Shout-out for Duke Sharp's Garageband Theory book

[Tim Logan]

I have always struggled with music theory. My struggle has turned to an eager road
to understanding thanks to Duke Sharp's pedagogical talent. His book takes theory from "theory" to practical usage and learning by ear. Mr. Sharp, in my opinion, truly gets the various ways students learn. This book is great contribution to the musical world.

https://books.google.com/books/about...kp_read_button

[Mark Gunter]

Seems he does have quite a talent for pedagogy. A bit long-winded, but very thorough and very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[EdHanrahan]

I have always struggled with music theory...

Alternative to struggle? AVOID, which I did for 40 years! Then I spent the last decade kicking myself after a major injury gave me time to absorb "Music Theory for Dummies". The funny thing was that not so much was really new but, instead, all those disparate little details finally became connected.

While there are lots of competing theory books out there, this one just might be my next. Note that the print version, while more expensive than many, is available for quite a bit less than the stated $50 price, plus there are bargains on electronic access that include the author's 5 CDs. Add in the endorsement by Rodney Crowell and, hey, there ya go!

[Duke Sharp]

Thank you Tim, that's high praise! Very glad to hear you're enjoying it, and I very much appreciate you taking the time to say it in this forum!

My name is on the cover but I got loads of help from friends who are teachers and pro players - I learned tons during the process.

Have you found the YouTube channel? Every tune that's mentioned or used as an example, there's a lot of great music here: https://www.youtube.com/user/GarageBandTheory

Thanks again!
Duke

[Duke Sharp]

Hey Mark,

"A bit long-winded" yep - sometimes I don't know when to shut up

Thanks for wading into it - there really is a lot of useful stuff mixed in with the BS.

And here's some more! YouTube channel has upwards of 400 tunes: https://www.youtube.com/user/GarageBandTheory

Duke

[Duke Sharp]

Hey Ed -
"AVOID, which I did for 40 years!" Me too! Then I started teaching and had to try to discuss what we were trying to do, realized that a certain amount of vocabulary is required. Started off making handouts for the most common questions - "Read this, we'll talk about it next week" - and after a couple years realized I had the foundation for a book.

The GBT Big Bundle you mentioned is available here, has ePub, mobi (for Kindle readers) PDF for easy printing, plus the music.
https://garagebandtheory.com/buy-now-updated/

I appreciate you mentioning that Amazon usually has the print edition down to about $36. When it was finally done I asked a handful of small publishers about pricing, and after looking it over, three of them said $50. I said "OK" And if you're interested in the print edition, send a note to me at ds@garagebandtheory.com - can get a better discount than Amazon.

Impossible to articulate the sensation of seeing some of my life long musical heroes endorse the book - a good friend worked in the Nashville music biz most of her life, she got copies to Rodney Crowell, Sam Bush and Billy Payne - that they even agreed to look it over boggled my mind, but when they responded - I thought maybe I'd died and gone to heaven!

Thanks again!
Duke

[Round2]

Well now. I began my forum reading this morning with "About tab and SN" or "About SN and tab," whichever is the proper title and thought again about how my weakest link is theory. Discovering this post and thread feels like a little nudge from God that this book should be on my shelf (or in my Kindle).

Sometimes things just align themselves that way, you know?

[NDO]

Another shout out for this. I contacted Duke and he was super nice to deal with on a multi-copy purchase. I’ve started working through the book and the first few chapters have been a great refresher and I’ve had a few major “aha!” moments already. I can tell this is going to help me a lot in my transition from harmonica to strings (as well as help me understand why some of my harp stuff works the way it does).

[Sue Rieter]

Well now. I began my forum reading this morning with "About tab and SN" or "About SN and tab," whichever is the proper title and thought again about how my weakest link is theory. Discovering this post and thread feels like a little nudge from God that this book should be on my shelf (or in my Kindle).

Sometimes things just align themselves that way, you know?

Hey Sheila, I also emailed Duke and he gave me a great deal on a hard/soft copy combo. (Sometimes I don't like to be looking at computers, but printing stuff out for the music stand seems to be a good idea). I downloaded everything last night and will get going on it again today. I was happy to give the business to him directly vs. the big south american river.

[Sue Rieter]

Its here! My hard copy Garage Band Theory came in yesterday! It took awhile to arrive, because it's print on demand; that's okay, though because I had the pdf.

The book is giant. I spent a fair amount of the evening flipping through and reading. One of the things I like about having the book in hand, is that one can peruse it more holistically; a pdf to me is very linear and doesn't work as well for the way I think and learn. I'd looked at the Table of Contents, read the first couple chapters, and done some paging through, but I didn't fully appreciate the goldmine it is until I had the book in my hands. The amount of content included is amazing and the way it is presented is practical and fun and looks thorough. There's even a little mandola in there

Flipping through, I see alot of topics that I'd like a better understanding of, and lots of fun looking exercises for everything. I think I'll be working with (playing with) this book for a long time. It looks useful.

[Tim Logan]

Sue - if you get hooked, you might try Magnus Zetterlund's six week Fretboard Success class next time he offers it. It is incredibly worthwhile. (and I haven't forgotten your email LOL)