Why i hate/ don't get music theory

That’s why it’s called the blues scale.
The theory police got dem blues when they saw it.

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I deal with this the same way as everything else I don’t like: I ignore it :smiley:

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He has some interesting thoughts if you can make it through :smiley:

My post is not any help insight. Just a correlation towards the English language.
I could never understand or logically comprehend the subject of English and all the rules. Music is the same way for me. People just started mumbling and making noises. Then someone decided there were rules involved and came up all these rules that sometimes seemed to have some truth to it sometimes and what did not they made rules for that. Same thing for music and music theory and principles. Just look at all the scales. Look at india and there music theory.
And what constitutes music. Not that I know anything about this. I only understand one thing drop at 25# dumbbell on your foot it really hurts. On this planet. There’s no maybes.
After this whole speal I think like me you try to reason things out and tie it together.
When it dont. They call us mechanically inclined. :v:

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This is 100% why music theory exists - to try and reason things out and tie things together. While it’s true that what we think of as music theory is really “the theory of why things sound good for songs using the Western European 12-tone equal temperament set of tones” and is not universal, even just having a framework to use to understand that is useful.

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I agree. What little i am able to comprend I can sometime relate it to other things. As I was reading other comment. Someone said which I agree its the teaching method. I spent extra for Arnie Caps spiral music theory book
And that memorize me. And countless videos from Mark at talkbass. An Scotts SBA. They assume your at some level. Where here the lessons are broken down that is manageable.
The best teachers are not always the most knowledged.

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Josh has created a brilliant beginner course. Both Mark and Scott offer beginner courses, too, but they also offer many more intermediate and advanced courses.

Free YouTube videos are designed to appeal to and attract students from all levels. But if any of their videos seem to be too complex for a beginner, it’s because they’re meant to appeal to and attract non-beginners.

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Ow! that all hurt my brain.
All that talk about tying things together just makes me want to put on my dressing gown and grab a White Russian

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Understanding music theory does have it’s upsides for songwriting and correcting those ever so popular incorrect tabs you get on the internet. :slightly_smiling_face:

At a recent jam session we had some chords in songs that included Sus2 and Sus4 versions but nobody knew the fingering for them. Basic theory can give you the answer very quickly. Music theory can also give you ideas for alternate fingerings of chords.

As has already been said many times how in depth you want to get into music theory depends on what you want to accomplish with it. :+1:

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Don’t get discouraged if you can’t read music. Think of it like this. Plumbers go thru 4-6 years of education to get their journeyman license. They don’t need that license to change a faucet washer, but they know how to plumb a new construction building right? Same with electricians, it’s what they know how to do versus what they actually do that you’re paying for. Glen Campbell, one of the most accomplished guitarists anywhere in the world, didn’t know how to read music! How could he of been one of the wrecking crew studio musicians and not be able to read music? Because he knew how to work around it. Glen was so good when Jimmy Webb was writing Wichita Lineman, Glen came over to his house and Jimmy sat down at the piano and started playing what he had worked up so far. Glen watched Jimmy’s hand on the keys and started playing harmony on the guitar along with Jimmy, the very first time he heard the song. Jimmy was astounded at his talent and they went on to have great success together. Please don’t let the lack of reading music stop you. You can still be a great player and have loads of fun.

I love this book too. It is always next to me. And I do understand it, it’s clear, I also got Ariane’s theory book , but it’s little to much for me, at a time.

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I just happened to be reading it again last night while i was flying back home :slight_smile: It doesn’t work on my kindle reader so i had to get out my tablet… tough times. I’ve gone back to Ari’s stuff several times and still not my thing.

Another book i’ve been enjoying lately (as much as i enjoy theory) is “The Ultimate Bass Chords & Arpeggios Book”

https://www.amazon.ca/Ultimate-Bass-Chords-Arpeggios-Book/dp/B09NRG8CWQ

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It can be confusing, but the naming conventions in music theory are meant to describe different contexts. A diminished 2nd and a unison both involve the same intervallic distance in terms of pitch, but their names reflect their role in different harmonic or melodic settings. It’s more about context than changing the actual distance.

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Very loose tangent to the “don’t get”, but do you ever see a chord and think it’s going to be a complete disaster and then have it surprise you by sounding great? I just had that with F7/G. Sounds great, especially arpeggiated. Looks like a disaster.

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“Never judge a book by its cover” kind a thing, I guess!?! :wink:

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@joergkutter This is an amazing explanation!

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@sshoihet how are you liking the 300 progressive sight reading book?

Thanks, man! Glad it helped a bit :smile:

Excellent illustration of what I mean when I say Theory is much more visibly easy to learn with keyboards. Everything in this video applies to bass equally as to guitar.

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I’d argue almost all of the advantages to learning keyboard apply to standard notation relative to tab as well.

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