Music Theory for Beginners: Music

By Aventuras De Viaje

Play in Perfect Harmony!

 

Music Theory for Beginners is a thorough yet accessible guide.

 

It's written without confusing terms or jargon, and you can use the concepts to play any instrument in any style or genre.

 

Rather than telling you what to do, it trains your ears and hands to express yourself. You can even use what you learn to produce your own original music on a laptop!

 

Discover how to express yourself through rhythm and notes, because music theory doesn't have to be intimidating or tedious.

 

Get it now.

 

In this music theory guide, you'll discover:

• How to combine notes and chords in a pleasing way
• The history of music theory from the invention of the octave in ancient Greece
• How to train your ears for sound, pitch, timbre, and tone
• Everything you need to know about intervals—major and minor, chromatic and diatonic
• Scales, key signatures, and how they make your song sound lighter or more melancholic
• Tempo, bar, and time signatures, and how to use an advanced-level polyrhythm
• Steps to transpose any composition from one key to another
• Dissonance, consonance, and other creative techniques to build intensity and drama
• Tips to compose your own music &/or improvise on the spot

... and much more!

 

Limited Time Only...

Get your copy of Music Theory for Beginners today and you will also receive:

• Free SF Nonfiction Books new releases
• Exclusive discount offers
• Downloadable sample chapters
• Bonus content

… and more!

 

Teach yourself basic music theory today, because art is about creativity, but you need to know the rules in order to break them.

 

Get it now.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SF Nonfiction Books
• Release date: Sep 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201053536

Book preview

Music Theory for Beginners

Music Theory for Beginners

Essential Music Theory Made Easy for All Musicians

Aventuras De Viaje

SF Nonfiction Books

Copyright SF Nonfiction Books © 2021

www.SFNonfictionBooks.com

All Rights Reserved

No part of this document may be reproduced without written consent from the author.

Warnings and Disclaimers

The information in this publication is made public for reference only.

Neither the author, publisher, nor anyone else involved in the production of this publication is responsible for how the reader uses the information or the result of his/her actions.

Contents

Introduction

So what is music theory anyway?

The fundamentals of music theory

Scales and modes

Mastering chords

Why is rhythm important

Movement in music

How to build musical structures

Building upon your knowledge

The tools of the trade

Conclusion

References

Author Recommendations

About Aventuras

Thanks for your purchase

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INTRODUCTION

Music theory is the science of music—this science attempts to understand and document the patterns in music, why they exist, and how to bend them to our will. After all, music is a highly advanced and well constructed form of art that involves countless moving parts created from math, physics, and acoustics. Understanding music takes time, patience, and effort—spend 10 minutes researching it and you’ll notice that. The beautiful thing about music is that by learning more, it gets easier. It isn’t like learning math in school, where one moment you’re learning 2x2 and the next you’re into calculus. No, music becomes less challenging the further in you get. This guide will help you through those first difficult steps, here we will break through the wall that so many others stop at. Not long from now, you’ll look back at this first paragraph with all the tools needed to play, read, and understand music!

What makes this book different from others in music theory, is that instead of catering to experienced musicians, here we are catering to non-musicians. There are no needlessly complicated terms here, no confusing jargon, no assumptions of knowledge. The books in this genre also tend to ignore popular types of music. Many experts like to think that music theory is only for classical and jazz music—I don’t. In this book, we’ll be covering the topic in a way that allows you to apply it to any genre, any style, and any instrument. It doesn’t matter whether you play jazz with a piano, metal with a guitar, or electronic music with a laptop, you’ll still be able to apply the things you learn here to your craft.

SO WHAT IS MUSIC THEORY ANYWAY?

If you’re here, you are clearly someone that is excited about the concept of music theory. You’re excited by this almost mystical concept, but this source of knowledge that has the potential to make you a better musician. A source of knowledge that may even allow you to play like the musicians you look up to. You may be excited by the prospect of spending hours studying concepts, names, music, and working to apply those things. Or you might not be excited for that part, that’s fine too. There are very few people who like to struggle, it's human to want the easy way. Now, I’m not saying music theory is easy, but there is definitely an easier way to learn it.

What is Music Theory?

From where you stand right now, music theory may seem completely alien to you—distant, intimidating, and very time-consuming. You may feel like you don’t want to spend weeks and months of your life learning something that may or may not turn you into the musician you always dreamed of. You may even feel that music theory is something best left to the experts, the professors, and the naturally gifted. It’s clearly not meant for us, right? Us lowly musicians who fiddle with our instruments and get excited over things as minor as playing a chord properly. The thought may even cross your mind that learning musical theory is more trouble than it's worth, it may even strike you as something that takes the raw beauty away from music and turns it into a dull science.

Well, you’re wrong. This book does not exist to make music theory even more enigmatic, I did not write it to make you struggle more. No, this book exists to make your life easier in every way. Whatever your attitude going into this, you will learn everything you need to become the musician you’d always hoped to be. Instead of sucking up all the fun and creativity out of music, the concepts in this book will allow you to look at music from a perspective you have never seen before. In the same way that a great chef is able to make great food if he knows his craft, a great musician can make great music if he knows his. By learning music theory, you amplify your ability to make incredible music. By knowing what to look for, what flavors compliment each other, and what ingredients to use, you can crank your expressive potential all the way up to 11.

That is musical theory. It is the knowledge of all the tools and ingredients needed to open your horizons as a musician. It’s not a textbook that tells you what to do, it rather trains your ear and hands to allow you to better create what you want to create. All theory is harmony, rhythm, and melody—these are the key structures of sound and allow us to organize seemingly random sounds into music. Knowing these key building blocks will make you a better musician.

Why is it Important?

While many people may think that music is something that can start on any note, travel to any place, and end whenever the performer decides, that’s not necessarily true. Although it's definitely true that some compositions do follow this path, they are mostly confusing, unpleasant to listen to, and without any form of direction. Musicians that create music like this tend to do it to prove a point or make a statement, rather than actually create music.

To be able to create compositions and improvisations that play and sound great, you need to know your music thoroughly. You need to be able to place notes and chords next to each other in a way that sounds pleasing and makes sense to your audience. And of course, because music is the one universal form of communication, it is pretty important that the music you make, makes sense.

In all honesty, the importance of learning music theory is as much a motivational thing as it is a technical thing. There are times where you feel like you’re getting nowhere with your instrument, times where everything just feels a bit overwhelming. Well, those are the perfect times to sit down and read. Focussing solely on technical practising is a path that leads to madness. There is nothing that can equal the feeling you get when you realize that you are able to construct music out of nothing. And, that feeling won’t come from only technical practising, you need to have a strong theoretical backing for that.

Keep in mind, as a musician, you only get out as much as you put in. If you want to be able to play along with classical