It's Not Music Theory

Because on the #internet, guitar players misuse the phrase music theory all the time. Music theory is a vast topic. You can get a PhD in it. However, that’s not the same music theory guitar players are talking about when they say to learn “theory.”

The full suite of music theory topics includes things like mathematics, serial composition and set theory, musical semiotics, spectral music, tuning systems beyond equal temperament, stochastic phrases, and much more.

And guitar players aren’t saying to learn this stuff!

They are telling each other to learn the most fundamental topics. It’s like telling each other to learn arithmetic and basic algebra in the field of math, but they are saying “learn math” when that topic includes advanced calculus, differential equations, topology, etc.

The point is, you aren’t going to be doing much math. You won’t need a calculator. You won’t need a college degree. Or even a high school degree.

Music has 12 notes. We’re going to study those and how we can put them in different orders. That’s it. If you can count to 12, say your alphabet from A-G, and complete a grocery store trip with a list, you have all of the IQ needed to learn the music theory we’ll be going over.

What About (insert playing who doesn’t know theory)?

Some guitarists love to bring up well-known players that have minimal theory training such as: Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, and Eddie Van Halen.

Even if they didn’t know music theory in the formal sense, all of them put in enough time on their instruments that they developed their own vocabulary despite not supposedly learning the formal terminology. As we’ll learn, this is the important part anyways. What you call the thing after interlizing it is mostly symantics, though it does help when communicating with other musicians.

If they (or you) have that level of raw talent, luck, chops, drive, etc. then close this browse tab and enjoy the rise to stardom. Why someone would purposefully handicap themselces is beyond me.

Well if it’s that easy, why does everyone struggle so much? Learn More