Music Book Opinions...

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337538458&sr=8-1

I got a few questions for all the Tab, Tips, Theory, and Technique forum aces out here,

Is this book a good place to start? I read the first chapter on amazon.com and it seemed to start at the very beginning if you hadn't ever played a guitar before. Map of the fretboard and how to tune etc.

According to the reviews it gets into heavier material which is what I'm looking for (But maybe not too heavy yet. :mrgreen:) I have basic harmony down but I'm looking for further instruction. (How to form chords than major and minor.)

Is it a bad idea that the whole premise of this book is designed specifically for guitar players?

Thanks in advance!

It is all about your point-of-view.

TAB is for people who just want to play the song.

Notes-on-a-page are for those who want to work with other Musicians who read Music.

I came up reading music. I look at a TAB and feel like I'm not getting the whole story.
Other people are not interested it the whole story and are very happy doing what they do.

TAB - Put your fingers here. Play a TAB correctly and guess what? You can make that song you are playing sound pretty good.
But sooner or later, you will come to the realization that real Musical Theory is best learned on a Keyboard so it can be shared by every other instrument you can think of.

Best of luck, keep us informed.
~ ST

I've no first hand experience of that particular book but it seems ok from the reviews and in all honesty most of the books on theory are fairly good. Mark Levine's 'The Jazz Theory book' is my favourite. If you have any specific questions after purchasing a book this forum is a great place to get them answered. Do you have a teacher?

Hi Brady,

I'd say for you to check TrueFire's courses. I'm studying online at several places - TF included - and they have great material. Only problem is that they have too much good material and you can easily get lost :)

Is that Monk on your Avatar? So you'd maybe like to start with a few jazz chords, etc? Try Frank Vignola's 123 Jazz Guitar from the main Jazz channel -
http://truefire.com/jazz-guitar-lessons/

I think you can start with a free 30-day full access trial to gauge how much it suits you.

hope it helps!
Joao

It is all about your point-of-view.

TAB is for people who just want to play the song.

Notes-on-a-page are for those who want to work with other Musicians who read Music.

I came up reading music. I look at a TAB and feel like I'm not getting the whole story.
Other people are not interested it the whole story and are very happy doing what they do.

TAB - Put your fingers here. Play a TAB correctly and guess what? You can make that song you are playing sound pretty good.
But sooner or later, you will come to the realization that real Musical Theory is best learned on a Keyboard so it can be shared by every other instrument you can think of.

Best of luck, keep us informed.
~ ST

I agree but I can't read notation other than very basic single note type stuff (Something that needs change eventually.) But I don't ever use tabs either, I always try to pick something up by ear. I do sit at the piano and try and figure things out as well but my piano chops are pretty dismal. :lol:



I've no first hand experience of that particular book but it seems ok from the reviews and in all honesty most of the books on theory are fairly good. Mark Levine's 'The Jazz Theory book' is my favourite. If you have any specific questions after purchasing a book this forum is a great place to get them answered. Do you have a teacher?

I'll have to look that book up, thanks! And no teacher unfortunately.

Hi Brady,

I'd say for you to check TrueFire's courses. I'm studying online at several places - TF included - and they have great material. Only problem is that they have too much good material and you can easily get lost :)

Is that Monk on your Avatar? So you'd maybe like to start with a few jazz chords, etc? Try Frank Vignola's 123 Jazz Guitar from the main Jazz channel -
http://truefire.com/jazz-guitar-lessons/

I think you can start with a free 30-day full access trial to gauge how much it suits you.

hope it helps!
Joao

That is indeed Monk! Thanks for the website, I'll take any information where I can get it!

I think the first thing to do is determine what your goals are. Why are you trying to learn theory.

The book you have there does seem like a good reference for the general theory groundwork, and would probably be a good one before getting into the heavier stuff with jazz chords etc. I think really it boils down to:

Terminology-what do all the words mean exactly
Chromatic scale/half steps-the basic building blocks
Major scales-good point of reference

If you know the chromatic scale and get definitions of the things you're trying to figure out you'll be good to go.

1. Start with the chromatic scale
2a. Figure out your major scales with half and whole steps (WWHWWWH)
2b. Start to understand what intervals are in half/whole steps
3a. Relate intervals to the scales
3b. Build chords (triads) with scale notes
3c. Build chords (triads) with intervals.

2 & 3 have a's etc because the order doesn't matter, they can be done simultaneously.

