Wanna learn Music Theory?

Don't know the difference between major and minor? Wanna learn about intervals? Chord construction? Here is the link to the first steps.

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=8078&s_id=78

If you are just starting theory look thru these pages to see if it might answer your questions first. If you need to come back to ask a question feel free to do so.

Theory is one the most confusing things related to guitar. Some musicians avoid it all together. It is highly useful and any aspiring professional should learn as much theory as possible. Good luck on your quest for knowledge!

yes those are very useful. after you've gone through those, here's a good website

hey, thanks for the post. i have been playing for over 3 years, and am now trying to get into theory. i am clueless to it right now though... lol

i know this is hard, but i had to go through it. if you're in school, go to the school band/music teacher and ask him what books or sheet music he uses that are playable on guitar and see if you can get a copy of that either from him or some other source like a library. if you cant get any of that type, then just go to the library and check out books that use the treble clef. then you must get a book that teaches you how to read music and you go find a website that teaches you the notes on a guitar and just play the music from the book.

one of the guitars i bought came with a "Fender guitar method" book.

now you should do all i said above if you cant find a guitar method book. and if you're not cheap like me, order a guitar method book online. guitar method will introduce you to reading sheet music and after that you can go into real music theory and start making good music and actually know what you're doing.

and if that stuff i just said was too confusing, IM me on aim " xlarrywx " or email me at [email]ecnerwal_lance@yahoo.com[/email]

good luck

Originally Posted by: purei know this is hard, but i had to go through it. if you're in school, go to the school band/music teacher and ask him what books or sheet music he uses that are playable on guitar and see if you can get a copy of that either from him or some other source like a library. if you cant get any of that type, then just go to the library and check out books that use the treble clef. then you must get a book that teaches you how to read music and you go find a website that teaches you the notes on a guitar and just play the music from the book.

one of the guitars i bought came with a "Fender guitar method" book.

now you should do all i said above if you cant find a guitar method book. and if you're not cheap like me, order a guitar method book online. guitar method will introduce you to reading sheet music and after that you can go into real music theory and start making good music and actually know what you're doing.

and if that stuff i just said was too confusing, IM me on aim " xlarrywx " or email me at [email]ecnerwal_lance@yahoo.com[/email]

good luck

Thanks alot man :)

Thanks a ton to the both of you, I didn't even think about going to the library for something on the guitar, because I know some books can get quite pricey for stuff like what we're talking about.

Hello. I have a few quesions..One being, I started guitar recently (8 months ago to be precise) and am fully aware of the importance of music theory. Being a the level that I am at, should I focus on music theory, or continue working on technique ect ect.

Originally Posted by: HjorvardHello. I have a few quesions..One being, I started guitar recently (8 months ago to be precise) and am fully aware of the importance of music theory. Being a the level that I am at, should I focus on music theory, or continue working on technique ect ect.

Well, it's great you know how essential it is. I usually wouldnt recomend theory to ametuers, becuase I've seen a lot of people get confused and fed up with theory, making them stop playing altogether. If your dedicated, then you should get into it RIGHT NOW! The world of theory is vast, and almost endless. Theory will help you in many ways, including your confidence as a musician.

Originally Posted by: pizzicatopickerWell, it's great you know how essential it is. I usually wouldnt recomend theory to ametuers, becuase I've seen a lot of people get confused and fed up with theory, making them stop playing altogether. If your dedicated, then you should get into it RIGHT NOW! The world of theory is vast, and almost endless. Theory will help you in many ways, including your confidence as a musician.

Thanks for the advice! You're right, I tried delving into things when I first started, and it did frustrate the crap out of me, but I am dedicated, and I did take a step back (i.e. focusing on learning all the notes on the fret board, and intervals). Even as soon as a couple of days since I started doing that, I wrote a metal song, still very simple, but I based it on a key of C# and focused mostly on minor thirds, and for once what I wrote actually sounds half way decent! This music theory stuff is awesome!

