Recommendation for a guitar/music theory book

[jschmitz54]

I’m five months into my guitar playing journey. I’ll be gone from home for a couple months which means maybe a couple FaceTime lessons with my instructor. I thought this might be a good time for theory. Are there any recommendations for a good book on the subject that might work for me? TIA.

[chippygreen]

I am working through Bruce Emery's Music Principles for the Skeptical Guitarist and find it to be easy to understand and rewarding.

[jschmitz54]

Originally Posted by chippygreen

I am working through Bruce Emery's Music Principles for the Skeptical Guitarist and find it to be easy to understand and rewarding.

Do you think that would work for a beginner like me?

[spock]

I second chippygreen's suggestion. Emery's books are excellent.

[Charlieb]

You just started playing guitar? How about this then. It's chocked full of immense value, enough to last a lifetime. Don't let the word jazz throw you off, it's all about learning the chord voicings. The theory will come...

[chippygreen]

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

Do you think that would work for a beginner like me?

Well, it works for a beginner like me

[FwL]

Music theory without experience is not very valuable. In my opinion you'd be better off taking the couple of months learning the major scale and diatonic arpeggios in every key in at least 5 positions on the fingerboard. Seven positions would be better. Better still... be able to start off your 1st, 2nd or 3rd finger on any string anywhere on the neck in all keys.

There are lots of things you could spend a couple of months woodshedding that would improve your skills and knowledge of the fingerboard.

.

[lar]

Hi Jsc...,

My suggestion: forget about 'music theory' in general (for now), and instead learn specifically about 'Music Theory for Guitarists'.

Years ago I bought a general music theory book. What a cryptic, confusing, waste of time.

Then I found other resources targeted just to guitarists, such as the Youtube link below. Much more useful. Justinguitar on Youtube may also have similar videos. And I'm sure there are others. But I really like the way Hunter MacDermut (link below) explains things in very simple terms, and very clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscri...TLvQyMlX_Wd3Iw

I find Youtube VERY helpful. You can watch the video multiple times, and if you have questions you can read the comments from other people that probably had similar questions. Finally, post a question in the comments section yourself - most of the time I get answers from the person that posted the video. Amazing!

The quest for more information continues ...I'm still learning: I will be taking Fretboard Wizzard by Tony Polecastro soon - I can't wait for the first class.

Have fun in your journey.

Lar

[ljguitar]

Hi jsc

Learning theory is not a 6 month project. Learning aspects of theory which are practical is probably more advisable. When I taught guitar (for 40 years) I taught students scales, chord & progressions, and how to transpose on the fly, inversions, and how a relative minor relates to the mother key (major key associated with it). All these are practical skills, and based on theory which they did not need to pay me (or anyone else) to learn.

And they learned those skills over months and years, not all at once, nor from a book.

If you plan to be a theory buff…my advice is to learn music theory from a keyboard basis, and then adapt it to whatever instrument you are playing.

I'm an arranger, and it often falls on me to communicate the notes for a passage to a sax player (on his/her Bb or Eb instrument), or chat with the keyboardist about the range and inversions they are playing for pads. I can speak Solfege (especially valuable with Europeans or other-than-USA musicians), Nashville Charts, Figured Bass (classical theory), notation and alpha-numeric (Solfege with numbers instead of roman Numerals and superscript).

I am a trumpet player, keyboardist, guitar player…and by far the most valuable theory lessons I took were in college in an applied theory class taught on keyboards.

It's much easier to visualize and experience theory from a keyboard perspective. Chord building is easier to envision, and scales are linear and you can see full and half steps laid out in a row.

Notes only appear one place on the staff (not so with guitar), and chord forms are easily adapted and moved up/down the keyboard.

And then later it's easier for me to adapt what I've learned to other instruments. I can speak bass guitar, and saxophone knowledgeably without knowing how to play either.

I can feed notes to the keyboard player in the band without having to write them down (I hear them and see them in my head).

Most community colleges have a basic piano course, and many offer basic theory classes to follow a semester of piano (all one needs to be conversant with the instrument). There are many ways to get where you want to go.

[Johnny K]

Originally Posted by Charlieb

You just started playing guitar? How about this then. It's chocked full of immense value, enough to last a lifetime. Don't let the word jazz throw you off, it's all about learning the chord voicings. The theory will come...

I was watching a Robben Ford video yesterday on Diminished Blues Scales, and mentioned that book as one of the ones he learned on. Ford is the master of alternate chord voicings for blues.

[Martie]

I also strongly recommend anything by Bruce Emery, as he'll teach you what you need to know and make you laugh along the way.

[iim7V7IM7]

A couple thoughts:

I recommend that you continue to work with an instructor.

Theory becomes more understandable once you begin to know a bunch of tunes. You begin to see common repeated progressions, substitutions, voice leading etc.. Chords become easy, once you understand the core tonal basis of major, minor, dominant, diminished and augmented. Learning to read music is also extremely helpful and getting your ear to recognize the sound of notes and keys is invaluable. Understanding that a guitar actually plays in both bass and treble clefs also opens up one’s thinking.

Music is a lot about creating tension, resolution, dissonance and consonance. These are “feelings”. Theory is something to review music after the fact, not during its creation.

At the beginning you need to gain facility on the instrument with your hands and ears vs. theory in my opinion. Learning tunes is an invaluable way to learn about theory in my experience. Once you have a bit of this, there are many books available to work through with an instructor. My teachers used William Leavit’s “A Modern Method for Guitar”. There are many other good ones available.

My $.02

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

I’m five months into my guitar playing journey. I’ll be gone from home for a couple months which means maybe a couple FaceTime lessons with my instructor. I thought this might be a good time for theory. Are there any recommendations for a good book on the subject that might work for me? TIA.

[brad2001]

I second ljguitars advice on learning keyboard theory. That's what put it all together for me.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by jschmitz54

I’m five months into my guitar playing journey. I’ll be gone from home for a couple months which means maybe a couple FaceTime lessons with my instructor. I thought this might be a good time for theory. Are there any recommendations for a good book on the subject that might work for me? TIA.

Will you have your guitar with you? Not much point in reading about theory if you can't play the sounds.

Having said that, I recommend this: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-.../dp/063406651X (You can find PDFs online too). I notice that now it says "with online audio", which makes it even more useful than when I bought it.