Music Theory

[winston]

Here is a cool site for those of you who wish to acquaint yourself with a little music theory.

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/theory.htm

The information on this site is fairly rudimentary, so please keep that in mind.

[admin]

A good site for the basics Brian. Thanks for the link.

[telebob]

Good stuff. Nothing like a little theory to pull a guy out of the "pentatonic scale" rut!

[squirefan01]

Thanks Brian. As I continue to learn, I am trying to mix theory, technique & memorization into my self-lessons. Theory seems to fall behind easily, so this helps!

This is a simple to read theory book that I saw recommended someplace, and picked up on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Edlys-Music-Theory-Practical-People/dp/0966161602/sr=1-1/qid=1157339506/ref=sr_1_1/104-3655756-9156713?ie=UTF8&s=books

[lionheart]

And don't forget, there's always the tried and true way I learned it all those years ago:

"Harmony" by Walter Piston. Try not to fall asleep while reading it.

[johnallg]

So I've been there before, and always get too frustrated and leave. I clicked on Scales, and halfway down is the Circle of Fifths, which is not explained but has multiple letters at the same points. Then Key Signatures are shown, but they have duplicates like A Maj./e min. and Bflat Maj./g min. What is that all about?!?! [retorical]

[charlyg]

Look at C. The relative minor is am.

Does that help?
Circle of Fifths blows anyway. I like the book and wheel I am using...

[johnallg]

Unfortunately not, Charly. I know and understand squat.

What I did see looking and trying to make sense of why the notes are in that order is that any note and the one two ahead or behind are a whole step on the fretboard. But to as why it goes C G D ..... you got me.

[charlyg]

Forget the circle of fifths thing, at least for trying to figure out where a chord progression "goes".

The reason we say am is relative to C is the pentatonic scale notes are the same! Identical, VERY RELATIVE!

SO, if you stick to pentatonic notes, you could give a rip about the key being am versus c. That's why they are written together on the chart.

[johnallg]

Ok, this explanation and the one Mark gave in the other thread now makes sense. The Major and minor keys that are associated on the Circle or Fifths share the same notes, but don't start on the same note.

[off to Google pentatonic notes]

[johnallg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale

Sure, penta (five) tonic (tones).

So they show clefs with 6 notes and the play link plays 6 notes!! HUH?

[eyes roll back into head]

[charlyg]

The first and the last are the same note. just an octave apart.

A chord is made from the notes in a pentatonic scale

Right about here(in my study of theory) is when the lightbulb came on, and I had an A-Ha moment!

[kenindfw]

Here's another good set of sites:

Chord Theory: http://www.scenicnewengland.net/guitar/ ... chords.htm

Scale Theory: http://www.scenicnewengland.net/guitar/ ... index.html

Music Notation: http://www.scenicnewengland.net/guitar/ ... index.html

Ken

[beatlefreak]

Ok, this explanation and the one Mark gave in the other thread now makes sense. The Major and minor keys that are associated on the Circle or Fifths share the same notes, but don't start on the same note.

Exactly. Taking the C and Am relation, to play in the key of Am, play the notes that are in the key of C. But just remember that your root, where you start the scale, is A. As far as the Circle of Fifths goes, each note is the fifth in the scale of the note to the left of it. G is the fifth in the key of C, D is the fifth in the key of G, etc. If you go backwards around the circle, each note is the fourth in the scale of the note to the right of it.

[longboard_ric]

Here is another site.

I haven't had a good look at it (I'm stuck with dial up at the moment), but some may find it useful.

http://www.guitarshredshow.com/