Who Needs Music Theory

If you were paying attention to that title, you might wonder why there's no question mark at the end.  As in "Who needs music theory?".  Imagine someone saying that in a slightly sarcastic tone.  As if to say that music theory is not necessary for anyone.

Well, sorry to disappoint, that's not the point that I'm making.  Quite the contrary.  But don't sign me up for the music program just yet.  This is not going to be an advertisement for music theory education either.  It's simply a pragmatic look at who actually needs to know music theory, and why.

In my opinion of course.....

Who then?

So if I'm not making a snarky point about nobody needing to know music theory, what exactly am I saying?  Simply that certain guitar players absolutely need to know music theory, but not every guitar player falls in to that category.

Session guitarists, hired guns, people that play in bands that use charts, and anyone that plays in groups that they don't control will need to know music theory. Nobody wants to hire a guitarist for their project who won't know the language, assuming that the group doing the hiring speaks fluent Music-ese.  For everyone else, it has more to do with what you want to play and what your personal goals are.

The Bare Essentials

I was very fortunate to grow up in a musical family, with a mom who taught music, and was surrounded by relatives on both sides that sang 4 part harmony perfectly.  I took several years of piano lessons as a child, and this, combined with the music classes at my elementary school, taught me some fundamental concepts that are very valuable to me today.

While I won't say that everyone should learn these things, I do feel pretty strongly that it will be hard to participate with others in music without them.  What are these bare essentials?

Major scale, minor scale, note names, sharps, flats, tempo, time-signature and chords are all terms I think are important to understand.  There may be others, but those are the big ones. 

Of course, you might wonder why I don't talk about those things much in my lessons.  That's simple.  I'm not teaching you music theory (yet), I'm teaching you how to play guitar.  There's a big difference.

What's is music theory?

Music theory exists as it's own thing, independent of audible music, or any instrument.  What does that mean?  It means that most of it could be taught without ever playing a note.  It would be difficult, but it could be done.

This is critically important. Music can only be recorded, but music theory can be written down.  Not simply compositions, staffs, measures and all that, but I'm talking about the actual mathematical definitions of octaves, half-steps, frequency of middle C,  etc...

If there was no music theory, the existence of music would depend entirely on our ability to perform it and teach it to future generations.  Like traditional stories told from one generation to the next, the accuracy of our music, and the integrity of the original source would be diluted by the human factor.

But since musical concepts can be expressed mathematically, and compositions can be represented graphically, it means that once written, it is not subject to interpretation.  A "C" on a composition can not be debated.  The composer meant it to be a "C", not an "A".  You can play an "A" if you wish, but you'll be doing it differently than it was intended.

That's the beauty of music theory, and written music.  It allows us to play something today exactly as Beethoven or Bach intended it to be played. 

The Missing Link

But even though music and music theory can be written down, there is still a need for people to be able to comprehend what's been written.  Imagine all of our textbooks with all our written knowledge in the hands of a society in the future who can't read.  They'd probably use our physics textbooks as fuel for their fires.

Likewise, there is great importance in teaching the understanding of the laws of music, and the skills necessary to take what's been written on a composer's page, and bring life to it through an instrument

So music theory, and the people that know it, teach it and love it are very important to the preservation and reproducibility of music.

But...

....(long pause).......none of that is required for someone to sit down, pick out some notes that sound good to them on guitar, and then teach someone else how to do that.  None of it.  You may not know a sharp from a scale, or an octave from a triad, and modes might just be something you know that your camcorder has two of, but there's nothing stopping you from picking up the guitar, finding two notes that sound good together, then finding two more, then two more and before you know it you've got yourself a melody.

You didn't need to take a class, you didn't need any diagrams, and you certainly didn't need a degree.  It might have taken you a week just to find that first two-note chord, but you did it.

If you wanted to teach that song to your son, you'd show him how to play it exactly the way you did.  You'd find your own points of reference, "look for the first dot", "one string up and down two frets".  It wouldn't be "correct" but it would be effective.

For the task of teaching someone how to play those simple two note chords, your method would be as efficient as anything written in a book.  And probably a heck of a lot faster.

