Is there a "best way" to start learning theory.

[Telewanger]

Hey Guys!

Some of you have seen some of my posts and some have not:

I have played for years, but know very little about theory. I have played in bands and have learned many songs, but never took the time or effort to learn what I was actually doing. Most everyone that I have ever played with were self taught and didn't know any theory, but I am just tired of not knowing anything.

My only theory has been, if I hit a bad note, move up or back a fret and I will be in key. It has worked for many years, but now I have more time to really learn.

When I go online and "Google" music theory, there is a ton of stuff that starts popping up and I don't know exactly where to start.

If someone has been playing for a while, do you start at the same place as a beginner? Is there a better place for me to start, so that I won't get too burned out and just quit? I hate to go back to playing Jingle Bells, if you know what I mean. A lot of times I will come up with a guitar run or lick and just have no idea what to call it. I just call it the Van Halen sounding thing, or the Pink Floyd sounding thing.

Any Suggestions?

Here is an example of the level of playing that I am at right now, if it helps any!

I don't have a clue what the scales or runs are called. If sounds "in key", I just go with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_98MS9IpDZc

[Eric]

Any Suggestions?
Roberto will probably have some suggestions, but for my money, I'd start with the major scale. Just google for a C major scale, see how it looks on the fretboard, figure out what chords you can make from it, and then maybe read up on modes or something.

Stuff started to make sense to me when I learned more about the major scale, since it seems like everything is an offshoot of it. I'll be curious to see what others say.

[piebaldpython]

Depends on what kind of music you play.....but I think the majority of rockers start out with a minor pentatonic scale. 5 positions that cover 12 frets. Major scale comes later and in the same manner, 5 positions/12 frets. Now, if you're a country or pop music guy......then maybe you hit the major scale first??

Tele....I've seen a couple of your youtube vids and you can really play....so maybe you just need a book/reference to get you onto the dance floor, so to speak.

I'd recomment the BLUES YOU CAN USE series by John Ganapes. He has a chord book out too and that explains a lot of theory without making your eyes glaze over

[Robert]

I recommend you get this book:

http://www.edly.com/mtfpp.html

I have it, and it is well written, and funny too. I believe it is a good idea to have a good book for theory. Learning from a variety of websites could be confusing, because the theoretical concepts may be explained in different ways.

This is a book I know of and like, but there are other good ones too. Check Amazon. It is not rocket science, it is just music theory, and it doesn't mean you have to go back and play jingle bells just to understand theory.

If you do get a book and some concepts don't make sense, come back here and ask away.

If you absolutely don't want to spend any coin, have a look at this great website - http://www.musictheory.net/ but I do find a good theory book quite invaluable as you learn theory. This website may be more of a helper/companion, since the explanations may not be comprehensive enough.

[Telewanger]

Thanks for your comments so far! I have got a lot of work to do, but at least now I know where to start.

[sunvalleylaw]

I was a newbie a coupla years back and started from scratch. I have learned a bit about theory, but haven't retained it all. I used a book that is pretty good too, and through lessons have tried to learn how to use it. I started mostly with the minor pentatonic, then expansions of that scale, then adding chord tones, then learning how to play a minor pentatonic with roots on the A string. I have learned and forgotten the major scale a couple of times, as I keep reverting back to minor pentatonic. I hope to crawl over some more theory hurdles this year.

You might also check Mark Wein's site and book. http://markweinguitarlessons.com/ He has a fundamentals book that goes through theory in an understandable way, and lessons to go with it online at his site. Since you have played so long, you might find some stuff kind of basic, but when he gets into the theory fundamentals, it is a very logical approach to those fundamentals. I would be even an accomplished guitarist that wanted to learn or brush up on theory would find it useful.

[evenkeel]

My knowledge is pretty much like Telewranglers. My guitar playing is mostly of the put your fingers on "X" frets to make "Y" kind of noise. I've played some songs for years and not known exactly what some of the chords are. "is that a sus4 or a sus2"?? :thwap

"Theory for the Contemporary Guitarist" by Guy Capauzzo was suggested to me and it is a very straight forward, easy to understand approach.

[Allen55]

Learning where all the notes are on the fretboard, and how to play a C major scale are good starts.

[jpfeifer]

Telewanger,

Great playing in the video that you posted. I like the tone, it sounds sort of Eric Johnson like.

From what I see in your video, you're already doing some pretty cool stuff, but you're probably wanting to know some theory so that you can better understand why certain things that you do, sound cool. This is how I got started in the whole thing too. Sometimes I would know a lick for a long while before I understood the theory behind it, and why it sounded good.

My suggestion would be to start with the major scale first. Here is are the basic "bread crumbs", if you want to think of it that way, that will started down this path of learning theory ...

- learn the major scale and how this maps onto the guitar (if you're not already familiar with it)
- learn the various scale degrees and what they're called (i.e. root, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, etc)
- learn the intervals and how they sound (i.e. play the root note and one other scale tone together to get famililar with how they sound).
- learn how the major scale is harmonized by stacking 3rds, and the series of chords that comes out of this (this is the basis for so much music that you hear. Learning this really helped me to understand how songs were put together. It also helps you understand which chords go together inside of a given key, etc)

- Learn the natural minor scale (it's actually the same as the Major scale just changing your point of reference, starting on a different note in the scale and calling that the root)
- Learn the series of chords that comes from harmonizing the natural Minor scale. (it's the same series of chords as the Major scale, but you're point of reference is different)

This is a basic start, but it will help you to get into the concepts of understanding how music is structured. There are tons of different areas to expand into if you're interested. Just take it in small steps and learn a little each day over a period of time.

At this point, you could begin to learn the modes of the major scale. I tend to think that people over-complicate the concept of modes. It's really just understanding how these notes of the major scale can be applied by changing your reference point. Each mode is just using the same notes but calling some degree of the major scale the root note of the scale instead of the default "root" note of the major scale. For example, the Dorian mode is just a Major scale where you call the 2nd degree of the scale, the root note. When you do this, you highlight various intervals which makes them useful for playing over various types of chords to bring out the intervals you want. (e.g. using the Dorian mode works well for bringing out minor7 sounds, etc) For example, if you play a G major scale, this could also be called an A Dorian mode. The A Dorian mode sounds great over Aminor chords, (A minor7, etc).

If all of this doesn't make sense, don't sweat it. Just take a little at a time, and start off by first understanding the major scale, then go from there.

I hope this helps, --Jim