There is a huge amount of “free” music theory material online, but not all of it is really free: some books ask you to register, some “free versions” are cut down, and some PDFs are uploaded without permission. This list includes only really free resources. For each one it tells you the license, the level and the catch, so you do not waste time on something that does not suit you. Last checked: November 2026.
Textbooks
Open Music Theory (Version 2)
An open textbook and workbook written by Mark Gotham, Kyle Gullings, Chelsey Hamm, Bryn Hughes, Brian Jarvis, Megan Lavengood and John Peterson, and published in 2023 through the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA). It is meant as the main text for a college music theory sequence: fundamentals, diatonic and chromatic harmony, form and 20th-century techniques, plus optional units on jazz, popular music, rhythm, counterpoint and orchestration. It is available online, as a PDF and in XML. Reviewers on the Open Textbook Library recommend the web version over the PDF.
- Language: English.
- Level: beginner to college level. You can start with the fundamentals and stop whenever you like.
- Cost and license: free, under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0). No account is needed to read it online.
- Catch: it is written for a US college course, so it moves fast and uses US terms. Some chapters are uneven in style because several authors wrote them.
Open Music Theory (VIVA Pressbooks) · Open Textbook Library entry
Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom (Robert Hutchinson)
An open textbook from the University of Puget Sound (USA), published in 2017 and designed for four college semesters. It has 35 chapters. It starts with pitch, notation, scales, intervals and triads, then moves on to harmonic analysis, cadences, modulation and form, and ends with jazz, set theory, serialism and minimalism. Each chapter has practice exercises, and the answers are in an appendix. It gives less weight to four-part voice leading and more to how harmony relates to the musical phrase.
- Language: English.
- Level: from the basics to college level.
- Cost and license: free to read online and to download as a PDF. The book includes the GNU Free Documentation License (the Open Textbook Library and LibreTexts list version 1.3).
- Catch: it is a full college course, so it is long. Use it as a reference rather than reading it from cover to cover.
Read it on the original site · Open Textbook Library entry
LibreTexts music theory shelf
The Humanities LibreTexts project hosts copies of several open textbooks, including both books above, so you can read them in one place and download PDFs. The shelf lists more titles, such as Music Fundamentals and Understanding Basic Music Theory. I only checked the two books above.
- Language: English.
- Cost and license: free to read without signing in. The license differs from book to book, so check the page of each title (the copy of Open Music Theory 2e is CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Catch: the platform reformats the original books, so the original site is often the better reading experience.
Wikibooks: Music Theory
A community-written book under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. It covers basics (notation, rhythm, scales and intervals, chords), harmony, and also styles such as blues, jazz and rock, and traditional music from several regions.
- Language: English.
- Cost and license: free, CC BY-SA, no registration needed to read.
- Catch: the book itself says it is only about 25% developed. The chapters on scales and intervals are the most complete (about 75%); many other sections are short or empty. Use it as a quick reference, not as a course.
Online courses and lessons
OpenLearn (The Open University, UK)
OpenLearn is the free learning site of the UK Open University. Its music courses are short, self-paced and released under a Creative Commons license. Two are good starting points:
- An introduction to music theory: about 8 hours, introductory level, roughly equal to ABRSM Grades 1–3 theory. It covers staves, clefs, note and rest values, time signatures, scales, key signatures, intervals and triads. First published in 2012, last updated October 2019.
- Understanding musical scores: about 12 hours, introductory level, a general introduction to reading a score. First published in 2015, last updated April 2018.
- Language: English.
- Cost: free. You can read any section without signing up. If you create a free account, you can track your progress, use all the quizzes and activities, and earn a free statement of participation.
- Catch: the statement of participation is not an academic qualification. The Creative Commons license does not cover third-party material inside the courses. UK terms are used (crotchet, quaver, tone).
An introduction to music theory · Understanding musical scores
musictheory.net
Lessons, exercises and tools you use directly in the browser. The lessons cover the staff and clefs, note values and meter, scales and key signatures, intervals, chords, progressions and cadences. The exercises include note, key signature, interval, scale and chord identification, on the staff, on a keyboard and on a guitar fretboard, plus ear training, and teachers can create customized exercises for homework. The site says its lessons and exercises are provided online for free, and its FAQ says all content is free and without ads.
- Language: English.
- Level: beginner to intermediate.
- Catch: the website is free, but the offline versions are paid iPhone and iPad apps (Tenuto and Theory Lessons). The site is funded by those apps.
Public domain sheet music: IMSLP
IMSLP (the International Music Score Library Project, also called the Petrucci Music Library) is a very large library of public domain scores, with scans of old editions by composers from every period. Downloading is free and needs no account. The site says that about a third of popular files have a 15-second wait before the download link appears; the optional paid subscription removes it. Before you download, there is one thing to understand.
Copyright law is different in every country. IMSLP's main servers are in Canada, so the main site follows Canadian rules. For works by authors who died before 1972, those rules say the work is in the public domain in Canada. Canada has since moved to life plus 70 years for authors who died in 1972 or later, but that does not bring back older works. Public domain in Canada does not mean public domain where you live. IMSLP marks the status of each file and says clearly when it is not legal to download a file in the EU. Works that are only public domain in the US, or only in the EU, are offered through separate servers run by unaffiliated groups.
Rule of thumb: in the US, IMSLP's guide says that works first published before 1931 are in the public domain; in the UK and the EU the usual term is the life of the author plus 70 years. For a composer who died more than about 100 years ago, you are very unlikely to have a problem anywhere. For more recent authors, read the copyright label on each work. Modern editions, arrangements and editorial additions can have their own copyright even when the music is old. If you plan to photocopy for a band or a class, this matters. This is general information, not legal advice; check the rules that apply to you.
Software for writing scores
MuseScore Studio
MuseScore Studio is an open-source notation program for writing, editing and printing scores. Its site describes it as “completely free, no limitations”, and the download page calls it a GNU GPL licensed program. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. At the last check, the current stable version was 4.7.6 (released October 26, 2026). Download it from the official site, musescore.org.
- Catch: do not confuse the program with MuseScore.com, the separate website where people share scores. Some features and downloads on that website require a paid subscription, and the details change, so check its subscription page before you pay. The program itself does not need an account.
Also free on this site
If you need to practice, here you have interactive exercises with instant feedback and printable PDF worksheets, the music dictionary, an online metronome and an online tuner. The textbooks above are written for college courses, so the dictionary is a good place to look up a term you have not met yet.
Do you know a really free resource that should be on this list? Tell me about it.
What I left out, and why
I did not include resources whose free access I could not confirm. For example, I could not confirm from its pages whether all of the content at teoria.com is free, and Hooktheory has a free tier with paid plans, so it is a trial rather than a free resource. I also left out sites that host PDFs of copyrighted books without permission.