Originally posted by Prophetix
I have reached a level in guitars were my technical ability surpasses my knowledge in musical theory.. I find myself repatetively playing simple major and minor scales over and over. Then I hear about this musical theory thing, how can i learn more about it and master it? Perhaps a book? or an infamatory website?
I would say 1 step at the time. Some might recomend a book, some might recomend online resources, some might recomend private instruction.I recomend that whatever it is you decide to do to learn, do it 1 step at the time. Take your sweet fucking time, otherwise more complicated things will be harder for you to understand.
Im still studing intervals and how do they form harmonies myself, because there are just so much fucking sounds i can use when i follow the rules and when i break the on prupose. I didnt knew anything about church modes, ANYTHING at all, i just knew they existed and i accidentally ended up using them...a lot. Why? becasuse i say to myself "Well, c mayor uses a B and it sounds fucking happy, C mayor Bebop uses both a B and a Bb and its cool both sounds too fucking weird sometimes ( i was having trouble to write sentimental parts on that scale ) so i said fuck it im just playing C mayor with Bb and that is that".
It was until monhts later that i discovered i wasnt braking any rule at all, i was just playing mixolydian. Now im thinking about learning modes, but honestly im not shure yet cause i feel i can find a better use for them if i discover them myself.
See the great thing about this is that for example, when i solo i can start with C mixolydian, then i can make a chromatic change by using the C Bebop scale wich happens to have a flat Bb until i reach D minor without using the 7th and the 8th notes. And if im doing D i might as well do the 7th and the 8th playing either harmonic or natural D minor depending on the chord progression im using on the song. And if you are in D minor you might as well jump straight into A minor, wich is the same as C mayor so i can jump to C mayor or C mixolydian and so forth. As you see this are like what 5 or 6 scales all connected with each other that can work with C mayor and F mayor. I probably have enough melodic material to do a full lenght cd using all this over mayor minor mayor 7ths minor 7th dominant 7ths 9ths 11ths 6ths etc etc etc.
And im a music theory newbie and the little crap i know still brigns up new things to do almost each time i touch a guitar. This is what i tell you when i say take your sweet fucking time with it.
