What's the best way to learn guitar theory? I already play guitar but would like to know what I am playing!

Answer 1

I’ll give a “reader’s digest” short answer first. If you don’t understand it, read further. I have included excerpts from my teaching to help explain. Although none of this is difficult if you have a solid foundation, it can be very confusing if you have holes in your musical education. Only a competent teacher can help you with that.
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There are six strings on guitar, but two of them have the same name, …”E.”
So there are only five DIFFERENT strings on guitar. That’s why there are really only five basic chord forms or shapes. You can play them all in the open position within the first three frets. Here are their names, C, A, G, E, D.

There are three main families of chords, Major minor and Dominant. So you have to learn to change the basic Major chord forms in to the minor and dominant versions. You should always be aware of where the roots are in each chord. The roots never change. Only the other notes do.

Once you can play all those chords instantly, learn to play them without using your first finger. That way you can use all the forms as movable forms or “barre chords.” When you can do that, you can play any chord, any progression, in any key in any position!

Everything in music is named in comparison to the major scale, so you must learn that. Once you know that, you must study chords to see how they are constructed from scale tones. Playing scales and arpeggios facilitates that process.

Once you can play scales and arpeggios for any type of chord, you must study chord progressions. Learn the basics first. I, IV, then I V7, then I, IV, V, Then I, vi, ii, V7, and its sound-alike, I, vi, IV V7, …then iii, vi, ii, V7, I.
Also study the cycle of fourths and the cycle of fifths. Then study linear progressions. You can move up or down by half steps, whole steps, minor or major thirds. In Jazz, the ii, V7 is a very important progression, so learn tunes and practice soloing over that progression a lot. Then, after you have played tunes with all these progressions and practiced playing over all these changes, you’ll have a pretty good idea what you are doing!
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“What's the best way to learn guitar theory? I already play guitar but would like to know what I am playing!”

Excellent question! It is absolutely vital that you “know what you are playing!”

The yogis have a saying, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
Maybe you are ready. Maybe I’m the teacher, or at least one of them…

Music Theory is ridiculously easy in one sense. The only prerequisites are that you know the alphabet up to “G” and can count. If you know what even and odd numbers are that’s a big plus too. But all music theory is really that simple.

The reason people get confused in music theory is because you have to keep track of several types of numbers at once. That’s also the reason some people think music is ‘mathematical.” Such people know little about math and nothing about music. There is no math in music. We sometimes use a little bit of simple arithmetic, but that’s it. No math…

With that said, here is my short version of music theory.

First, music theory is not reading. It is not about writing. Reading and writing DEFINITELY help. Reading music is very easy. It takes only about ten minutes to learn. You can become proficient in a few months. Depending on your talent and how WELL you practice, you can be an expert sight-reader in a year or two.

But music theory isn’t really about all that. Music theory is about harmony!
When musicians discuss theory, what they are really talking about is Harmony, the thing that makes music work!

Harmony, ( music theory) is easy if you know how to build a Major scale. We use the major scale like a ruler or yardstick to measure and describe everything else in music. When we say, “up a fourth” we mean “up four notes in the scale.” When we say “down a third,” we mean, “down three notes in the scale. When we say, “play the 1, 3, 5, and 7” we mean “play those notes as they appear by number in that scale.”

So it makes sense then that we must be familiar with the major scale!

We describe the notes in a scale by simple numbers. In the major scale, there are seven different notes. Because there are only seven different letters in our musical alphabet, ( A through G) when we play octaves ( eight notes higher or lower) we have the note with the same name.

I will illustrate this simple concept in the key of C.

C is our first note so we call that “ONE.” So, D is 2, E is 3, and so on…
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The important thing is to know the distance between the notes. In every major scale, the half steps are between 3 & 4, and 7 & 8. All the other intervals are whole-steps.

What’s that you say? You don’t know what I mean? Here…

Just as there are two half-dollars in a whole dollar, there are two half steps in a whole-step. On your guitar each fret is one half-step from the next, either up or down. Two frets in either direction on the same string is a whole step.

Once you understand that and can play the major scale, you can find ANY note for ANY chord in ANY key!

Here are the basics for understanding chords…

Chords have letter-names.
There are only 7 letters; A, B, C, D, E, F, G. They always go in alphabetical order, and repeat in a never-ending cycle.
After the letter-name, there might be a modifier, ...like a middle name.
The modifying symbols, # and b indicate sharp and flat.
# Sharp means up one half-step... ♭ Flat means down one half-step.
We need those flats and sharps because we can play notes or chords that are not one of the seven plain letter-named group.
There are 12 tones in total, but we use only 7 letters. That’s why we need the flat and sharp symbols to describe the next-door neighbors of the plain notes.
There are only five extra notes, so it’s easy to learn...
12 notes in total, minus 7 plain letters, equals only 5 extra notes.
The 5 extra notes can have two names. For instance; One half-step above A is the same note as one half-step below B. That’s why A# is the same note as Bb.
Chords come in three basic types; Major, Minor and Dominant.
You can identify those chords simply as; Happy, Sad, or Funny.
Major and minor chords are plain triads, meaning they have just three tones.
Dominant chords are exactly like major chords, with an added flat 7th. They are always named by the number 7, or some other odd-number, like 9 or 13.
Chords with an 11 after their letter-name are also sometimes dominant types, meaning they have a 7 in them. Those are fancy chords. I’ll describe them later.
Chords are built from odd numbers; 1, 3, 5, ...and so on up to 13.
Dominant 7th chords always also include the 7.
The 1 and the 5 never change in basic chords. Plain chords always use them!
The 3 and the 7 DO change. The type of 3 and 7 define the chord type.
There are two types of 3’s and two types of 7’s.
3 can be major or minor, meaning big or small, happy or sad. We indicate minor 3’s with a minus sign or “min.” If you see a minus sign, use a minor -3rd.
Major and dominant chords both use the major 3rd. If a chord-symbol has only a letter-name, with no numbers or other signs, it is Major. Then pick the 3.
Any chord with an odd number is a dominant 7th chord. For those, pick the normal or major 3, and the flat 7.
>All simple chords have a 1 and a 5. (Root and 5th)
>Minor chords use a –3 ( minor 3rd) instead of the major 3rd.
>Major and Dominant both have a normal major 3.
>Dominant chords, the ones with odd numbers, also always have a flat 7.


