What are your best music theory resources?

V

VidarAus

Experienced
Hi gang,

I want to become a guitar music theory master. I want to learn it all! I want to be one of those guys that can talk music and sound as if they are speaking another language. I see so many pros (who talk about music) effortlessly talking about strange chord voicings and how they fit with progressions and scales e.t.c e.t.c - I want to learn that stuff.

I would like to get you thoughts on the best guitar music theory resources you have seen/found/heard about/used. It would be great if there was a comprehensive 1000 page book to work through. Otherwise, let me know what you recommend below!

Thanks,

VidarAus
 
Check out a book called "The Complete Guitarist". There's a ton of stuff and it'll keep you busy for a long time. The thing to remember about theory is that you have to apply it to what you're doing. Just knowing how to spell 7 chord arpeggios doesn't do you any good if you don't know when to use a C7 vs a Cmaj7. So, when you learn something new, immediately try to apply it. Learn all the notes in a C Major scale and then play it over a loop of a simple progression in C Major. You'll get to hear how it all works that way. Remember that music is aural and it simply doesn't matter how much you know on paper.

Also, I'd like to add a +1 to www.musictheory.net. Step one is to use their guitar trainer to learn EVERY SINGLE NOTE on the fretboard. If you ask any 8yr old kid that takes piano lessons, they can tell you what every note on the piano is, but as guitarists, we tend to think we can skip that step. Trust me, this is important when you learn to spell chords and use them in different voicings. If you know how to play a CMaj, but you need to play it in 8th position, you'll need to know C, E, G are very quickly. How about playing 1st inversion on the 12th fret? Again, you need to know where E, G, C are.
 
Music theory has nothing to do with any single instrument unless it's theoretical ideas about construction of that instrument.
Real music theory is applicable across all instruments.
IMO Theory should be studied separately from the playing of any instrument.
If you have to use an instrument to study theory with then the best instrument is the piano or a keyboard.

Having said that...
Books that are designed to aid a guitarist in applying certain theoretical concepts on the guitar can be really helpful.
My own book is kind of predicated on that idea.
But my book is geared towards someone who already knows the theory.

There are links to the book and to excerpts from the book on my web site.
I don't recommend it for the OP btw.
 
Joe,

How might you address the significant gap between those that strive to "master" theory and the reality of actually learning the basics of theory to a significant level (in all keys of course). I'm a music theory fan (have been for nearly 40 years), and I find that often the very thing that keeps people from understanding theory is their desire to "know theory" in spite of not having invested the time in gaining a facility with all of the basics in a keys. ** Let me rephrase ** Lot's of people want to master theory - but few are willing to totally commit to the process. The process itself is a significant commitment. **

I almost feel trepidation whenever someone asks about how to learn theory. The answer of course is so simple on the one hand but seemingly impossible for those unwilling to put in the time on the other hand.

cheers,
 
Jed said:
Joe,

How might you address the significant gap between those that strive to "master" theory and the reality of actually learning the basics of theory to a significant level (in all keys of course). I'm a music theory fan (have been for nearly 40 years), and I find that often the very thing that keeps people from understanding theory is their desire to "know theory" in spite of not having invested the time in gaining a facility with all of the basics in a keys. ** Let me rephrase ** Lot's of people want to master theory - but few are willing to totally commit to the process. The process itself is a significant commitment. **

I almost feel trepidation whenever someone asks about how to learn theory. The answer of course is so simple on the one hand but seemingly impossible for those unwilling to put in the time on the other hand.

cheers,
Click to expand...

Hmm.
Obviously, if someone knows a bunch of theory but can't play any music then they haven't really learned the theory very fully at all.
A prerequisite to having a grasp of music theory is being able to play or write or at the very least to be able to read some music. If you can't play any music then you don't have anything to apply your theories to.
I'm not sure what your question really is though.

I don't think that music theory as a whole can be 'mastered' anyway.
There's too much of it and most of it isn't really "theory" anyway.
I've never really liked the way people tend to use the word "master" anyway within the musical community.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I've never mastered anything.
Most "music theory" is actually harmonic and/or melodic *technique.
I.e. Most music theory texts merely examine the harmonic and melodic techniques techniques used by successful composers of the past.
Precious little of what is usually taught as music theory is really theory at all. IMO
 
VidarAus,

You don't need a book to learn theory, it may help dependent on how you personally learn things but a 1000 page book is not required to learn theory. "Mastering Theory" per se might be the wrong way to think about theory.

You can learn the basics of theory at any one of several sites on the 'net. The challenge comes when you are faced with taking something simple - like the major scale - and learning how that simple construct projects from various root notes. For example you can learn the major scale formula in about 10 minutes but getting to the point where you have each potential major key memorized is a whole different animal. You may be able to learn to calculate any major scale in a few weeks of hard work. But being able to calculate a scale won't help in your playing - for that the various major scales (every single one of them) should be memorized or more.

Similarly, learning about how chords are constructed in tertian harmony is another 10 to 15 minute thing. But learning how that simple rule works over every scale degree of every major & minor (incl variations) scale becomes a much bigger task that can take years of work to get comfortable - but that's far from being mastered.

I'm not trying to discourage you, rather I'm trying to illustrate that you should expect to work long and hard at the beginning for what may seem like modest gains. But if you keep with it and continue to study and work to understand theory - the advantages become more and more pronounced and advantageous. But theory is not for the faint of heart. There's a lot of keys to learn and it's a lot more than simple memorization.

cheers and good luck!
 
Really interesting discussion guys. I am not new to music theory, or how it applies to the guitar. I am by no means an expert though.

I guess what I am lacking is a structured approach. There is a lot to learn, and it can all seem a bit disparate sometimes.

Any resources that try to draw it all together?

Thanks
 
VidarAus said:
Any resources that try to draw it all together?
Click to expand...

My vote:

The major scale in all keys (in terms of notes not patterns)
The various major scales forms / fingering patterns on the guitar (again in all keys) - I like the seven Berklee forms but it's a good idea to be comfortable with all the various fingering "systems" (Positional (Berklee), 3nps & CAGED). Again, these should be learned as notes not patterns. You'll want to be able to "think" in terms of any key starting from any note.

The triads diatonic to those keys (in terms of chord spellings and in terms of scale degrees of the parent key)
Practice each of the chords diatonic to all the keys as triads (each adjacent string group), inversions, 2-octave triad arpeggios (at least nine fingerings for each 2-octave triad arp), etc, etc

Once you've gotten that far, the rest is pretty simple.

PS The point is that the major scale is what theory is based on (at least the language of theory), so that if you really know the major scales inside and out, then everything else makes sense in terms of music theory.

cheers and good luck!
 
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