Music Theory (as it relates to guitar)

Ermz

Ermz

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Apr 5, 2002
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Hey guys,

Are there any good books/videos out there to open a guitarist up to the wider world of music theory? I've always been quite lackluster in this department, as most of my time has been spent simply practicing technique, rather than expanding the musical horizons, so to speak. Would love to finally give it a shot.

Thanks.
 
Personally, i've found Jazz books helpful in learning more about theory. You're forced to digest it quickly as you spend a lot of your time learning how to improve over different keys, chord changes, etc. I got my minor in Classical Music Theory, and as it helped, Jazz seemed to help speed me along further into the theory realm. I'm probably not making sense. Oh well. I'm not a jazz lover, but I tolerate it; although, there is some good jazz out there.

Here's some books i'd recommend:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Songs-Leonard-Method-Supplement/dp/1423417771/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237901477&sr=8-8[/ame] (This isn't the same book as mine -- they don't make the one I have anymore. But a good jazz improve book that teaches you theory is good)

This book is pretty good too:
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237901882&sr=8-4[/ame]

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b[/ame]

But hey, what works for me might not work for you. My suggestion is for you to go into a music store or book store, and look through guitar theory books (if they have a good selection available), skim through them, and buy a few that make sense to you.

Good luck!
 
If you really want to challenge yourself with the theory end of things and get a completely different perspective on music in general the book The Harmonic Experience by W. A. Mathieu is very interesting. Not terribly practical though, but an entertaining read nonetheless.

Starting point - learn all the scales and all the modes backwards and forwards.
 
cyberfret.com is a great website.

In college, we used a book called Tonal Harmony. It was good for understanding a lot about theory, but did not apply to guitar.

Chord Chemistry is a great book for people looking to understand chords.

I don't have anything with me, but have all the theory books and composition books I used in college for my degree (MT and Comp) so email or PM me if you want a huge list of all of the things I had to use before
 
Honestly, you can't go wrong with "The Idiot's Guide to Theory" or "Theory for Dummies," cuz there's really nothing unique about the guitar as an instrument that requires a different approach to learning! (well, except for fret positions, but its easy enough to remember that for all but the G- and B-strings, both fingers on top of each other is a perfect 4th, a power chord is a perfect 5th, etc.)
 
Zack Uidl said:
cyberfret.com is a great website.

In college, we used a book called Tonal Harmony. It was good for understanding a lot about theory, but did not apply to guitar.

Chord Chemistry is a great book for people looking to understand chords.

I don't have anything with me, but have all the theory books and composition books I used in college for my degree (MT and Comp) so email or PM me if you want a huge list of all of the things I had to use before
Click to expand...

We used tonal harmony as well. It had it's moments of being a good book.
 
Moonlapse said:
Hey guys,

Are there any good books/videos out there to open a guitarist up to the wider world of music theory? I've always been quite lackluster in this department, as most of my time has been spent simply practicing technique, rather than expanding the musical horizons, so to speak. Would love to finally give it a shot.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

If your needing books that are great to take you through theory in general, Paul O. Harder has great books, "Basic Material in Music Theory; A Programmed Course." (Greg Steinke kind of updated the books a bit recently and their great). He also has one on Modern compositions, but some of his names are for chords really seem "antique" in a way. I'm probably used to using "jazz" terms for chords sometimes. If you can't get a hold of those, visit your local university library and go to the music section, you won't be disappointed.

While you study, apply some of the theory to your fretboard. It won't take long before you spot interval all over the fretboard. Another person stated that Jazz Theory books help too, which is I agree as well. Its hard to suggest one, since a lot of times two are three work well together and write and approach terms differently. Also, the jazz books are good for giving you an idea on soloing over different types of chords.

Also remember to be flexible with all of the "rules". It is called "Music theory", not "Music Law." Having a grasp of it has help me tons in my perception of music and writing.:headbang:
 
drunkard said:
and http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=JAZZ&Category_Code=_HANDBOOK
Click to expand...

+1 !

along with some first volumes (easier ones) of aebersold jazz standarts transcriptions and backing tracks for them. I think it`s best to develop musical (theory) thinking by playing jazz standarts, knowledge you`d get by that will be useful while playing other types of music.

Learn sound(notes) on fretboard , learn chords, learn scales etc.

And aebersold had develepod really practical and good course, i think:) if you want throw me a pm i can provide you with some backing tracks.
 
any book like this by GIT/MIT is cool (I have this one, and it's pretty handy):

http://www.guitarconnection.com/Mer...Product_Code=HL00695298&Category_Code=MIPRS01

There's one book I always use, and it's like falling apart. It's called Chords, Scales, and Arpeggios, but I don't know the author. It's basically mostly tabbed out standard stuff, but there's some theory in it, and a cycle of 5ths chart, etc.

I'd like to pickup that Guitar Grimore or whatever it's called, that huge bible looking thing. I think I avoided it in the past cause it's all real music reading type stuff, no tabs.

For some theory, I just google. "How to harmonize guitars." "Solo in the key of A," etc. sounds dumb, but some cool articles always pop up.

Theory for dummies sounds like a good buy, I'm gonna check that out.
 
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