I'm Looking to Learn Music Theory, but I'm completely Lost...

[Van1998]

I started playing guitar around 6-years ago but I committed the carnal sin (I think that's the saying) of learning through tabs instead of more traditional methods like music theory. I've actually become fairly decent at guitar but I've always wanted to write my own songs, and not knowing anything about music theory, or really music in general makes that pretty much impossible. I basically don't know at all, I don't know what sharps and flats are, what scales are, keys, nothing like that.

 

I want to learn though, and I was hoping someone on here could guide me in the right direction for an absolute beginner. I'll gladly answer any other questions that might be necessary.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Glammerocity]

I started trying to read when I first started guitar aged 15 and realised my entire understanding of the notes and keys from music class at school was wrong - I remember I was trying to learn Fleetwood Mac's Albatross from the sheet music and it wasn't happening -  so I had to teach myself. It can be done. I can't sight read but knowing what was in the music rather than relying on the guitar tabs helped me a lot, so I'd encourage anybody to learn to read.

 

This Youtube clip is a good starter.

 

I wish we'd had Youtube back in the 70s.

[Van1998]

On 5/14/2018 at 11:39 AM, Glammerocity said:

I started trying to read when I first started guitar aged 15 and realised my entire understanding of the notes and keys from music class at school was wrong - I remember I was trying to learn Fleetwood Mac's Albatross from the sheet music and it wasn't happening -  so I had to teach myself. It can be done. I can't sight read but knowing what was in the music rather than relying on the guitar tabs helped me a lot, so I'd encourage anybody to learn to read.

 

This Youtube clip is a good starter.

 

I wish we'd had Youtube back in the 70s.

Hi, sorry its taken so long to reply but thank you for the suggestion. I've been studying that video for a few days now and I think I have a general understanding of how to read basic sheet music, though I'm still having trouble understanding some things.

 

If you wouldn't mind helping out just a bit more, where do you think I should go from here? I was thinking scales since I know how to play a handful of them, but I don't know what/how to use them, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

Thanks.

[Glammerocity]

18 hours ago, Van1998 said:

Hi, sorry its taken so long to reply but thank you for the suggestion. I've been studying that video for a few days now and I think I have a general understanding of how to read basic sheet music, though I'm still having trouble understanding some things.

 

If you wouldn't mind helping out just a bit more, where do you think I should go from here? I was thinking scales since I know how to play a handful of them, but I don't know what/how to use them, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

Thanks.

 

I'm assuming you know all the notes on the guitar fretboard. Scales could be useful. Start with the most common ones for guitar, the keys of G and D. G has one sharp, F#, and D has two sharps, F# and C#. So if you see one sharp at the start in the sheet music, you know it's in the key of G.

 

 

 

Note in the image above how the upper horizontal line of the sharp points to the top line of the stave, the F, which is the note you have to sharpen.

 

In the key of D, the second sharp points to C.

 

 

 

When you get bored of scales, I'd recommend buying some sheet music, maybe The Beatles Songbook or, if you're feeling adventurous, the songs of the Hollywood and Broadway musicals. Often the guitar tabs will be transposed into an easier key for guitar, so learn to figure out what's going on in the music. Try working out the melodies as well as the chords, then try to play them together. It'll teach you some variations of chords and some nice things to do with your extra fingers.

 

 

This might not be the music you want to make but it'll teach you some new ways to play chords that you can take into your own music. I liked to add open strings for a drone. One song in a band I was in had a chord sequence which went Bm Em F#m Bm. I played it all with an open 2nd string, so the B was always droning, and I'd also be putting my finger on and off the D and C# notes of the 2nd string, so there was a bit of a counter melody going on. Andy Partridge of XTC likes to play some funky chord variations in a similar way and Andy Summers of the Police liked to add 6ths, the 6th note in a scale, to his chords, most famously in Every Breath You Take.

[childed]

On 5/14/2018 at 3:49 PM, Van1998 said:

 

I want to learn though, and I was hoping someone on here could guide me in the right direction for an absolute beginner. I'll gladly answer any other questions that might be necessary.

