So, I've been on this forum for a while trying to add as much meaningful information as I can in regards to clarifying how music works, only to notice a peculiar resistance to some of it.
Over time it has occurred to me that just using the term "Music Theory" alone can be a major deterrent for a lot people joining in on the pursuit of increasing their musical knowledge.
You see, I truly believe many of these people misunderstand what learning "Music Theory" actually means.
That's why, if I had my way, I'd get rid of the term "Music Theory" altogether and replace it with "Music Knowledge", because most of what people are trying to do is to "understand it" so they can freely "create it". But then they get stuck on the "complexity of it" and decide that they don't want to do “it” (i.e. Music Theory) anymore.
Here's the thing: "Music Theory" is really just "Music Knowledge" and you can learn as much or as little as you need to keep you interested.
For instance, just learning how to tune your guitar is part of Music Theory, but it's not really a "theory" to tune your guitar, is it? It's more of a process to set your instrument up to get it ready to play, right?
So, in that sense, everything a person learns about how to play music is considered to be "Music Theory" whether any "theory" is involved or not.
In other words, most of the stuff we learn about music involving numbers, letters, symbols and words are just "linguistics" for the language of music, with the "theory" defining those symbols. So when someone says "Play an E♭m chord", before you can do it you first have to know what that phrase means...
"E" is something we call the "root" of the chord. "♭" means "flat", so the "E" is moved down a "half-step" below "E Natural" to become "E♭". "m" means "minor", which refers to a "minor 3rd" in relation to "E♭". And of course "chord" means "chord", right?
Well, unfortunately if you don't know what a "chord" is, then it's certainly not going to be easy to understand that phrase.
In fact, there are several things that need to be explained if a person were to ever understand that phrase, like "root", "half-step", "natural" and "minor 3rd".
All of this is taught under the umbrella term "Music Theory", which, as far as I'm concerned, is exactly the same as my preferred term of "Music Knowledge".
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“Music Knowledge” should be the all encompassing title of the subject with “Categories of Various Symbols, Definitions, Structures and Theories” listed below it.
Yet, the fact of the matter is the term “Music Theory” is entrenched in our lexicon and is probably not going anywhere anytime soon.
So, if you already know how to tune your guitar and play a chord, then you already know some “Music Theory”. In that case (assuming you continue the arduous journey of gaining musical knowledge), then the question is no longer "Should I learn Music Theory" but, rather, "How Much Music Theory Should I Learn"?
Or better yet:
"How Much 'Music Knowledge' Do I Really Need to Get Me to Where I Want to Be"?
Anyway, if you want to learn more, I've provided a link below to an article I created which describes the basics of what is often referred to as "Music Theory" (although you can call it "Music Knowledge" if you wish)
:
www.strat-talk.com
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Over time it has occurred to me that just using the term "Music Theory" alone can be a major deterrent for a lot people joining in on the pursuit of increasing their musical knowledge.
You see, I truly believe many of these people misunderstand what learning "Music Theory" actually means.
That's why, if I had my way, I'd get rid of the term "Music Theory" altogether and replace it with "Music Knowledge", because most of what people are trying to do is to "understand it" so they can freely "create it". But then they get stuck on the "complexity of it" and decide that they don't want to do “it” (i.e. Music Theory) anymore.
Here's the thing: "Music Theory" is really just "Music Knowledge" and you can learn as much or as little as you need to keep you interested.
For instance, just learning how to tune your guitar is part of Music Theory, but it's not really a "theory" to tune your guitar, is it? It's more of a process to set your instrument up to get it ready to play, right?
So, in that sense, everything a person learns about how to play music is considered to be "Music Theory" whether any "theory" is involved or not.
In other words, most of the stuff we learn about music involving numbers, letters, symbols and words are just "linguistics" for the language of music, with the "theory" defining those symbols. So when someone says "Play an E♭m chord", before you can do it you first have to know what that phrase means...
"E" is something we call the "root" of the chord. "♭" means "flat", so the "E" is moved down a "half-step" below "E Natural" to become "E♭". "m" means "minor", which refers to a "minor 3rd" in relation to "E♭". And of course "chord" means "chord", right?
Well, unfortunately if you don't know what a "chord" is, then it's certainly not going to be easy to understand that phrase.
In fact, there are several things that need to be explained if a person were to ever understand that phrase, like "root", "half-step", "natural" and "minor 3rd".
All of this is taught under the umbrella term "Music Theory", which, as far as I'm concerned, is exactly the same as my preferred term of "Music Knowledge".
~~~
“Music Knowledge” should be the all encompassing title of the subject with “Categories of Various Symbols, Definitions, Structures and Theories” listed below it.
Yet, the fact of the matter is the term “Music Theory” is entrenched in our lexicon and is probably not going anywhere anytime soon.
So, if you already know how to tune your guitar and play a chord, then you already know some “Music Theory”. In that case (assuming you continue the arduous journey of gaining musical knowledge), then the question is no longer "Should I learn Music Theory" but, rather, "How Much Music Theory Should I Learn"?
Or better yet:
"How Much 'Music Knowledge' Do I Really Need to Get Me to Where I Want to Be"?
Anyway, if you want to learn more, I've provided a link below to an article I created which describes the basics of what is often referred to as "Music Theory" (although you can call it "Music Knowledge" if you wish)
INTERVALS explained - The Magical Unicorn World of Music!
Sorry for the tease, but there are no Unicorns (it's actually just a feral cat in a unicorn costume), but there is a "smidgen" of magic in here somewhere! Anyway, here's my comparatively lifeless, colorless, not quite so cute introduction... MUSIC THEORY basically exists to explain how...

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