How Important Is Music Theory?

[Shane]

i'm not sure if this is in the right section but here goes...

I'm just starting to learn acoustic, i've learnt a few chords and a few simple songs. I was told i should begin learning the chords in major keys, problem is i'm not really one of them people who just accept it to be a chord etc, and so i'm questioning why that chord belongs to that scale etc, and it worsened by the fact that theres 2 of the exact same chord (exact string&fret) yet is belongs to a different scale.

So basically is this a necessity to learn?

If so, can anyone point me to some good places that will teach me please.

If not, what should i begin learning on guitar? And understandably i'd need somewhat of an idea behind chords and stuff so what should i look out for when learning?

[thepopeofpop]

As far as books......"The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer is my favorite. It has a little bit of everything, from guitar info. to theory.

I second Tom's recommendation. A great book! It will answer any question you have.

[MikeRobinson]

I think that it is very important to learn about music theory ... partly because it tends to be "shrouded in mystery." This sense of "mystery" is unfortunately exaggerated by the use of obscure and obfuscatory terms. ("Myxolidian mode," anyone?) But, standing in the shadows ... just behind all that "this is Music Theory 102 and you've got to pass this class if you ever want to get out of here" claptrap ... are a few elegantly-simple ideas that are, indeed, extremely useful to know.

(But first, repeat after me: "Screw you. I graduated years ago, and I don't play that game any more. I just love music, and I just want to know more about how it works.")

There! Doesn't that feel good?!

If you happen to have access to a keyboard, I'd like you to "just fool around" with it for a little while. Don't worry: I'm only asking you to play around with the all white keys. Totally ignore the black ones. As you noodle around with melodies, emphasize "middle C." Keep coming back to it, so it tends to be the (ahem...) "tonal center." (The "center" of all things... the emphasized note... the 'middle' note that is no longer middle 'C', but that is still somehow the middle.)

(I am asking you to use a keyboard because you can "see it" on a keyboard. You don't actually have to have any experience at all playing the thing... "Just press the white keys, singularly and/or in combination.")

Start your "fooling around" with the usual starting-position: middle C. But after you've done that for a while, shift you hands two places to the left. Start whacking on the "A" key in the places where you had been whacking on "C." Try to hit "A" a good bit more often than the other keys, instead of "C." But don't play any black keys. Try to ignore your fingers and just listen to the sounds.

... ...

If you do that long enough, your ear will begin to notice a subtle change. The melody sounds different. In fact, it sounds minor. It sounds like you are, somehow, "in a different key," even though you are still playing "only white notes."

And-d-d-d... "you are."

But, never mind that! Shift your hands again and start whacking away again, still pressing only the white keys, but emphasizing some other white key as the "tonal center."

You've obviously got a choice of seven "white keys" to center on (A-B-C-D-E-F-G), and, lo and behold, depending on which key you "park on" as your chosen "center," by gawd, they all sound very different.

Congratulations. You have just played a tune in all seven "modes." If I gave each one of those starting-positions obscure names like "Lydian" and "Aeolian," you'd feel like you were stuck in College again. But you're not, so I won't. Instead, I will say: "that's it. That's the mystery. Really."

Your observation, plain as day, is that they do indeed sound "very different." In fact, some of them sound positively exotic. Yet... they are all, "just the white keys." The vexing question, therefore, is "why?" And, theory can give you the answer.

But never mind that for now. Let me get back to your question: chords. Press these keys together: C-E-G. If you have been playing-around such that "C" is the "tonal center," then these three notes, played together, sound like "C-Major." But, if you have been playing "all white keys" but centered on some other white-key, those same three notes ("in a different context," that is to say, "in a different mode") do not sound the same anymore. They are exactly the same three notes (C-E-G), yet they do not sound the same.

The way that a particular combination of notes "sounds," depends in part on their context. It also depends upon the interval, or "gap," between the adjacent notes. ("E" is adjacent to "F," but ... think about it ... "F" is not adjacent to "G." There's a black key in the way.)

Let me end on that thought. You played "all white keys" throughout, yet "it sounded different." There was a reason for that, even though you might never have considered it before. "Music theory" invites you "to consider it." It invites you to learn more about "how 'music' actually works."

In the few dreadful times when I actually took a formal music-theory course, I found myself being obliged to memorize obscure things without explanation. And so I was, to be perfectly honest, incensed to later discover that they all had a very logical explanation. It turned me on to "music theory," but forever off to "music theory classes."

Edited October 13, 2010 by MikeRobinson

[Shane]

Thanks for posting guys.

I think i will buy that book, atleast A book Doubt anytime soon though.

MikeRobinson, you REALLY confused me I kinda know slightly about keyboard with semitones and tones etc, though don't really have one available to experiment with.

But never mind that for now. Let me get back to your question: chords. Press these keys together: C-E-G. If you have been playing-around such that "C" is the "tonal center," then these three notes, played together, sound like "C-Major." But, if you have been playing "all white keys" but centered on some other white-key, those same three notes ("in a different context," that is to say, "in a different mode") do not sound the same anymore. They are exactly the same three notes (C-E-G), yet they do not sound the same.

For the sake of understanding a little more, would it be right to say that chords are basically on that scale because it's built around it and the major is the "tonal centre" of it? For example Dm on the C Major scale?

[Shane]

Gah, headfart=[

I can see this is something that takes a while for your head to get around lol

[Roflcopter]

It's a bit like math (actually very much like it), also in the sense that it can be a bit of a pain, but oh-so convenient to know, when you really need it.

It's also the best way to describe what's going on in a technical sense, so if you are working with other musicians who also know the basicis, it can be a huge time-saver.

There's this album called Joe's Domage, full of rehearsal cuts where Frank Zappa tries to explain what he is trying to achieve, to his musicians, only some of whom are thoroughly up to snuff with theory, some are just great musicians who never went into all the nitty-gritty, and he has to do it by example, just playing all the different parts on his guitar, to show what he means.

Now his music is pretty technical, so you can imagine who picks it up fastest. Great stuff to listen to tho - you hear very very complicated music gradually coming together, with truly horrible first attempts until they slowly, slowly get it right, and it begins to resemble tracks you already knew - and had never imagined to be so intricate, and frankly, such a *bitch* to get right.

Also must have been quite frustrating for Frank, he must have felt like screaming at times.

[Coises]

Without buying anything, here’s a place you can start to get some orientation to practical “music theory” based on the guitar.