Hi again Aled,
On another thread, I promised you that I'd add some links after checking a few things, so here goes. I can’t find rules specifically banning mentioning books or linking out, so this seems harmless enough. Apologies to the moderators if that’s not so, and I’m sure they’ll tidy it up and set me straight if I’m wrong.
Firstly, a couple of general tips about learning theory.
When you first start it’s almost inevitably confusing. It’s crammed full of weird new terms, names, and concepts. Not only that, the writers always seem to explain everything using a whole bunch of
other new terms you don’t really have a handle on yet either. Worse still, the writers are alway experts so they’ve long ago forgotten what it was like NOT to know. What it felt like to be a newb who hasn’t a clue what any of it means. People who can teach or write, using simple terms in a logically unfolding order as if they only found out five minutes ago too, have a rare ability.
So if it all seems confusing and complicated it’s not you. It was the same for all of us, and the first few stages are always going to be a bit of a pain. But if you slug away, and make sure you go over the basic steps several times until it sticks, then it picks up speed and gets clearer and clearer. The big mistake is to rush in, dash about like a mad dog, sniffing at everything, jumping in to some topics way to early and generally confusing yourself. Which is of course exactly what we all do. But so long as we know that, and are cool about going back and working through careful as well, then it’s not too tough.
Terms like triplet, trio, third, iii, triad, tritone, etc do look pretty geeky. But, one way or another, they all refer to three of something - and, hey, we can all do three. A lot of theory is about picking fairly small teams and arranging them in different ways to get effects.
On that theme, don’t read too much without stopping and giving yourself practical examples. Pick up your instrument and play what you just read. And do all the exercises in the text. Yes, REALLY do them, don’t just read through and tell yourself you get it. REALLY do the exercises. It sticks better and saves time in the long run. Writing things out (and playing) are well known ways of reinforcing the temporary knowledge that you got through your eyes.
If you can possibly get access to a keyboard when you read theory I think that it’s a great help.
It’s very easy to visualise the theory on a keyboard as you learn it. Unlike a guitar, which has notes repeated all over the neck, not just in octave jumps, but notes of the same pitch repeated in different places on other strings, the keyboard lays them all out in a neat line. The natural notes are all white keys, the sharps/flats are all black. When you play a scale its form and logic shows up with great clarity. At it's simplest level, using only the white keys is a complete C major scale (or a natural A minor scale for that matter). As I mentioned on the other thread it’s a breeze to assemble all those fancy chord names, because all they boil down to is how many spaces to leave between one finger and the next
You can also do chord inversions easily on a keyboard (same notes different order). With guitar we’re often stuck with a rather limited array of choices when it comes to rearranging notes that we can actually get our fingers to reach. It’s easier to see on a keyboard, and easier to re-use the same basic ideas and patterns.
Even if you only print out some diagrams of an octave or two on a keyboard, and use them to physically draw out the concepts you’re learning it will help. Especially with seeing instantly, for example, how a CMajor varies from a Cminor chord, a C augmented from a Cdiminished, a CSus 2 from a Csus4, a C7 from a CMaj7, etc.
On that theme, a keyboard is also very handy for a songwriter because
you can try out melody and chords at the same time. You don’t have to be a master pianist to do this, and it’s a major reason why a great many songwriters have used piano as one of their tools for composing (including folks like Lennon and McCartney). You can fiddle around with your melody in the right hand and try out a range of chords with the left, or you can try working out a bass line with your left hand and play either the melody or chords in the right, or.... well, the possibilities are pretty much endless.
But enough waffle from me. Geez, I do waffle on...
Websites:
This is a very good free introductory course. Even if you already know half of what you read, work through it all.
The Basic Elements of Music
Then move on to the expanded version. You’ll sometimes be linked back to the first course, and you don’t need to do it all again. But I’d still recommend doing the basic one first. The more thoroughly you build your foundation, the easier it will be to keep building.
Understanding Basic Music Theory
Guitar and Theory Forum
Guitarnoise
This is a great forum for guitar players. It’s fairly low key but there are some excellent regulars, ranging from amateur plunkers and local pub rockers through to top flight teachers. The theory forum is excellent with two guys in particular - NoteBoat (Tom Serb, performer and music school owner) and Fretsource- who have both written theory books and are very generous with accurate advice. There’s also a heap of free lessons (if you dig through the lousy index) and articles by David Hodge who is a performer, teacher and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Bass Guitar. He’s another friendly and helpful guy who chips in with submissions and help on the SSG Songwriting forum. The SSG (Sunday Songwriters Group) is currently run by a guy called Vic Lewis who is from the North of England and is also very helpful. He sets a weekly challenge. I wouldn’t bother too much with the other Songwriting forum as it’s mostly full of pretty poor lyrics with no music.
The ‘Idiots’ series of books also has a number of titles by Michael Miller which I’ve found useful too. Books on Theory, Composing, Music History, using Cubase, and so on. I’m sure that those series of books are not to everybody’s taste, but I’ve picked up plenty of useful information from the ones that I’ve read. I expect there are many similar competing titles which all have their strength and weaknesses. Miller's Theory book has proved handy, but there were odd things like listing 60 Major and minor scales without thinking to mention that you'll see (and use) a tiny fraction of those over and over again, some rarely, and some never. That sort of stuff is good for reference but can blow you away a bit if you're reading through for the first time. Sites like Amazon often allow you to browse the first few contents pages to see what you can expect to get.
Click the tiny white triangles on the right to see more pages
Good luck. Just don't try and digest too much at once, and chew slowly and you’ll be fine. And NO question is too dumb - if something is confusing, join GN and ask.
Cheers,
Chris
). On piano I think of the melody first and harmony (which many not be full chords) second. Only when playing rhythm guitar (which I admittedly do a fair bit) do I think in terms of chord progressions. Even then I try and keep the idea of the melody strongly in mind, knowing that there are multiple ways of harmonising with each note of the melody - all of which can give a different effect. some more dramatically different than others.
) something to work with - a good melody.
