Hi folks, I wanted to ask you something I have been dealing with for as long as I have learned music theory: when is the point that you simply learn stuff by heart?
For example: I could not imagine writing out all keys in order to learn which notes a contained in them. But I learned all notes in all diatonic 7th chords by simply using flashcards. How am I to „practices“ my way into knowing what notes makes up a Dminor7?
Whats your experience with that? Where do you draw the line?
I think everyone will probably have their own methodology, but I tend more towards having to memorize these things to the point they’re instinctual.
For me, the theory and doing it on paper is easy, where I struggle is conjuring this stuff real time when improvising.
The hack I’m using now for chord spellings is that I have all my diatonic 7th chords memorized in C. So if I need to grab a D7 arpeggio, I just need to raise the third of the Dm7 I have memorized. D - F - A - C --> D - F# - A - C.
As stupid as it sounds, having the extra syllable of “sharp” or “flat” in my head really slows down my processing, hence basing it all on modifications to the C major chords.