Beginner here. I have some questions about music theory.

danieloxi49

New member
Hi. I’m learning guitar at the moment and have been playing for a little under a year now. I’ve been getting curious about theory recently, but it seems like a daunting task to learn it. So I just have a couple questions. Is music theory worth learning? Like will I survive without it? Is there a certain way I should go about learning it? If I learn music theory, is it possible I’ll forget how to think about music more abstractly? (Like not caring about keys and stuff) At the moment, all I know is that there’s root notes, and I know about fifths and triads and whatever but I don’t know what they are. Thanks in advance guys, I appreciate it. 10.0.0.0.1
 
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Easier question to ask than answer.

What are your goals on the instrument? What's your favorite music?

Hard core jazz will take boatloads of theory while most rock doesn't really need any other than
the fundamentals.

Miles Davis was still a student of music even after re-inventing jazz a couple of times!
 
I would suggest learning some of the theory of the type of music you like best.

Like, learn a song you like, then understand how it was put together and how it works.

Otherwise it's easy to get overwelmed.
 
I think the easiest way to start is play any major scale. Then look at the order of the notes. The fifth is the fifth note you play. The note under that is your octave. Now you have metal. If you want to make a major chord, first third fifth notes (though you will have to form a chord on different strings for 3rd and fifth since they are on same string). If you want to make it minor, move that third one fret toward headstock, flattening the note. Augmenting the chord would be sharpening the 5th (moving up a fret or semitone). Diminished is a flat third and fifth. Now you are metal as fuck
 
Also, I am pretty sure that music theory doesn't stifle your creativity. I think the problem is it is analytical, and most talented creative people don't have analytical minds. Analytical minds are the ones that generally learn it to a high degree, and they are uncreative, but they can tell you what others are doing. If you are already creative, there is absolutely no way that it hurts you, just lets you know why something that you are already doing sounds good, so that you can find that same pattern somewhere else. It isn't really that difficult and it also isn't really necessary to just learn songs or even write them. But if you focus on it for like 5 mins a day, then go about your business, that is probably a healthy balance. You don't have to get it all before you can jam.
 
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