 

 

 

this is the only way if you want to write music.
it is very important that you realize this!
time will pass and you will have the necessary knowledge.
dig it 😃

[MikeRobinson]

Perhaps the best way to approach "music theory" is to pretend that you play a keyboard.  Drop by your favorite charity-store (e.g. Goodwill, in the USA) or any pawn-shop, and pick up the cheapest thing you can find.  

 

(P.S.:  I still use sounds that I get from a "$12 Casio" that I acquired fifteen years ago in just this way.)

 

"A keyboard" is a much-simpler way to look at musical note-making than is "a fretboard," because it is immediately obvious how the various tones relate to each other.  (On a guitar fretboard, each of the strings are tuned differently, whereas each note on a keyboard is the same.)

 

If there's any one "most important point in all of music theory," it's the notion that you perceive "a musical line," not(!) from the notes themselves, but from the intervals between them ... and that these intervals are not uniform.  A musical keyboard makes this very obvious because there are white notes and black notes, and because the arrangement of white and black is not uniform.  Not at all.

 

If you "play the C-major scale" on a keyboard, and very-carefully observe whether "there is a black-key in the way" or "there is not," you will see that "a major scale" consists of the pattern, W-W-H-W-W-W-H, where W ("whole step") means "there's a black-key in the way" and H ("half step") means "there is not."

 

Now, on a keyboard, "do the same thing, starting with E.  Replicate the same pattern of Whole vs. Half steps."

 

On a keyboard, you will immediately observe that, in order to maintain this pattern of whole and half steps, certain notes must be sharp or flat.

 

... "and this is why 😮 we have 'key signatures!''"

 

– – –

And if you care to delve into the next "magical mystery of Music Theory," modes (with mostly-meaningless "Latin Names" appertaining ...), well, this idea turns out to be pretty simple, also:

 

• "If we now shift(!!!) that W-W-H-W-W-W-H pattern?"  In other words, "what if we started with the second ... or third, or ... element in this "whole/half" sequence, wrapping-around to the beginning so that the adjacent intervals remained the same, but the start-point didn't?" 🤔

 

Well, it turns out that you can do that, of course ... exactly 7 times.  Once again, "a keyboard" makes this easy to explore:  just "play all-white-keys, as before, but start and end on a starting-note other than 'C'!"

 

• P.S.:  Feel free to ignore completely music student's rubrics about "... little monkeys after lunch."  "Aolean?  Mixolydian? Phrygian? Who cares (anymore) ... I graduated!"  You're not in music school, and there won't be a test.  ("One two three, good enough" ... they called it the Nashville Number System.)

 

This is one of the reasons that I invite the guitarists that I know (and the players of various wind instruments ...) to visit a Goodwill store, or a pawn-shop, or Amazon, and buy themselves the cheapest possible keyboard.  There you will see "the same twelve notes that we all play," but in a different and profoundly significant presentation:  "there are, not only white, but also black keys here ...!"

 

"It's the very same music, but presented in an entirely different way.  And this difference can be very 💡 enlightening."

 

"On your fretboard," whether you realize it or not, "the strings are not the same."  Whereas, "on a keyboard," all secrets are laid bare."  Every key, white or black, is equidistant from every other, and therefore the irregular, asymmetric pattern of white vs. black is now staring you in the face.  This principle applies to all musical instruments (in Western music).

[Glammerocity]

On 5/18/2018 at 7:43 PM, MikeRobinson said:

Perhaps the best way to approach "music theory" is to pretend that you play a keyboard.  Drop by your favorite charity-store (e.g. Goodwill, in the USA) or any pawn-shop, and pick up the cheapest thing you can find.  

 

(P.S.:  I still use sounds that I get from a "$12 Casio" that I acquired fifteen years ago in just this way.)

 

"A keyboard" is a much-simpler way to look at musical note-making than is "a fretboard," because it is immediately obvious how the various tones relate to each other.  (On a guitar fretboard, each of the strings are tuned differently, whereas each note on a keyboard is the same.)

 

My sister had a boxy toy organ that blew wind noisily with a fan and had about two and half octaves but I'd agree it gives you a different perspective. I learned Elton John's Funeral for a Friend on that thing.

[Van1998]

On 5/18/2018 at 8:06 AM, Glammerocity said:

 

I'm assuming you know all the notes on the guitar fretboard. Scales could be useful. Start with the most common ones for guitar, the keys of G and D. G has one sharp, F#, and D has two sharps, F# and C#. So if you see one sharp at the start in the sheet music, you know it's in the key of G.