And...

....(another long pause).....to someone who only cared about playing those simple chords, your explanation would make them a lot happier and save them a lot of time over the alternative.  Had this person heard your melody and went to learn it out of a book, who knows how many chapters they'd have to read before they found something that taught them something resembling the exact, simple chord progression you made up.

And what if you were using something that violated the best practices of chord progressions, but still tickled your ear and theirs?  Someone trying to learn how to reproduce it from a book might not ever find it because up to a certain level, books teach you what 'works', what's 'safe'.

And the worst part of all of this? All they wanted to do is play those simple chords.  You could taught them how in 5 minutes, but instead they spent months learning all kinds of stuff they don't care about, still not being able to do what they set out to do.

They needed someone to teach them how to play guitar, not teach them music theory.  And now, they've lost interest, thinking that they'll never be able to play what they wanted.

The confusion of study and play

Is my little story exaggerated? Absolutely. And not really.  To some degree, most guitar players do learn some things by ear, even if they study the books.  But I know as a fact that a lot of players gave up trying to learn the particular style of playing I teach here because they didn't have the time to teach themselves, and could not find lessons that would teach them what they wanted to play, without trying to teach them the fundamentals of music first. They want to play, and they're forced to study.

Your Scale Is Great, You Can Keep It

Let me step back right here and describe what happened when I started learning how to play guitar.  As I studied Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and others, my knowledge of the major scale was helpful.  Knowing sharps, flats, and some chord theory was useful.

But what's funny is that I could barely stomach what passes for blues theory.  When I first heard the term pentatonic scale, and heard it played, my reaction was something akin to "that's great....can I get back to learning songs now?".

Why would someone who already knew the fundamentals of music be so dismissive of blues fundamentals? Because I recognized the sound of the pentatonic scale as blues, but I knew immediately that the licks I wanted to learn sounded nothing like a scale being played.  So I spent no time learning the same tired-out blues concepts that most people are taught and went straight for the jugular.  I spent hours breaking down licks that blew my mind.  I cared not whether they used any scale, or if any book would call them correct.

All I knew was that I had to play this way if it was the last thing I ever did.

What's important to you?

I don't share that piece about myself as an example of something you should do.  I share it because what I did was exactly what I wanted to do.  I wanted to learn songs, so I learned songs.  I wanted to break down fast licks, so I did it. 

But equally important is the fact that I cared very little about being able to read sheet music, play jazz, create compositions, play chords like Eric Johnson, or shred like Steve Vai , so I spent no time doing those things.  I did the only thing that was necessary to connect me from point A to point B.  And I had a lot of fun along the way.  I have zero excess knowledge and spent almost no time learning anything that didn't directly contribute to my specific goals.

Consequences

As a result of my direct flight from A to B, I find myself in an interesting place. I can play the heck out of my guitar in the exact style that I love, but I can't play any other style of music outside of blues or rock with any amount of authority.  I couldn't sit in with a jazz trio and follow a chord chart, and I'm dumbfounded by classical guitarists.  Fusion guitarists make me cry.

Some people read that and think "What a shame...".  To that reaction I'd have to ask "Why?"  I can play guitar the exact way I want to play, and I love every minute of it.  I have very little desire to do anything else besides what I love and can already do.

And this takes me to my closing points...

Where Are You Going?

I knew where I was going, do you?  I knew I wanted to play this style so I did what I needed to do.  That didn't require me to know much theory beyond what I already knew.  Your path may be different.

The amount of theory you should know is dictated by what you want to do with music.

Insufficient knowledge of music theory may keep you from things you love, but excess music theory may keep you from learning what you want.  What a weird paradox.  The point is not to learn nothing or everything, the point is to learn the right amount.

But for the love of all things musical, don't waste time learning stuff you don't care about and aren't interested in because you think you have to do that before you sit down and pick out a simple melody on guitar.  You've got your ears, your hands, and a guitar.  There's not much else you need.

If you've read this far... I commend you. And you are welcomed to comment. Keep it objective, clean, and most of all, polite :-)

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