HIT — How I Think

A harmonic field is the set of chords and notes born from one same scale. Stack thirds on every note of the C major scale and seven chords appear: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bm7(b5). Those seven chords and the seven notes behind them form a field — the major field of C.

The key word here is origin. A chord does not live alone: it comes from somewhere. Once you know which field a chord came from, you already know which notes fit it, because they are exactly the notes of that field.

The method uses four fields, and only four: Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Major and Harmonic Minor. Not because others do not exist, but because these four cover practically all the music played on stage, in the studio and among friends.

A degree is the position of a note inside the field. In the major field of C, the 1st degree is C, the 2nd is D, the 3rd is E, and so on up to the 7th.

When the analysis says a chord calls for the G major field on the 4th degree, it says two things at once: the notes are those of the G major field, and the starting point — the note you feel as the centre while playing over that chord — is the 4th degree of that field, that is, C.

Field, key and degree are enough to describe any scale with absolute precision. Nothing is ambiguous, and nothing depends on memorising a name.

The G major field starting on the 4th degree has an old name: Lydian. The method does not use that name, and the choice is deliberate.

A mode name is a label. It does not tell you where the scale came from or what its centre is; it forces the player to memorise seven names per field and to translate, mid-song, from name to note. That is extra work — and it is exactly the work that freezes people when it is time to play.

Field + key + degree already contains everything: the origin, the notes and the anchor. The musician reads, understands and plays, with no dictionary in between. That is how Thiago has always thought while playing, and that is how the method teaches.

For that reason, no screen in VERMUS will ever show a mode name, in any language.

Finding out which scales fit a chord is math. Anyone can do it, with time and paper: compare the chord notes with the notes of each field.

Knowing which one sounds best right there, in that song, in that bar, is not math — it is the judgment of someone who has played a lifetime. That is the part no book delivers.

VERMUS shows both together, chord by chord: every possibility the math allows, and the one Thiago would play, with his own reason written down.

Every chord of the song comes with the chosen scale, its notes, the triads and arpeggios inside it, and the reason for the choice. Below it, the remaining possibilities, numbered by Thiago's preference.

When his choice steps outside the expected field, that is on purpose: it is sonic contrast, not a mistake. VERMUS never corrects or hides a choice of his.