Music theory gives us the tools and techniques to slowly understand and piece together the building blocks form the music we hear and play.
I am curating resources and providing beginner explanations of not so "advanced" concepts.
I decided to create this in an attempt to take note of everything which is currently helping me make progress.
I started learning theory right off the bat because I have always passionately listened to Jazz, and wanted to get going straight away. I wanted actionable exercises focused around the skills needed to teach myself tunes. A lot of hard work is always needed, and I'd like to document my journey and what has helped me here. The theory is biased towards Jazz because that is what I am most passionate about, but the same topics should be more broadly applicable to other genres too.
- Holistic overview of where theory is used
- Simplified explanations of frequently used theory topics
- How to learn theory (in the context of the fretboard, with diagrams and exercises)
- Curated resources such as videos and apps, from reputable teachers
Over time, until I feel satisfied with my progress and able to learn most of the songs I desire, I will hopefully keep adding to this with whatever I'm learning with.
Intervals are the ultimate building block of western music. They provide a framework to understand chords, scales and much more. Intervals are a formal way to describe the distance between notes. For example chords are normally labelled based on the intervals which make them up. If you hear or see someone mention a major seventh chord, they are chords defined by several intervals (root, third, fifth and sevenths), and once you understand this you will understand why and how you can move chords and scales around the fretboard.
Intervals in their most basic form are just numbers which tell you how many "semitones" in distance away your two notes are, with the word minor or flat being used to say one smaller. Several qualitative words can be used to describe the intervals further, these include perfect, major, minor, augmented and diminished.
Explanation of concepts:
Something confusing is the definitions of the qualities. Chords are literally labelled/categorized this way though, so try to understand when terms like diminished and augmented are actually used. An in depth writeup like the one below is helpful here.
TEXTBOOK EXPLANATION: https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/chapter/intervals
In terms off actually getting stuff onto the fretboard, there are two rough goals to keep in mind. The first is understanding how the guitar is tuned, and the second actually memorising roughtly where the intervals are.
Explanations of shapes:
Exercises to play intervals:
The solo app is a useful way to rote learn the intervals, although expensive and somewhat abandoned at this point (on Android, which is also how you can run it on PC).
Musicians don't always think about chords in isolation, they break down music based on groups of chords which are played one after another. The chord progressions are written down using something called the nashville number system, which to put it simply is just a way to describe chords based on roman numerals. The most common chord progression in jazz is a ii V i. The actual chords you would play would vary based on the key you are playing over.
Explanation of the Nashville Number System:
Common chord progressions in Jazz:
Chord Progression Reference:
