How to study guitar music theory

http://www.secretguitarteacher.com

Pyramid of Music Theory

When you first tackle a subject as big as music theory you can quickly become overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of it.

As someone new to the subject you have two main problems.

Firstly, it's impossible to tell the difference between the details that are absolutely essential to an understanding of the subject and those details that are really only incidental or perhaps apply only to specialist areas of the subject.

Secondly, it's really difficult to figure out what order to learn things in.

To solve these problems and to help give you as smooth a ride through the subject as possible we have devised a method of presenting the subject of Music Theory in a logical format that acts as a step by step guide from start to finish. I call this the Pyramid of Guitar Music Theory.

This pyramid includes only two types of items:

Firstly: Those things that you need to know to make learning to play guitar at advanced level a quicker and easier process.

Secondly it includes some items you may not immediately find a direct use for, but that must be learned in order better to understand the subjects higher on the pyramid.

Lets look at it a bit closer from the bottom up:

The first two levels have appeared already at various stages on our beginners and intermediate courses -- they are the two minimum pieces of knowledge required to be able to name any note anywhere on the fretboard.

Building on this knowledge and ability, the next two steps teach you how to find any Major scale on the fretboard. Whether horizontally...on one string ...
...or vertically in one position, or any combination of the two.

The Major scale is the single most important element in music theory, so the more comprehensive your ability to work with it the better.
Once you are familiar with this level of understanding things begin to get a lot more interesting...

The next step is one of those you can get by without, but actually, once learnt it will greatly help improve your progress in the higher regions of the pyramid -- this is standard notation..

We know that the vast majority of guitar players are never going to have to sight read standard notation, but we also know that it is a great advantage to at least have grasped the basics, and with our lessons we promise you will find this easy and fun!
At the next level we take all the mystery out of key signatures - all those sharps and flats that that you find littering chord symbols ...
...will start to make more sense and you'll begin to get a real insight into what it means when we say a particular tune is in a certain major or minor key.

At the next stage, we really get to look at the nuts and bolts of how chords are created -- soon you'll never need to look at another chord chart book- you'll have the understanding necessary to create your own chords out of thin air -- anywhere on the fretboard, in any key!

The relationship between scales and chords.

How to write really effective chord sequences for your own songs.

Work out a chord sequence just by listening to a record -- an essential skill if you want to join a band!

Then Understanding the structure of Minor scales will help expand your options when improvising and or composing.

Pentatonic scale theory will help you understand how all those great Blues and Rock n Roll licks and riffs actually work.

With that knowledge -- you'll be able to come up with all sorts of interesting variations on time-honoured clichés of rock music.

Finally, the top two steps are really the backbone of Jazz Improvising knowledge, but an understanding of more exotic chords and modes is also great for adding extra creative potential to Rock, Blues and Country style guitar too.

Have fun climbing the pyramid!

Category:

Music

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[bvhvr]

You are one of the best guitar teachers I have seen online. Thank you so much for posting this video. I greatly appreciate your work in making the video.

[SecretGuitarTeacher]

@bvhvr Thanks for your kind comment. Your appreciation is most welcome :-)

[theblame01]

Straight foreword and to the point, thanks for the lesson.

[meherdad]

You Sir are the very kind of Teacher I was looking for.

Finally someone who actually teaches Guitar the way it's meant to be learn't and not by looking at tabs and playing some songs that have been played.

Learning theory the way you're teaching, I feel is the only way to improvisation heaven.

I'm purchasing the premium package on your website.

You Rock, Sir.

[Gravyballs2011]

This gentleman puts me at ease. When you are relaxed you are able to give a stronger focus to your learning. Thank you sir for putting things into a better context than what I normally find on the printed page of a guitar manual.

[donottawaguitar]

cool thankyou i just hope i retained a tid bit or two

[ajb8593]

THank you for this awesome video! it answered some questions i had and got me more interested in the music theory ive been tryin to learn! awesome video

[TheGta4you]

just watched "Barre chords part 2"

and now i'm here for some more theory

Thank you !!!

keep the goood work UP

helpful stuff you got here !!

[UsingThe3rdEye]

I've been playing guitar off & on, rather non-seriously at the start, for a few years now, & I am always anxious & excited to play. There are so many interesting possibilities to explore, but I have always felt that tackling music theory would be very daunting, so I have shied away from that aspect. I've come to realize, however, that the only way I feel like I can realize what I am after is if I take that climb up the pyramid. This video has really inspired me to pursue music theory. Thank you

[Endureth]

Thanks for this.