Thanks for the tip on Web site. Looks great.

Stephen

nuff said.

S

I've been struggling with theory for years. The problem I have learning theory is that its not something I refer to everyday so once I learn it retaining it is the hard part.

Can anyone please recommend a good music theory book? I have lots of resources here on GuitarTricks and people to ask questions but I need something more to take with me everywhere and study music when I have spare time...like when I am on the train travelling to work. I am currently just grabbing a mode of a scale, writing it out, then writing the same mode for each of the notes in the first scale so that I end up with a grid. From here I study the relationships between the notes and make intuitive connections.. What I really need is something a little more structured... starting from the basics and going all the way through to at least intermediate level, all in the one book.

theres a great book called "music reading for guitar (the complete method)"by david oakes its probably the best one out there

I couldn't find that book in Borders (bookstore) which is not that surprising I suppose.. it's not exactly a common book to find in a general (no matter how big the store is) book store. I did grab something light and easy to read to start off with though. Then if I need something in more depth I can look for that other book.

The book I did end up buying was "The Everything: Rock & Blues Guitar Book" by Marc Schonbrun. It has everything from the basics (eg. chords and scales) to licks and tricks (eg finger tapping, sweep picking) etc. It's a fairly basic book though, so I wont be wading through endless theory lessons to find what I am looking for. If I had never played any solo/lead guitar this would be a great book to start with.. but as it is, I've been playing for over 16 years now.. so hopefully this book will fill in a lot of gaps I have, which it already has in some ways. It takes a very plain-english, conversational style approach.. so may be there are things here in the book I can learn that I haven't been able to learn because of the style of teaching...

....only time will tell.

Light,
Playing for 16 years gives you such an advantage because your ear has developed from listening to what's being played over a long period.
If you hit a sour note, most likely your ear says NO..................
That experience means that you have a lot of tools in the shed, so to speak.
Discovering how those tools relate to each other and figuring out how many possibilities each tool is capable in performing is within reach of your fingertips.
One of the greatest books that I ever purchased was a blank notepad.
Writing out what I did understand opened the door to many things of which I hadn't connected or seen before. With so many new things that related to the prior discoveries, soon my blank notepad was full......
Theory books help with learning the proper "lingo" and shed light on many connections that might have been overlooked right under your nose. Some books contain a majority of material that is too basic and so many Authors in theory seem to become overly complexed with deep concepts, going overboard with boring material only suited for a Composer...............
My interest in theory relies on how 12 notes interact with each other and what they can become by relation from the Major Scale. Focussing on the Major Scale structure launched a discovery to one of the main links in understanding theory. That link came from the role of "Intervals". Intervals required for the Major Scale structure are "natural" in sequence.
The Key of C is the only key that has both all natural notes and intervals.
The key of Am share the same notes with C Major, not the same intervals.
The Major Scale is the only scale with the intervals; 1-2-3-4-5-6-7----
C Major scale; C-D-E-F-G-A-B------Intervals; 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
A minor scale; A-B-C-D-E-F-G------Intervals; 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7
When studying theory from this view, it became clear that regardless of any original note's position, by taking place in Interval position 1, the intervals that follow will require at least one to be altered, while the note names remain
the same.
Intervals should be studied closely.

Yah that's exactly what I am doing now and have been doing for the last few weeks... I know HOW to play but not WHY I play certain things.. also I found myself in a tiny little cage of stunted creativity. Since join the site a couple of months ago or so, I have seen my understanding of what I am doing increased with every day's passing.

I agree.. the most important thing to my education was the intervals.. but you know.. I had read about intervals 100's of times before but it never clicked at all until I saw the full, 12-note chromatic scale broken down with each note's "designation".. Then all of that 1-3-5 chord construction stuff and all the other interval related theory suddenly fell into place. I actually had to look elsewhere off this site to find that.. Tonight I had another moment of clarity.. "Modes".

