and the patterns that come from it.
Swing & Shuffle
What 'swing' actually does to written eighth notes, and how much.
Tuplets
Fitting a number of notes into a space that does not divide evenly.
Polyrhythm
Two rhythms at once — how to count 3 against 2 and 4 against 3.
Simple & Compound Metre
Why 6/8 is not 3/4, and how to tell which one you are in.
Conducting Patterns
The beat shapes for 2, 3 and 4, and where the downbeat lands.
Using a Metronome
Five ways to use one that are more useful than clicking on every beat.
Clave & Groove Patterns
The rhythmic cells that organise Latin, funk and African music.
Ear & practice
How to practise so it sticks, and how to hear what you are playing.
Interval Ear Training
A method for learning to name intervals by ear, not just a list of songs.
A Practice Routine
How to structure a session so the hard parts actually improve.
Sight Reading
What to look at before you play, and the rule that governs the whole attempt.
Warming Up
What a warm-up is for, and what belongs in one for each instrument family.
Memorising Music
Four kinds of memory, and why relying on only one fails on stage.
Practising Slowly
Why slow practice works, and the specific way to raise the tempo.
Performance Nerves
What nerves do to the body, and the preparation that reduces them.
Transposing
Three methods for moving music to a different key, and when each is quickest.
Hearing Chords
Learning to name a chord and a progression by ear.
Recording Yourself
The single fastest way to find out what you actually sound like.
Production
Recording, mixing and the numbers behind a good-sounding track.
DAW Basics
The vocabulary of every recording program, whichever one you use.
EQ Frequencies
What lives at each frequency, and what cutting or boosting there does.
Compression
What each control does, and starting points for common sources.
Gain Staging
Keeping levels sensible from input to master, and why it matters less than it used to.
Reverb & Delay
The controls on each, and how to place a sound without losing it.
MIDI Basics
What MIDI actually is, and the messages behind every note you enter.
Audio File Formats
Which format to use for recording, for delivery and for the web.
Microphone Types
The three kinds, what each is good at, and where to point it.
Stereo & Panning
Where to place things across the image, and the two rules that keep it stable.
Loudness & Mastering
What LUFS means, what streaming does with it, and why loud lost.
Questions about the Music posters
- What is the Music section of LearnPosters?
- The theory a player needs on the music stand, not in a textbook. Notation, keys, intervals and chord shapes. Every one of these is something a learner looks up mid-practice and then forgets again by the next lesson — which is exactly what a wall chart is for.
- What topics do the Music posters cover?
- 100 posters across 7 topics. Notation — Reading the page: note values, rests, the staff and what the marks mean. Theory — Keys, intervals, chords and the relationships underneath them. Scales & modes — Every scale worth practising, with its formula and its sound. Instruments — Fingerings, chord shapes and layouts you can hold a hand against. Rhythm — Counting, subdivision, and the feels that resist notation. Ear & practice — How to practise so it sticks, and how to hear what you are playing. Production — Recording, mixing and the numbers behind a good-sounding track.
- Who are the Music posters for?
- The music charts are for any age; a nine-year-old and a forty-year-old reach for the same one. Nothing here is tied to a school year, so a curious beginner and someone revising the same material for an exam are looking at the same music chart.
- Which Music poster should I print first?
- Note Values, Rests and The Staff & Clefs are the ones people reach for first — they are the references the rest of the music set assumes you already have on the wall.Note ValuesRestsThe Staff & Clefs
- Are the Music posters free to print?
- Yes — all 100 of them. Each music poster is a free vector PDF that needs no account, prints on US Letter or A4, and enlarges to A1 without softening. Home, classroom, library and tutoring use are all covered by the licence.Read the licence
Where the music charts come from
These posters summarise. When you need the full account — or the normative text a chart is compressing — start here.
- Music theory — Wikipedia. The vocabulary and the history behind every notation and harmony chart here.
- musictheory.net lessons — musictheory.net. Interactive drills for the same intervals, keys and chord shapes.