Home Guitar Music Theory

"Guitar Music Theory: Understanding Music Theory For Guitar"

Follow

Share

Is guitar music theory really necessary to play guitar like the pros? Well, not ultimately. But it will dramatically increase your understanding of music, how it's made, and why.

Guitar music theory -- What is music theory anyway?

Nathan McDonald, your teacher and
Lead guitarist of Halo Stereo

Music theory is the science of music. It describes a set of "laws" by which the universe of music operates. Just like the laws of our physical universe, they work together to help the big picture make sense. Every piece fits together perfectly and creates harmony.

But even though music theory describes how music works, the laws of this kind of theory are more flexible than real physical laws -- these can be broken...

So if all the rules of music can be broken, why learn theory in the first place?

Learning guitar music theory has many benefits. It increases your understanding of music on the whole, helping you create whatever sound you want with less hassle.

Musicians break the rules of music theory all the time. That's part of evolving and creating new music. But at the same time, it's hard to break the rules of theory. Theory nearly describes everything that happens in music.

For example, did you know that you can randomly press your fingers onto the fretboard and name it as a real chord using guitar music theory? It doesn't matter how weird or unconventional your made up chord is, it can be named.

Music theory is there in the background whether we learn about it or not, just like other laws of the world in which we live. Acknowledging only helps us interact with them more congruently.

Music theory lessons:

#	Lesson Name	Category	Description
1	Guitar String Names	Open String Notes	Every guitarist should know the open string names. It makes learning to read music notes easier.
2	How To Read Guitar Notes	Reading Guitar Notes	Learn how to read real music notes on your guitar so you can understand music theory and master your fretboard.
3	Musical Note Values	Rhythm and Timing	Musical note values are an integral part of learning rhythm and timing. Memorize this note value chart so you can read notes more effectively.
4	Learning The Guitar Fretboard	Fretboard Notes	Learn songs in half the time, memorization becomes easier, and no more hunting and pecking for notes on the fretboard!

Easy guitar theory -- From the ground up

So where should we start learning all this music theory? From the easy part, the beginning...

Learning a few fundamentals first will make learning your guitar music theory that much easier. Everything builds on itself. As you learn more theory, it builds on everything before it. Your only choice is to start at the beginning.

Beginner guitar theory -- First things first

Learn to read music notes: Beginners learning music theory should learn to read real music notes. We guitar players often rely on reading tablature and forego learning real music notation. It's fine to read tabs when learning songs, solos, and whatever else, but learning real notes is a fundamental part of learning music theory. So do that first!

Yeah, I know. Sometimes you just want to jump in and start playing some tablature. But learning your guitar notes is the ground that all your music theory will be built upon. Once you learn your notes, you can start learning music theory, whether you learn it very deeply, or just get a surface level knowledge.

Guitar chord theory -- How chords are made

One of the most useful functions of learning music theory for guitar will be your increased understanding of chords -- how they are made and some contexts in which they are used.

We will discover the structure of how guitar chords are built using intervals, which we will derive from degrees of the major scale.

When we learn how chords are used in the context of a song, it makes learning songs by ear tons easier. We will learn what chords "should" be used in a song based on its key signature.

Are you a Guitar Guru?

To Top Of Page