Again, I've talked about, learnt about, played etc Modes almost everyday for the last 16 years or so.. but it never really clicked.. I still just played what sounded right and could hear the bad notes, like you said earlier in your post.. but that actually limited me creatively because every time I heard a particular chord progression using the same order and voicing of the chords in the progression.. I would immediately go to "that" shape and position on the guitar.

I was studying the Major pentatonic scale and listening to how wrong it sounds if I use 1-3-4-5-7 instead of 1-3-4-5-6.. When I play the minor pentatonic it's 1-b3-4-5-b7.. so I naturally figured it would be the same notes except with all the flats raised back to the major positions.. ie. 1-3-4-5-7.. so anyway.. with the notes of the A Major scale (note, not pentatonic) firmly in my mind, as well on the printed fretboard diagram.. hehe.. I decided to try Modes. I slid up from the 5th fret of the bottom-E string to the B note on the 7th fret.. and then I played EXACTLY the same notes as before except starting on the B.. so of course, suddenly I realise I am playing the B Dorian scale... it just popped into my head.. then I made all the connections.

So essentially.. if I said to you "play the A Major scale in the Dorian mode" it would exactly the same as saying "play the B Dorian scale" because B is always going to be the A's number 2, and the Dorian mode is always starts on the number 2 of the root note (number 1)... I think I used to just go.. "Ok.. yeh it's a B Phrygian scale.. and that's supposed to mean something to me??" and then just keep on playing... anyway yeh.. now I fully understand the Modes as well.

right right.. so then.. I am listening to Civil War by Guns'n'Roses and I'm like.. oh that's the Eb/D# Mixolydian scale.. which is based on the G# Major/Ionian scale.. and I'm like.. whoah.. I actually understand this stuff... so yeh.. I was going to post that 12 note chromatic thing in the last post but I got carried away and forgot about it.. So here it is.. I'll start with the A as the root note rather than the C as the root note because everyone does the C scale.. lol..

A <--- (1st or Root) --- (1) --- (I) --->
A# <--- (Minor 2nd) --- (b2) --- (ii) --->
B <--- (Major 2nd) --- (2) --- (II) --->
C <--- (Minor 3rd) --- (b3) --- (iii) --->
C# <--- (Major 3rd) --- (3) --- (III) --->
D <--- (Perfect 4th) --- (4) --- (IV) --->
D# <--- (Diminished 5th) --- (b5) --- (v) --->
E <--- (Perfect 5th) --- (5) --- (V) --->
F <--- (Minor 6th) --- (b6) --- (vi) --->
F# <--- (Major 6th) --- (6) --- (VI) --->
G <--- (Minor 7th) --- (b7) --- (vii) --->
G# <--- (Major 7th) --- (7) --- (VII) --->

Ok.. so you could write the scale in 4 basic ways:

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#

or...

1, b2, 2, b3, 3, 4, b5, 5, b6, 6, b7, 7
(NB: The lower-case "b" before the numbers indicates a flat note.)

or...

I, ii, II, iii, III, IV, v, V, vi, VI, vii, VII
(NB Lower-case letters indicate the flat note.)

or..

Root, Minor 2nd, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Diminished 5th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Major 6th, Minor 7th, Major 7th.

Now.. with the WHOLE picture.. the intervals actually make a lot more sense.. So when someone says 1,2,3,4,5,6,7.. what they really mean is: Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Major 7th. Yeh sure.. you could say.. Whole Step (WS), WS, Half Step (HS), WS, WS, WS, HS.. but without the "why of it".. it's just another formula.. another shape.. another pattern and doesn't make a lot of sense when you start applying it to other keys.. at least it didn't to me. Now take chord construction theory where a Major Chord is built from I-III-V (or 1-3-5).. and then you see that a Minor Chord is the same notes except with a "Minor 3rd" note instead of a "Major 3rd" note... it's all starts to click into place.. Same with the Major 7th Chord.. You still need your I-III-V to make the basic Major Chord but now you also need to add the... you guessed it.. Major 7th Note of that scale... Add a Minor 7th Note with your Minor Chord (I-iii-V) and you get a Minor 7th Chord.