 

 

 

Note in the image above how the upper horizontal line of the sharp points to the top line of the stave, the F, which is the note you have to sharpen.

 

In the key of D, the second sharp points to C.

 

 

 

When you get bored of scales, I'd recommend buying some sheet music, maybe The Beatles Songbook or, if you're feeling adventurous, the songs of the Hollywood and Broadway musicals. Often the guitar tabs will be transposed into an easier key for guitar, so learn to figure out what's going on in the music. Try working out the melodies as well as the chords, then try to play them together. It'll teach you some variations of chords and some nice things to do with your extra fingers.

 

 

This might not be the music you want to make but it'll teach you some new ways to play chords that you can take into your own music. I liked to add open strings for a drone. One song in a band I was in had a chord sequence which went Bm Em F#m Bm. I played it all with an open 2nd string, so the B was always droning, and I'd also be putting my finger on and off the D and C# notes of the 2nd string, so there was a bit of a counter melody going on. Andy Partridge of XTC likes to play some funky chord variations in a similar way and Andy Summers of the Police liked to add 6ths, the 6th note in a scale, to his chords, most famously in Every Breath You Take.

Hi, thanks for replying again. I don't know all the notes on the fretboard, but I've spent the last couple of days studying it and I think I'm getting a hold of it. To be honest, I would need to see how sheet music (like the two scales you posted) relates to a guitar fretboard, I don't really understand to be honest, but I'm determined to learn.

 

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for those books, thanks for the recommendation.

 

I know this is probably outside the scope of the original request, but I've been having trouble with picking; hitting the wrong strings, not actually moving far enough down to get to the next string, alternating up and down strokes, etc. Since you've given me great advice/leads so far I was wondering if you could help me out with this issue? I know I could look it up myself, but there's TONS of different videos all saying their way of picking is perfect and the only way to pick, and I have no idea what to believe. 

 

As always, thanks.

[Glammerocity]

6 hours ago, Van1998 said:

Hi, thanks for replying again. I don't know all the notes on the fretboard, but I've spent the last couple of days studying it and I think I'm getting a hold of it. To be honest, I would need to see how sheet music (like the two scales you posted) relates to a guitar fretboard, I don't really understand to be honest, but I'm determined to learn.

 

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for those books, thanks for the recommendation.

 

I know this is probably outside the scope of the original request, but I've been having trouble with picking; hitting the wrong strings, not actually moving far enough down to get to the next string, alternating up and down strokes, etc. Since you've given me great advice/leads so far I was wondering if you could help me out with this issue? I know I could look it up myself, but there's TONS of different videos all saying their way of picking is perfect and the only way to pick, and I have no idea what to believe. 

 

As always, thanks.

 

Ah, you should learn the notes on the fretboard. Scales will help that. And learn to play scales at different positions on the fretboard, so for example, start the C scale on the 3rd fret of the 5th string, then try it starting on the 9th fret of the 6th string.

 

Do you mean picking with a plectrum or fingers? I'm not so good at finger-picking. There are different ways of playing, though I'm self-taught, so can't say what the best technical method is. If you're just not hitting the strings exactly, I'd say practise practise practise. It'll get better.

[Van1998]

13 hours ago, Glammerocity said:

 

 

Do you mean picking with a plectrum or fingers? 

A plectrum (we call the picks in the US). I'm pretty sure my issue comes from that, when I started playing guitar 6-years ago, my natural inclination was unfortunately to down-pick everything. Being self-taught as well, nobody ever corrected me on it and now that I'm trying to seriously learn music it's very difficult for me to incorporate up-picks.

 

As always, thanks for all the help.

[Glammerocity]

On 5/22/2018 at 9:27 AM, Van1998 said:

A plectrum (we call the picks in the US). I'm pretty sure my issue comes from that, when I started playing guitar 6-years ago, my natural inclination was unfortunately to down-pick everything. Being self-taught as well, nobody ever corrected me on it and now that I'm trying to seriously learn music it's very difficult for me to incorporate up-picks.

 

As always, thanks for all the help.

