well... this is embarrassing

[famous beagle]

Tom Kolb wrote a book, which I edited, called Music Theory for Guitarists, that's excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X

I cover a good deal of theory with regards to keys and modes in my book, Guitarist's Guide to Scales Over Chords, but it's a bit more geared toward guitar solos, so it may not be as useful to you.

Amazon.com: Guitarist's Guide To Scales Over Chords-The Foundation Of Melodic Guitar Soloing(Bk/Cd) (Book & CD) (9781423483212): Chad Johnson: Books

yeah beagle thanks a lot!


I'm starting to feel like I'll be able to understand this stuff thanks to all the explanations given here.
I really appreciate you guys taking the time out to type all of this stuff!

Do you all have any "full coverage" type books to recommend?

 

[Illsidgus]

Well, GazEcc laid it out clearly and simply, I could not have put it nearly as clear. So I won't even try. But you did mention that you didn't understand majors and minors. Maybe I can clear that up a bit. I am sure that as a guitar player you have no problem playing major and minor chords and knowing the difference, I am primarily a guitarist too. But here is a short explanation of the construction of major and minor chords.

I am going to approach this from the perspective of the keyboard. I think of chords differently when I am playing guitar then when I am playing the keyboard. When on the key board I think in triads. Major and minor chords are made up of a pair of thirds or a 1st, 3d, 5th tone. A major chord is a major third and a minor third and a minor chord is a minor third and a minor third. For the sake of simplicity let me use the key of C.

A C maj triad is made of these three notes: C, E, G. The major third is made up of five semitones: C, C#, D, Eb, E. The minor third is four semitones: E, F, F#, G. The C min is made up of these three notes: C, Eb, G or two minor thirds. The first minor third is made of four semitones: C, C#, D, Eb. The second minor third is four semitones: E, F, F#, G. This formula works with every key. I hope this helped you out some.

Tot Ziens

 

[famous beagle]

A C maj triad is made of these three notes: C, E, G. The major third is made up of five semitones: C, C#, D, Eb, E. The minor third is four semitones: E, F, F#, G. The C min is made up of these three notes: C, Eb, G or two minor thirds. The first minor third is made of four semitones: C, C#, D, Eb. The second minor third is four semitones: E, F, F#, G. This formula works with every key. I hope this helped you out some.

Tot Ziens

While this is partially correct, you're viewing the semi-tone thing incorrectly. When measuring semi-tones, or half steps, you don't count the starting note as 1. A half step is a measure of distance, so the "distance" from C to C is 0---not 1.

So, when you count the distance from C to C#, for instance, you don't say C is 1 half step and C# is two half steps. The distance from C to C# is only one half step. It's one fret on the guitar or one key (black or white) on the piano.

A minor 3rd is three half steps (or semitones)---not four.
A major 3rd is four half steps---not five.

So, when measuring intervals with semitones (half steps), you need to start counting from 0 on the root note---not 1.

Otherwise, if you continued all the way up, you'd end up with 13 half steps in an octave, and there are really only 12.

 

[Illsidgus]

While this is partially correct, you're viewing the semi-tone thing incorrectly. When measuring semi-tones, or half steps, you don't count the starting note as 1. A half step is a measure of distance, so the "distance" from C to C is 0---not 1.

So, when you count the distance from C to C#, for instance, you don't say C is 1 half step and C# is two half steps. The distance from C to C# is only one half step. It's one fret on the guitar or one key (black or white) on the piano.

A minor 3rd is three half steps (or semitones)---not four.
A major 3rd is four half steps---not five.

So, when measuring intervals with semitones (half steps), you need to start counting from 0 on the root note---not 1.

Otherwise, if you continued all the way up, you'd end up with 13 half steps in an octave, and there are really only 12.

You are correct, I don't know what I was thinking, I know this stuff. While at University I majored in Anthropology and minored in music. Besides that I have been a musician for 50 + years and a composer for about 35 years and I play euphonium in a local community concert band. The most recent stuff I have composed is moderately easy short guitar ensemble pieces for three guitars. One should not try to write explanations like this while on heavy pain medication. Which is not a joke, I had major back surgery and am on heavy pain medication.

My apologies for any confusion I may have caused.

 

[famous beagle]

You are correct, I don't know what I was thinking, I know this stuff. While at University I majored in Anthropology and minored in music. Besides that I have been a musician for 50 + years and a composer for about 35 years and I play euphonium in a local community concert band. The most recent stuff I have composed is moderately easy short guitar ensemble pieces for three guitars. One should not try to write explanations like this while on heavy pain medication. Which is not a joke, I had major back surgery and am on heavy pain medication.

My apologies for any confusion I may have caused.

Hope you get better soon! Back surgery is no joke. I hope it went well.

 

[SEDstar]

heres how i got started...

WIKIPEDIA

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I can dig what you mean, and where your coming from, dude... personally, I sort of "bypassed" harmonic theory, in pursuit of lots of other stuff... now, this "hole" in my study has come around to bite me on the butt, LMAO... I'm also embarrassingly unable to "modulate" from one key/chord to another *shrugs* this happened to me because I'm self taught...

WIKIPEDIA IS YOUR FRIEND in this pursuit...