Music Theory Book for Beginners

By James Shipway

Understanding music theory is easy with this beginner music theory method book. Now, all instrumentalists, songwriters, singers and composers, can learn most of the music theory they'll ever need to know.

 

Adapted from our very popular Music Theory for Guitarists book, this easy-to-understand 'self-study' method for learning basic music theory, eliminates the confusion and frustration that so many music theory beginners experience.

In Music Theory Book for Beginners you'll find step-by-step lessons in all the most important music theory basics. To help you learn, see and understand how the building blocks of music theory fit together, we'll be using the piano keyboard as a visual aid. You can then apply what you've learned to your own instrument. No piano skills are required to use this book but instructions are given if you do want to play certain examples on the keyboard.

Includes bonus downloadable demo tracks, play-along backing tracks and quizzes to test your understanding. Perfect if:

• You want to finally understand the music theory basics all musicians and songwriters need to know
• You want an easy-to-use method giving you a crash-course in most of the basics
• You feel like your lack of knowledge is holding you up and stopping you from progressing as fast as you could be
• You've tried learning music theory before but found it too hard, long-winded and confusing
• You're sick of feeling clueless when you hang out with other musicians and want to understand the language they use
• You'd love to write your own music and songs but don't know where to start
• You need to learn beginner music theory but haven't a clue where or how to begin

In this Music Theory Book for Beginners you'll discover:

• The Musical Alphabet - discover the only 12 notes used in all music!
• Tones and Semitones
• The Major Scale - learn what it really is and where it comes from
• Major and Minor Triads - understand the chords used in the vast majority of music (pop, country, rock, folk etc.)
• Major Scale Intervals - major 3rds, perfect 4ths ...what even are they?
• Chromatic Intervals - finally discover what weird names like 'diminished' and 'augmented' really mean
• Major Keys - what keys are, where they come from, and what to do with them
• Chord Progressions - how to start writing pro-sounding chord sequences and songs of your own!
• Pentatonic Scales - discover some of the most commonly used scales ever
• The Natural Minor Scale - essential for understanding and playing music in minor keys
• Minor Key Basics - learn the secrets of awesome minor key songs and chord sequences

... plus more, essential, practical music theory knowledge.

How will you learn and remember all this? Easy!

Each chapter introduces a new element of music theory and gives you a clear but detailed explanation of the concept. There are multiple examples/practical exercises, FAQs and more to drive your understanding home. When you think you've got it, test yourself using the quiz questions at the end of each chapter (answers supplied). To help you play certain practical examples you are also given piano-keyboard diagrams (plus music notation in some examples).

Want to understand music theory? You can … and without all the struggle, confusion, and misleading explanations!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Headstock Books
• Release date: Apr 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9781914453977

James Shipway

James Shipway, born in Australia and raised in the UK is a professional guitarist and guitar teacher with over 25,000 hours of experience helping students of all ages and abilities reach their guitar-playing goals.  He's shared his knowledge with millions of guitarists worldwide via his YouTube channel and his online guitar academy, Total Guitar Lab as well as in his acclaimed 'No Bull' series of guitar books.  James first began playing guitar at 16. Self taught and with no prior musical education or experience, he still remembers very well how confusing guitar playing could be for a newbie. He brings this personal experience of struggling with adversity and confusion on guitar to everything he does, and his practical, , easy-to-use, 'BS free' approach to learning, playing and practicing guitar has gained him a legion of followers around the globe.  His recent book releases include: - Music Theory for Guitarists, Volumes 1 & 2 (Volume 3 coming soon!) - Barre Chords for Guitar - Blues Soloing for Guitar, Volumes 1 & 2 - The CAGED System for Guitar - Circle of Fifths for Guitar These books aim to boost a guitar players ability and confidence by breaking down and simplifying seemingly complex theory, techniques and styles.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

THE MUSICAL ALPHABET

Amazing though it may seem, all music is made from only 12 notes. These 12 notes are often called the chromatic scale. This can sound a bit intimidating, and to make it even more confusing ‘chromatic’ can mean other things as well, so I like to refer to the 12 notes as the musical alphabet.

The musical alphabet is the basis of everything else I’m going to show you in this book so it’s vital that you understand it. Luckily, it’s simple to get to grips with.

INTRODUCING THE MUSICAL ALPHABET

There are 7 letter names we use when talking about music:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G

These letters are used to describe 7 of the 12 notes in the musical alphabet. These 7 notes with letter names are often called the ‘natural’ notes.

The remaining 5 notes are the flats and sharps.

The symbol for sharp is ‘#’ (e.g. C sharp is written C#).

The symbol for a flat is ‘b’ (e.g. B flat is written Bb).

The sharp and flat notes sit in between the natural notes in the musical alphabet.

It’s important to understand that any sharp can also be described as a flat. In other words, although the note is the same, it has two possible names which we can use to describe it.

For example, the note that sits between C and D can be called C# or Db. Which name you use depends on a few things we don’t need to go into right now, and it doesn’t normally matter anyway.

By combining our 7 natural notes and the 5 sharp/flat notes we get the complete 12 note musical alphabet. If we write it out it looks like