A Theory Question

rcsnydley
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Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:15 pm

Bear - I agree about just picking up the guitar and having the joy of playing. Quite frankly that is exactly what I did. I guess I like theory because I too am a geek and an info junkie, I like to know how things work. I do not advocate forcing yourself to learn anything more than what you want.

However, what I have personally experienced are guitar players who want to learn more, but when you say the word theory they close right down and decide maybe they don't want to learn more. Or they want to learn more as long as it doesn't mean having to learn any theory. They are to the point where they are not enjoying it any more because they have come to the limit of their knowledge.

I have a guitar playing friend that I have played with for a number of years and he is a technically very good player. We had not played together for sometime and just recently got back together. When I started getting back into playing a year and a half ago I decided to not just goof around but really take it seriously this time and learn as much as I could. When we got together I was showing him some of the things I had learned and also some new songs I wrote. He lamented the fact that he didn't know this stuff and how did I figure out the cool chord progressions I was now writing with. When I told him I learned some theory and a lot of the pieces I was missing before fell into place he sort of stopped asking and just went back to the stuff he was playing thirty years ago.

I don't want to force anyone to learn anything they don't want to learn, but I do encourage those who want to expand their musical knowledge and by extension their musical enjoyment, by all means do. To everyone, if you have questions then please ask them. Every time I answer a question I learn something, whether it is something new or just getting a better understanding of something I already knew.

That's my rant for now, thanks for listening.

Keep Playing
Ric


AndyT
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Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:07 pm

Good point Ric.
So from now on, I'm not calling it 'theory' I'm calling it 'guitar Playing Stuff'.


BigBear
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Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:05 am

Ric- as always you make super valid points! I had the same experience recently with my old playing partner. I was way ahead of where I was when we quit playing together. He asked what the heck was going on.

I'm not sure if it's because I've learned so many things here or simply because since I joined TARGET I've spent more hours practicing in the last three months than I did in the last ten years! TARGET has me fired up for the guitar again and helps take my mind off of being unemployed and broke! So that's a good thing!

Take care my many friends, good discussion!!


rcsnydley
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Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:34 am

Yes, bear, this has been a great discussion.

I don't advocate forcing anyone to learn anything they don't want to. All I'm saying in don't sell yourself short because the name scares you or whatever.

Good idea, Andy, henceforth theory shall be called "Guitar Playing Stuff". :laugh:

So, if anyone has any guitar playing stuff questions, ask away.

Keep Playing
Ric


eagle670
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Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:43 am

Okay here's the deal. I am not wanting to write songs or compose a musical score. What I would like to do is to be able for someone to tell me the key of a tune and then be able to identify the chords or notes in that key in order to play along. When I was playing with my buddies the other night, one of the guy's just bought a new amp that had background tracks. He wanted me to play a little lead guitar along with a blues track. I told him that I had never played lead guitar in my life and that is when he said "oh it's easy it's in the key of G" just play the notes. That's what I want to learn.


rcsnydley
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Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:11 am

eagle670 wrote:
Okay here's the deal. I am not wanting to write songs or compose a musical score. What I would like to do is to be able for someone to tell me the key of a tune and then be able to identify the chords or notes in that key in order to play along. When I was playing with my buddies the other night, one of the guy's just bought a new amp that had background tracks. He wanted me to play a little lead guitar along with a blues track. I told him that I had never played lead guitar in my life and that is when he said "oh it's easy it's in the key of G" just play the notes. That's what I want to learn.
Eagle - I'm going to start you out but giving you some great sites to check out, bookmark them and refer to them as needed.

The first two have lessons and articles on theory and especially as applied to guitar. Nothing too heavy but very useful for any guitar player.

http://www.guitarnoise.com/hot-lessons/
This site also has a great forum with a very good Music Theory thread.

http://www.torvund.net/guitar/index.php?page=theory
Scroll down a bit past the books.

http://freenet-homepage.de/greybeard/Index.htm
Great charts as applied to guitar. If at first they seem a little intimidating or difficult to understand, stick with it as you learn more they will make perfect sense.

http://www.free-online-piano-lessons.co ... riads.html
If you are wondering what chords are in what key this page is priceless. I use it all the time when writing.

Hope these help you out and if you need more info let me know and I will help you as much as I can. Also, as you read through this material it may bring up some questions so be sure to ask any that you have.

Keep Playing
Ric


eagle670
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Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:39 am

Great! Thanks Ric

Kevin


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