 

If it works for you, why fix it? It'll make your playing distinctive. Some guitarists play with their thumb so it's all down strokes. Being self-taught, I didn't use my pinkie for years when playing lead guitar, I only used it in chords. Eventually I disciplined myself to start using it but I managed fine without it. Maybe you could find a few exercises to do with upstrokes - there are plenty of tutorials on Youtube - but don't stress about it if it's not affecting playing what you want to play - if it sounds right, it is right.

 

 

[Van1998]

On 5/24/2018 at 3:45 AM, Glammerocity said:

 

If it works for you, why fix it? It'll make your playing distinctive. Some guitarists play with their thumb so it's all down strokes. Being self-taught, I didn't use my pinkie for years when playing lead guitar, I only used it in chords. Eventually I disciplined myself to start using it but I managed fine without it. Maybe you could find a few exercises to do with upstrokes - there are plenty of tutorials on Youtube - but don't stress about it if it's not affecting playing what you want to play - if it sounds right, it is right.

 

 

Thanks, I appreciate the advice.

 

I've almost got all the natural notes on the guitar memorized now, I think I'm going to keep practicing those until I know them by instinct, then I'll move on to sharps and flats.

 

As always, thanks for the help. You been amazingly helpful so far, I  already know tons more than I did before.

[Van1998]

On 5/18/2018 at 1:43 PM, MikeRobinson said:

 

Hi, thanks for the response. I've been meaning to reply but it kept slipping my mind.

 

My sister that lives in my house has a keyboard, so I borrowed it and have been practicing sheet music (that I've written myself) on it. I haven't practiced it a ton (I've mainly focused on improving my guitar picking, learning the notes on the fretboard and learning new chords) but I'm going to sit down tonight and practice what you said in your first post. Any other tips you have would be greatly appreciated. 

[Rudi]

The Singer in my band came over yesterday and sang several of his newer songs.

 

He has a guitar but only knows a couple of cowboy chords. He had started making some chord shapes up. ANything that sounded good and was easy to play. Unknowingly he has discovered Major Sevenths, minor 6ths and Sust 4. All he knows is that it sounds right. What he does have is boundless enthusiasm and dedication. Its carried him forwards pretty well.

 

I'm not advocating this 'primitive' method. Just pointing out that there are many ways to create music. If you want to write for other people then you need a way to communicate it. It always used to be being able to read a chart and and score for musicians. There may be other methods now.

[MikeRobinson]

I suppose that my first "computer-geek tendencies" were manifested in the fact that I was first exposed to music on a Hammond Organ ... in fact (and little did I know it at the time ...) the "model M-3," which had exactly the same tone-wheel design (and the same sound ...) of the much-more famous B-3 with about half the keys.

 

(P.S.:  Years later, I sold the thing to a local band which was thrilled to have it, and who still makes great music with it.  Every now and then, I drop by one of their gigs...)

 

As I said earlier, "a keyboard, especially an organ keyboard, lays it all out in front of you."  Absolutely no "finesse" is even possible:  either the key is pushed-down or it isn't.  Every one of the twelve Western notes that are available to you are equally available to you.  And so, "the supposedly-arcane Mysteries of Music Theory™ are also available to you.

 

A fretboard, by comparison, is laid underneath "a collection of unequally ... but cleverly ... tuned strings."  Therefore, the fretboard (unlike the keyboard) does not reflect "the notes themselves," because the notes in each position are entirely dependent upon how each string is tuned.  (And, this tuning is determined by the geometry of the human hand.)  Therefore, a fretboard can't show you the relationship of "the underlying notes" as easily as a keyboard can ... and "music theory is all about the relationship between those underlying notes."

 

But ... "hey, they're all the same notes."  Therefore, string player, "meet mister keyboard."

 

To my way of thinking, "music theory," like all good "theory,"  is for the most part an ex post facto endeavor:  "it can't tell you what to do, but it can more-or-less try to explain the virtues of whatever you just did."  Which is actually a very useful difference, and an extremely valuable tool.

 

"When you find yourself (once again ...) 'in a musical tight spot,'" theory can be a very important ally because it helps you to look at the mess that you've just made ... objectively.  Then, in some cases, it offers you perspectives that perhaps would not have otherwise occurred to you.

uo

"The bottom line," to me, is very-simply this:  "music theory is a useful tool, but never an oracle."  Obviously, "it can never pretend to tell you how to write your next piece of music," but in the meantime it's a marvelous widget to have in your tool-belt! (Now that you have graduated.) 

