Practical Music Theory

Introduction

Well, it's finally here...people have been asking for some basic theory help for a long time, and this is what I have come up with. It is very difficult to write about music theory; you start talking about one thing and you realize that you have to back up and explain another thing in order for that first thing to make sense. And so it goes until you find yourself explaining what a C note is. To be honest, I am only marginally happy with the end results here, and if you find yourself confused about some of the things you see here, please e-mail me (paul@highcountryguitar.com) and let me know where you're having trouble.

When describing music theory, I often compare it to the field of mathematics (but please don't go running and screaming just yet!). They are both very deep fields--it is possible to get a Ph.D in music theory, in much the same way that one can go on to get a Ph.D in the various branches of mathematics. HOWEVER, most of us get through life just fine without a Ph.D in math--we do just fine with the basic skills to add, subtract, multiply, and divide (OK, a little basic algebra & geometry doesn't hurt either). Music theory is the same way--you don't have to have a Ph.D in it to have a solid, general understanding of it and to gain some truly beneficial knowledge from it.

That is the goal of the "Practical Music Theory" section of this website: to show that music theory, at the basic, practical level, is not rocket science. In fact, there are very simple concepts in operation in just about all of the music we listen to and play every day. Once you have an understanding of these basic concepts, you will probably find that a lot of music has been to a great extent de-mystified.

I should also add that my "Practical Music Theory" lessons involve NO MUSIC READING WHATSOEVER. While I am a big advocate of learning to read standard musical notation in the long run, I feel that it is not an essential FIRST step in learning music. You can play a lot of music on the guitar without knowing how to read music; in fact, most (as in 90% or more) of the guitarists you hear in popular music probably DON'T know how to read music, at least not very well. What's more, I think that once you have learned a few of the basics about music--how to keep time, how to play a melody, etc.--it will be MUCH easier for you to learn how to read musical notation. It is very difficult to learn music, learn how to play the guitar, and learn how to read music, all at the same time (I think that's why so many beginners get frustrated). You are much better off breaking things down and learning them one at a time.

Below is an outline of the pages you will find in this section of HCG. If you are a complete beginner with music theory, you'll probably want to follow these more or less in order, starting in section I. If you already know a little bit of theory, you're free to skip around to the parts you're curious about. It never hurts to start at square one though--you never know when you might have a revelation. Much of the material here is guitar-specific, but I have tried to put it together in such a way that it will be useful to any musician. Click on the link to jump to a specific section. Sections will be linked as I get them finished, so if something is not linked yet, just check back in a bit...

Move on to the next section:
Theory 1a. The chromatic scale