how much music theory do you really need?

Meine leibe wrote:

I have played guitar for about 5 years now and sometimes I get really frustrated when it comes to my songwriting. I know I am getting better the more I play but I sometimes wonder if learning music theory would help.

I never have taken the time to learn any theory. I have always relied on my ear and most of the time it gets the job done.....but i am starting to realize that I am no hendrix and I cant just play everything by ear. It is painful to jam with other musicians that know where you are trying to go with a song and figure it out before you do. So where do I start and what are the basics that i really need?

People will suggest lessons, but youve probly played enough you just need refining. May i Suggest an amazing book, i learned guitar then theory,a nd this is the only book that made it all perfectly clear. Its "Fretboard logic" by Bill Edwards. ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0962477060/104-3401173-9703118?v=glance&n=283155 ) This book really shows the relationships between chords, barre chords, scales, keys, etc. This book honestly took me from a good player, to a great player in a couple of weeks. It is written in a very "matter of fact" way and is extremely easy to follow. Its different from regular books because it fits every style, and teaches you what you need to know. Any guitar player shoudl by it, and then "graduate" to book two. Once you learn all the scales, how chords are made and what not, its really easy to just pickup and find or create an interesting chord or solo progression

now on the jimi hendrix note! he is a very mythological guitar player, and i think mythbusters (myself) should bring some light to the situation. Yes he could improv untill the cows came home, but he wasn't "tripping on acid and going nuts". He is infact a very skilled player, and knew the fretboard like many wish they could. Just watching hours of videos on him and whatnot, you can tell he knows exactly what he is playing, and technically too. You could never teach yourself that style of guitar "by ear" or by "tripping on drugs". Some of his methods did include mysterious techniques (colour hearing) but when it comes down to it, he had a very good theory method he worked off of. He's one of the best at playing chord progressions in a low octave, then between chord changes making lightning fast trills above the twelvth fret, then heading back to the next chord. His tactics liek that are increddible, and are way beyond the skill of even my playing, he just attacks the neck like he knows exactly where to play....because he does know exactly where to play. Dont let people walk all over Jimi and call him a drugged up guitar fluke, he was increddibly skilled and tactical in his playing.

Harrison

ps. Jimi is awesome

There's more than one school of thought when it comes to this. My particular opinion is that you have to know the rules before you can break them

1.)I'm sorta in the same boat as the original poster.

2.) A big thank you to Harrison for his vast knowledge. I am now going to pick that book up.

My lessons are half music theory and half technique so far.

i think i'll check out that book. i'm in the rut too.

i think feel takes you from playing like a robot to something artistic. ie. pure shredding sucks.

but you still have to know where to go and how.

i certainly enjoy listening to slower, melodic solos more than the fast runs.

the fast runs are never a good thing. bad with a guitar too.

SRV and Jimi may have not know theory in the traditional sense, but they sure knew their scales, note to chord relationships and how to play within the contex of music theory. For example, I'm sure you could have said to either one, "slow blues in B" and everything would have shaken out just fine.

I can't read music to save my life, but without some bits of musical theory we would all be lunatics with picks.

I also don't have anything against a little fast run here and there. The aforementioned SRV knew how to add them with a touch I'll be searching for forever.

i have this book at home i should learn because as a guitar strummer ive written a good twenty songs and i dont know what key therye in or what the heck im doin

not sure i even replied as i have no answer to your postion

J.D. wrote:

Yeah, maybe I misunderstood his question. I don't think that being able to read music off a page will help you be a better songwriter.

I often come with a riff or progression I think is cool and then I'm lost. That's when it's good to have someone else around to kinda bring some fresh angles to what you already have. Otherwise , I let it sit, and come back to it when I'm ready.

I have about 12 tracks with the title 'Idea-X' in my Cakewalk folder.

I need to learn more theory as in like the notes on the fretboard, I'm sorta 'Boxed in' right now.

J.D. wrote:

I was stuck in the 1st position minor pentatonic box for years. It got sickening. I made up a little track in the key of A to practice with. Next I wrote up big pages with all of the scale forms and used one of the forms while soloing over that track. After a while, things came together.

I've now got all the forms of the full major scale up listed with the mode they correspond to. I just need to come up with a better backing to get more use out of the extra notes.

It's seems learing how to play is never ending. I think it's what keeps my drive going after playing all these years.

I move it up and down, it's just not coming together yet... I love to play, so I'm not giving up, it just gets frusturating. Basically, if I'm in E, I play in about 4 different positions, but what I really need is new licks.