 

By offering you objective insights into "how 'music' actually works," even a very-basic concept of theory offers you: opportunities to "work(!) it."

[Van1998]

On 5/29/2018 at 12:23 PM, Rudi said:

The Singer in my band came over yesterday and sang several of his newer songs.

 

He has a guitar but only knows a couple of cowboy chords. He had started making some chord shapes up. ANything that sounded good and was easy to play. Unknowingly he has discovered Major Sevenths, minor 6ths and Sust 4. All he knows is that it sounds right. What he does have is boundless enthusiasm and dedication. Its carried him forwards pretty well.

 

I'm not advocating this 'primitive' method. Just pointing out that there are many ways to create music. If you want to write for other people then you need a way to communicate it. It always used to be being able to read a chart and and score for musicians. There may be other methods now.

I actually tried that method for about six years, I could usually come up with a decent enough chorus but as soon as I would try a verse it would just fall apart. 

[MikeRobinson]

If you're a string player, the first thing to realize is that each string is "a different slice of the same octave(s)," arranged (necessarily ...) "to make things convenient for your poor fingers."  If you are next called-upon to produce what a keyboardist or an electronic musician might call "E2," you necessarily have to translate that to "a certain finger-position upon a certain string," a-n-d you have to have an available finger(!) that can actually do it.  (Out of the several positions that are theoretically available.)

 

However, I again respectfully suggest, "this might still be a great time to spend $20 at your neighborhood pawn-shop or charity-shop for a castaway keyboard," because by definition this technology can "reach any key," and because it places those keys upon only one sequence of "things that are to be reached by your fingers."  Finally, and most(!) importantly:  every single note ... white or black ... is physically adjacent in precisely the same way that it is musically adjacent.

 

Mathematically speaking, "a 'keyboard' is 'a number-line!'"  (Memories of second-grade arithmetic now come crashing around your head ...)  Every note is now an equal distance apart, and every note is equally accessible.  But, since "music theory" in a great many ways is also "a mathematical exercise specifically built around intervals," this is actually a great help:  "now, you can literally count the 'pieces of plastic' that are in your way from here to there," and that is "the number of half-steps!"

 

"Once you 'Get It™,'" all of music theory is actually comparatively easy.  But if you are "looking at it through a fretboard," your mechanically-driven instinctive viewpoints can actually get in the way.  Whereas, once you Get It™, it's straightforward to translate your understanding back to your favorite fretboard.

 

Therefore, "string player / horn player" – when you are trying to "grok" theory, please save yourself considerable time and effort and grab a keyboard.  Translate your understanding to this frame-of-reference, then, after the light has come on, translate it back.

[DaveKell]

There's a book called Styles for the Studio by Leon White that I think was first printed 40 years ago. I got a copy (original printing) in a collection of books I inherited with an awesome guitar from a wealthy friend who passed from cancer last year. Whn I googled the book to read reviews of it, I was astounded to see people with original printings were selling them for up to $800. I tracked Mr. White down on a guitar forum and learned he had a limited run of them reprinted with much better graphics and a link to download backing tracks for every example in the book. When I ordered one it had to come from his allotment of five books since the rest had been sold out already. I have no idea if there's been another printing. The book is highly praised as being the springboard for many successful careers as a guitarist. I'll leave it to you to search for whether or not it's available as a reprint again. I found the quality of the new version to be higher quality with respect to the string diagrams that in the original tended in places to be a bit blurry. It thoroughly covers scales, modes and arpeggios. It's an incredibly comprehensive instruction book that can turn anyone who applies themselves into a competent guitarist I've not done that myself as I have a personal shortcoming of finding scale practice to be incredibly mind numbing. A very excellent guitarist I recently met suggested I practice scales while watching tv to introduce another distraction from the boredom. He stressed very highly learning the scales all over the neck and memorizing the notes involved. I'm setting a personal goal to spend the winter doing this whether I want to or not. By the way, if no new versions of the book are available anymore I'll sell you the original printing copy I have for $40 as long as you promise not to try and profit from it monetarily!