What do you consider essential theory?

[JazzMelon]

I've been noodling around with my mandolin for a few months now, making nice sounds and songs, playing chords and some minor and major scales and today I'm on arpeggios. I'm wondering where this all comes together and connects. Whenever I ask google the question of essential mandolin theory all I get is books that people want me to buy and, I don't want books. Yeah They're great but, I can't take them travelling 'cause they're heavy and, they cost me money.

What do you consider essential for one trying to theoretically grasp music?

[billhay4]

It all comes together when you start improvising. Modes, arpeggios, scales, pentatonics, chords. All of it.
You'll know when it happens. Can take years, or not.... But what it does take is persistence.
Bill

[Michael Weaver]

It can be a long journey, but it's a fun one. I bought dvd's, bought books, took lessons, went to festivals, read more books, took more lessons, went to jams and played with people better than me. If you are as ate up with it as the rest of us you will do whatever it takes to capture the sound you are seeking. A lot of people give up at your stage of the game. If you love it, stay with it, but be prepared to have to read books and find other avenues for continuing education that never ends.

[JeffD]

If you have Kindle on your cell phone or iPad, you can get Music Theory for Dummies digitally. Then it is weightless and takes up no space. Though it costs fourteen bucks.

It is seriously a great guide to what you need, and you can skip stuff you don't yet need.

[Bertram Henze]

Well, why not. Let me put it diplomatic: you want a simple answer without all that hassle of research in a jungle of unneccessarily complicated notations, key signatures, garbled and inconsequent chord nomenclature? Just the simple essential answer? Here it is: 42.
Should that not help, you can always get an ebook reader and the Music Theory for Dummies ebook...

P.S. Jeff you beat me to it. Please stop reading my mind and typing faster!

[JeffJones]

Short answer: Practice, practice, practice.

Long Answer: Do you mean music theory to understand Music with a capital M, as in a general understanding of music theory applicable to any type of music? Or do you just mean, "What do I need to know to make nice music on my mandolin?"

If you just mean how to make nice music on your mandolin, then scales and arpeggios are great (as technique exercises if nothing else), chords are important, I would say learn the number system and especially how it makes clear the relationships between chords in a key that are constant across all keys, and then learn a bunch of songs. In particular, learn breaks and songs from your favorite mandolin players. The best way is to transcribe them by ear, but from TAB or music works as well. If you decide to get into more jazz oriented mandolin playing down the road then you can learn some of the more advanced scales and modes and what not, but I would keep it simple to start with.

If you are asking about improvising, I would say "Hold your horses young Padawan!"
A few months of noodling around on the mandolin is great, but getting to the point that you know the mandolin well enough to comfortably improvise usually takes people a good long while. Focus on learning songs and get used to playing with others first, then you can think about getting fancy.

If you mean Music with a capital M then a deep dive into scales and modes and chord theory would be in order, learning to read music would be important and I think anyone that wants to understand music theory would greatly benefit from some time learning to play the piano, even if you don't really want to become a piano player.

I thought about just posting "10,000 hours" and leaving it at that, but I didn't figure that would be particularly encouraging.

[Pete Martin]

Start with knowing major scales in the keys you play pieces with other folks, one octave and in 1st position. Learn the I IV and V chords and chord arpeggios for all those chords. My free PDF book "Easy Music Theory for Fiddle and Mandolin" can help to learn these.

If you are learning Jazz, get the book "Jazz Theory" by Mark Levine and go to work!!

[JeffD]

Another idea, and this might be the best for your purposes. Find a local piano teacher, through a local piano store likely, or on line. Now I am not suggesting you learn to play piano. Take your mandolin to the teacher's piano. I would bet within half a dozen weeks or so the teacher could show you and explain to you and answer enough questions that you would be good to go for a while. Then as new questions and needs arise, you could go back for another six weeks.

That way it would be tailored to your immediate needs and curiosity.

[SincereCorgi]

If you don't want books or to spend money, you're kinda screwed, unless you have a kindly buddy who's willing to give you free theory lessons. (It's not especially fun to give theory lessons.) You can read bits and pieces online, but any kind of holistic approach to theory that's going to cover more than a tiny genre is going to take an investment of time and at least a little cash. Also, it might not be the best use of your practice time right now. The theory will be more interesting and make more sense once you know a varied stock of musical material to compare against 'the rules', and you will be less inclined to use theory as a 'recipe' to make rote-sounding musical choices.

[tree]

Take a few lessons from a great teacher. Lots of 'em skype, so location isn't as much of a concern as it used to be. I think the Mike Marshall thing online would be a lot of fun.

I took a few lessons with Wayne Benson, the theory that he teaches is completely practical. What I learned from those lessons has SO enriched my musical life. At his suggestion I recorded our lessons and have them on cds and I still listen to them on my commute. And I still hear tidbits that I missed or forgot "in the moment".

[Mandoplumb]

Jeff has the right idea, music makes more sense on a piano because it is all laid in in a straight line, if you could find someone that teaches that way.also before you use all that fancy inprov take the time to learn the melody, that should be the jumping off point for all "breaks".

[JazzMelon]

"The melody" has always confused me. If you're playing someone else's song there is "the melody" but, when playing ones own sounds or improvising it's more of "a melody", i think. I know some serious ear training is in order, I'll look into this music theory for dummies too. I'd like to play the piano and would but, being a modern day hoe-boy the keys are hard to come by outside of the odd coffee shop. One day. Thanks y'all.