Hints:
*When starting with theory, MEMORIZE ALL THE MAJOR SCALES-you'll be really glad if they are all instant recall instead of trying to figure them out.
*Same goes for the 3 note sets, ie all C chords will have a C, an E, and a G. Cmaj=CEG, C#mi-C#EG#, Cdim=CEbGb, etc. The sets are:
CEG DFA EGB FAC GBD ACE BDF
That's it! If you memorize those you'll be in really great shape.

If you have those things down you'll be able grasp the music theory books (jazz or standard) so much easier. It's like learning your times table in grade school. If you knew it by heart the rest of math was much easier.
TH

buy a cheap used keyboard ... there is no better way to learn theory than on keys ... it is so much easier than guitar ... then you can transfer your knowledge to any instrument ...

I think the first thing to do is determine what your goals are. Why are you trying to learn theory.

The book you have there does seem like a good reference for the general theory groundwork, and would probably be a good one before getting into the heavier stuff with jazz chords etc. I think really it boils down to:

Terminology-what do all the words mean exactly
Chromatic scale/half steps-the basic building blocks
Major scales-good point of reference

If you know the chromatic scale and get definitions of the things you're trying to figure out you'll be good to go.

1. Start with the chromatic scale
2a. Figure out your major scales with half and whole steps (WWHWWWH)
2b. Start to understand what intervals are in half/whole steps
3a. Relate intervals to the scales
3b. Build chords (triads) with scale notes
3c. Build chords (triads) with intervals.

2 & 3 have a's etc because the order doesn't matter, they can be done simultaneously.

Hints:
*When starting with theory, MEMORIZE ALL THE MAJOR SCALES-you'll be really glad if they are all instant recall instead of trying to figure them out.
*Same goes for the 3 note sets, ie all C chords will have a C, an E, and a G. Cmaj=CEG, C#mi-C#EG#, Cdim=CEbGb, etc. The sets are:
CEG DFA EGB FAC GBD ACE BDF
That's it! If you memorize those you'll be in really great shape.

If you have those things down you'll be able grasp the music theory books (jazz or standard) so much easier. It's like learning your times table in grade school. If you knew it by heart the rest of math was much easier.
TH

Well I want to learn how music works. I don't want to be a guitar player who doesn't have a clue. Learning this stuff is the only way. (And it sounds fun!)

Chromatic scale is no problem, I know where all the notes are. I can put major and minor chords together as well. Some times I have to imagine the fretboard to picture the 3rd or 5th but it's a start!

I'm working on memorizing which notes are in the major and minor scales too rather than doing it by rote or pattern. I wrote them out in a notebook in a hack method like: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Which I'm not sure if that's an efficient way or not.

Thanks for the reply!

As I always say, you should memorize the notes on the fingerboard, the notes in the major scales, and the notes in the triads, then seventh chords. The problem I see people having is that they read _about_ these things and believe that they understand it. Then they go on to the minor scales, modes, 9th chords, etc.

What you need is instant recall of the note names in my first sentence. I don't mean that you can figure them out, I mean zip bang instant. As fast as looking at your family and being able to recite their names.

Here is the big secret about theory: you need to be able to look at the chords of a song and know how the notes in the melody relate to those. For example, if you have a whole note over a C major chord, the note choices are C E G, big time. After that, you get into dissonances, which are possible, but need to be handled in a very particular way. But again, you should be able to look at the chords and see how the melody relates to those. It is a very limited system, but people don't know that because they mistakingly think they need to learn chapters 5, 6, 7,... The answers are in chapters 1, 2, 3, but you have to internalize it. Books are relatively useless without the memorization of the basics first.

As I always say, you should memorize the notes on the fingerboard,

What you need is instant recall of the note names
C or do
Just wondering because you the Anglo types mostly use the alphabet notes
The Frenchies mostly use the solfege notes, do, re, .....
I guess it does not really matter other than most of the literature being in English, it's easier to use what the majority uses to avoid to,have to translate

Sent from my iPad using TDPRI

C or do
Just wondering because you the Anglo types mostly use the alphabet notes
The Frenchies mostly use the solfege notes, do, re, .....
I guess it does not really matter other than most of the literature being in English, it's easier to use what the majority uses to avoid to,have to translate

Sent from my iPad using TDPRI

For the fretboard, as Larry's talking about, you would want to learn the letter names of the notes. The solfege system (moveable do) is about how the notes relate to each other but makes no distinction as to what key you're in and that's why it's useful to learn note names. Each key has it's own set of 'sharped or flatted' letter names and you need to know the names of those notes in each key.

If I were starting out again, I'd use the books by Bruce Benward. Not specific to guitar, however.