Anyway.. I could go on and on.. lol..

Oh yes.. one last thing.. with the chromatic scale.. it's the same intervals in the same places regardless of the Root note because all the intervals are half-steps... So let's just take one quick last look at 2 major scales.. The C Major scale that everyone seems to use in their lessons and then the A Major scale to see how easy it is..

C Major Scale
C (WS) D (WS) E (HS) F (WS) G (WS) A (WS) B (HS) C
1 (WS) 2 (WS) 3 (HS) 4 (WS) 5 (WS) 6 (WS) 7 (HS) 1


A Major Scale
A (WS) B (WS) C# (HS) D (WS) E (WS) F# (WS) G# (HS) A
1 (WS) 2 (WS) 3 (HS) 4 (WS) 5 (WS) 6 (WS) 7 (HS) 1

A Major Chord is therefore:
A (WS) (WS) C# (HS) (WS) E
1 (WS) (WS) 3 (HS) (WS) 5

A C# and E.. and an A Minor? Lower or flatten the 3rd note, which is the C# and you get A C E.. Without understanding why you are doing a Whole Step, the whole point of intervals in general is lost..

Ok separate question now..

If I only ever play basic chords.. like 1-3-5 and 1-3-5-7 chords (Minor and Major).. am I therefore limiting the amount of notes I can play with a solo? I look at the exotic scales that Steve Vai uses and then at the equally exotic chords he plays behind the solo.. and I wonder if the fact that he is playing some weird chord with all these extra notes, like a 9th, 11th or 13th note, means that he is now able to play that extra note in his scales?.. Like say he has added the 11th note of the scale to the chord.. does that mean he can now play all the 4th's and 11th's in his soloing?

Originally Posted by: light487If I only ever play basic chords.. like 1-3-5 and 1-3-5-7 chords (Minor and Major).. am I therefore limiting the amount of notes I can play with a solo?[/quote]
No. You can play whatever notes of the scale you desire for their functional value within the framework of the song or their ornamental value in which you simply like the decorative sound of THAT scale note in that place.

For that matter you can play any chromatic note you want also according to the same principle.

Originally Posted by: light487I look at the exotic scales that Steve Vai uses and then at the equally exotic chords he plays behind the solo..

First consider, to even SAY "This note or that is the sharp 11th," implies the "basic scales and chords" in the first place. You can't arrive at the concept of those "exotic" chords and scales without the prior framework of the basic ones to build upon in the first place.

Consider, "This solo uses Lydian Dominant which is a mode of melodic minor and isn't that all exotic and weird?" Again, you can't get to lydian dominant without the more basic, simple concepts of "lydian" and "dominant". You can't get to modes of "melodic minor" without the simple, basic, natural minor first, which you then alter.
[QUOTE=light487] ... and I wonder if the fact that he is playing some weird chord with all these extra notes, like a 9th, 11th or 13th note, means that he is now able to play that extra note in his scales?.. Like say he has added the 11th note of the scale to the chord.. does that mean he can now play all the 4th's and 11th's in his soloing?

It is valuable to have your chords, melodies, and solos all integrated: from the same source and all referencing one another. But you can, of course, play the 4th note of a scale over a basic major or minor chord. It can be viewed, for example, as a passing tone (moving from maj3 to 5th). Or it can viewed as a crucial melody note, or a slightly dissonant ornamental note.

But, having said all that, you can play:

1. Basic chords with basic scales.
2. Basic chords with complex scales.
3. Complex chords with basic scales.
4. Complex chords with complex scales.

You can use the letters of the English alphabet to create the word "cat" and "epistemological".

Regardless of level of simplicity or complexity, all music theory is built upon a common set of principles.