[JeffD]

I sat in on a jazz class at a music school once. It was over my head but I didn't know it going in.

The teacher had the students take a well known melody, something from television, or childhood, anything. Now the class was using sheet music not any particular instrument. The assignment was three fold.

Write out the melody.
Identify the chords.
Write a new melody that uses the same chords.

Now this was a jazz class, not bluegrass or improvisation skills or how to play anything in particular.

Still I thought the idea was pretty cool.

Further assignments involved adding additional chords to the melody to enhance its drama or make it more sophisticated. And then to compose another unique melody using all those chords.

I couldn't compose my way out of a wet paper bag, so I was thankful I was sitting in and not taking the class.

[JeffD]

So what was my point - well just I think essential theory would mean just enough theory to get done what you want to get done. So you have to have a specific task in front of you, like do something with these interesting chord progressions, or do something with that recognizable melody, something specific. And soon enough you will bump into the gaps in your understanding of music theory that are required to get the job done. The job is not as important as using it to identify what tools you need. Then go about getting those tools.

I know for myself I learn a whole lot more and better when I have something specific to apply it on. Its like moving to a new city. I am not one of these folks who can look at the map and get a feeling for the "lay of the land". I need to figure out specifically how to get from here to there. After doing enough here-to-there exercises, the "lay of the land" kind of puts itself together in my head.

[JazzMelon]

JeffD, I shall try this out with Ode to Joy but with my ears and strings rather then sheet.

[JeffD]

JeffD, I shall try this out with Ode to Joy but with my ears and strings rather then sheet.

That'll work!

[catmandu2]

I'd like to play the piano and would but, being a modern day hoe-boy the keys are hard to come by outside of the odd coffee shop. One day.

A $40 electronic keyboard is sufficient for theory study

I'm wondering where this all comes together and connects...

What do you consider essential for one trying to theoretically grasp music?

An evocative question. For starters, I would say: learn to sing/recognize intervals (learn to understand intervallic relationships). This is fundamental to all melodic music, (there is no theoretical understanding without this); all harmonic concepts/theoretical aspects emanate from intervallic relationship.

When you understand this, you can break anything down (all harmony breaks down to its elements--intervallic relationship)

Learn to listen, and understand what you are hearing--most fundamentally. You really needn't any books or materials, if one is resourceful..

[jmp]

What do you consider essential for one trying to theoretically grasp music?

Assuming you are talking about Western tonal music in its various popular forms I would consider the major scale, minor scale, and I, IV, V chord progression(s) as the essential starting point. Start with key of C and move up/down through the circle of fifths.

[Fretbear]

A clear grasp of what the harmonized major scale is, even in just one key (C major) Many of the other things that are commonly mentioned regarding music theory (scales, arpeggios, chords (minor and major) etc.) are implicit in it and self explanatory. Without this knowledge, easily gained in a few hours, one can wander for years in the musical wasteland looking for clues and signs that can all be boiled down in a few hours to just some extremely simple alphabetical mathematics. A handful of guitar chords can help smooth the way as well.

[farmerjones]

I totally separate chord theory from melody/scale theory. And with a solid foundation of scales, chords came relatively easy. But the lowest level I can think of is Solfege or doe-ray-me, with the Doe being the root note. If you have a handle on these intervals (as Catmandu mentioned) any tune is at your fingertips. Keep it simple with a few bread & butter keys, like G & D. If you can walk from G to G to G up and/or down the fingerboard, then you can slide into any melody/tune. This is "survival theory." The rest is what I consider descriptive theory. (music theory after the fact) Even sheet music is this. But again, bare minimum is doe-ray-me for scales/melody, and Nashville numbering (I, IV, V) for chords/harmony. If you don't know the note names or chord names around the campfire, then it's tuff to play with others. Really, that all we want to do, right?

[Mark Wilson]

What do you consider essential for one trying to theoretically grasp music?

IMO, there is one simple but powerful concept that can unlock, unravel, and eventually solve all your problems dealing with the burden of heavy books, tedious lessons and long hours of mindless practice, allowing you to become the player you desire.

And it's this: You have to want it more.

Want it so badly that "the burden of heavy books, tedious lessons and long hours of mindless practice" seem reasonable and worth it once you realize that there just aren't any shortcuts to obtaining these skills other than hard work and knowlege transfer from books or teachers.

You can be entirely self taught but it takes longer imo and the results are mixed.

[AlanN]

I, too, agree with the importance of knowing your scales. And to be correct, the solfege for major scales is Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do... (me is the minor third interval, mi is the major)

[JazzMelon]

Here's a song I wrote today I'd like to share inspired by JeffD's exercise suggestion. I didn't jazz it up 'cause I like it the way it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z48R...ature=youtu.be

[Marc Ferry]

Here's what I consider essential theory for being able to play bluegrass well both alone or with others:

• Most bluegrass songs use only the 1, 4, and 5 chords. The 1 is usually the main chord, the 4 is like a secondary chord, and the 5 creates a bit of tension and often leads back to the 1. This will help you figure out the chords to a song, which is vital.
• In any key, the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes resolve tension.
• Learn the scales of each key, especially the most common ones (G, A, C, D)
• Know that minor keys have a flatted third note.

That's just about it!

[Pasha Alden]

I have to say books, arpeggios and scales are what you need. I think as Bill remarked it comes together when you start improvising and when you learn how part of that pentatonic scale adds colour to your playing. I did just that with an arpeggio the other day to end a song. It sounded good, even if I say so myself. So just hang in there, that is if you really love it, hang in there.