Basic chords...
Basic chords are built from scale-tones.
Scale-tones are numbered 1 through 7.
All basic chords use three odd numbers, 1, 3, and 5.
One basic chord, Dominant 7, has an extra odd-numbered note; 7.
There are only three types or families of basic chords;
Major, Minor and Dominant.

Major chords are simple to build. They have the 1, 3, 5.
Minor chords are exactly the same, except for the flatted third, (-3)
Dominant 7 chords are like the major, but include an extra note, the flat 7.

A chart can help you see and compare chord construction;
MAJOR 1 3 5
minor 1 -3 5
Dom7 1 3 5 7
See how all three chord-types have the 1 and the 5. That’s true for all basic chords.
The 1 and the 5 do not change, so, the 1 and 5 do not describe chord-type.

Think of the 1 as the foundation of a building or the roots of a tree.
In fact, musicians often refer to the 1 as the Root.
The 5 supports the 1, like walls support a house.
Walls don’t let us see what’s inside a house,
...the 5 doesn’t say what’s inside a chord.
Only the 3 and 7 define chord-type.
Major and Dominant 7 chords BOTH use a major third, the 3.
Only minor chords have a minor third, also called a flatted-third. (-3rd)
The letter-name of the root only tells us where to start building,
...it says where the foundation should go.
Once you can play all the chords you need to learn progressions…
As you play songs you will start to notice recurring patterns of progressions. Chord progressions are exactly that, “ a series of chords as they progress through time.”

We define chord progressions by the root motion. Roots are described using roman numerals because we use other types of numbers to describe other things. Here’s the easiest way to remember that:
Roman numerals indicate the ROOT of the chord in comparison to the tonal center or KEY. If the key is C the “One chord” would be C.
Chord have different qualities or types too. You can think of those types as groups or “families” of chords. As I stated, there are three basic types, major, minor and Dominant. Those are roughly comparable to Happy sad and funny sounds.

So if I want to indicate a “one” to a “four” chord, I’d say “one, four” or write “I, IV”

Maybe you forgot your Roman numerals… Here’s a refresher.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I II III IV V VI VII

That’s not too hard. But there is a problem. Chords also have a quality or “type” too. Remember? …major, minor, dominant?

Well one convention to indicate chord quality is to use Roman numeral equivalents in lower case letters for the minor chords. For instance in regular diatonic harmony, ( in any key) The One Four and Five triads are MAJOR. So we would write those as I, IV and V.
Typically, the two, three and six chords have a minor third in them, so they are minor types of chords. We would write those as ii, iii, and vi.

ROMAN NUMERALS INDICATE CHORD-ROOTS, RELATIVE TO THE KEY.
BIG ROMAN NUMERALS ARE MAJOR CHORDS.
Small numerals are minor chords.

Once you have practiced seeing chord progressions that way for a few weeks, you’ll see the same patterns come up over and over again.

From experience, I can tell you which progressions are most important and what order to practice them in.
Start with the I, IV progression. Also play the I, V7 progression


Now if any of this seems confusing, as I know it can, you just have to read, re-read and read again… slowly. If you can play a major scale you can discover much of this for yourself. But there is no substitute for lessons with a private music teacher. Seek one out. Any competent music teacher should be able to explain and demonstrate all the concepts I have mentioned here. If he can’t, find another teacher!

I sincerely want to help and would gladly accept personal e mails with specific questions on this subject, or anything related to music theory on guitar.

My time is limited by I will share my knowledge as time permits.
Best wishes!

Answer 2

Several avenues exist for advanced progression on the guitar.

1. Memorize the Chromatic Scale for each string and each six-string chord used in all frets.

2. Study and apply music theory. Learn to read and write notation. Tablature helps in learning the entire fretboard notes.

3. Observe the many chord progressions songwriters use in their songs. There is more than just a progression of C, C7, F, and G7 in a song.

4. Know the names of every chord you form and the notes that make up that chord.

5. Concentrate on playing notation on all strings if that is your weakness. Also study and apply the chord progressions done by the piano in the Grand Staff that includes the F clef.

Answer 3

Great question about learning guitar theory! I have a blog dedicated to this very topic. It will cover guitar scales, chords, progressions, modes and more. I'll be posting to it on a regular basis, so be sure to bookmark it. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. Teaching players how to apply music theory to the guitar fretboard is my passion!

http://guitarmusictheory.blogspot.com

Answer 4

There are guitar theory books available at your local music store:
Try Aaron Shearer's "Basic Elements of Music Theory for the Guitar".
This will give you a solid foundation, and is much better that getting knowledge in a haphazard way.