The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Music Theory
2nd Edition

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Introduction

Or, Why You Need to Know a Little Theory

Back when I was in high school and college (a long time ago, I realize), a lot of my fellow students regarded music theory as only slightly more fun than listening to paint dry. I didn't share that opinion, and still don't; I think music theory is interesting and fun and an essential part of any serious music education.

Still, if all you live for is to play your instrument (or to sing) twenty-four hours a day, taking time out from practicing to move a bunch of notes around on paper might not be tremendously appealing. In fact, I believe introductory-level music theory classes are the second- most-skipped classes in college music schools, with only music history classes being less well- received. (Some enterprising soul is bound to combine the two classes into a "Theory of Music History" -- or "History of Music Theory" -- course, thus creating new levels of student apathy.)

I'm not sure why some budding musicians are so down on theory. Maybe it's because of the way it's presented. (Let's face it: Some instructors can be pretty dull with this type of material.) Maybe it's because of the way music theory resembles sentence diagramming and other dreary grammar-related stuff. I don't know; maybe, to some people, it just seems like a lot of work.

But the fact remains: Every musician needs to know some music theory.

That's a bold statement, and one that you might take issue with. After all, you've gotten this far in your music studies without knowing theory -- why do you need to start studying theory now?

Or perhaps you know of a famous musician who doesn't know the least little bit of music theory -- and might not even know how to read music. If this person became rich and famous without knowing the theory behind the music, why should you have to learn that theory?

Music Theory Is Important

Famous musicians who don't know how to read a note of music are the exception rather than the rule. Most musicians, if they want to communicate with other musicians -- to play in a band, or to teach them their songs -- have to know at least the basics about how music works. These basics -- notes, chords, and so on -- are what we call music theory.

Notes and chords are the building blocks of the language of music. Music theory defines the many different ways you can arrange those blocks into songs and compositions. Without the theory, all you have is noise; applying music theory, you can create great works of art.

Musicians apply music theory every time they sit down to play or sing -- whether they know it or not. When you read a piece of music, you're using music theory. When you write down a series of notes, you're using music theory. When you play a chord, you're using music theory. When you sing a harmony line, you're using music theory.

Even those musicians who don't have any formal training use music theory. When they put their hands on the piano, they might not know that they're playing a major ninth chord with the fourth in the bass; they do know that those notes fit together well, even if they can't tell you the strict chord construction.

Now, if they did have formal training, they could go beyond just playing the notes to sharing those notes with others. Instead of pointing at their fingers and saying "play this," they could actually write their notes and chords down on paper, in a format universally understood by musicians the world over. After all, it's a lot easier to tell someone to play a CM9/F chord than it is to say "put your first finger here, and your second finger here," and so on.

The knowledge of how different notes work together also helps you expand on the simple melodies you're currently playing. When you know theory, you know how to accompany a melody with chords and how to voice those chords so that they sound good to your ears. You also can learn how to turn that simple melody into a full-blown arrangement for groups of voices and instruments, and how to create your own melodies and compositions.

Without a knowledge of basic music theory, you won't be able to fully express your musical ideas; nor will you be able to share those ideas with others.

Music Theory is Useful

Of course, it isn't just professional musicians who need to know theory. Even if you're just doing it for your own personal enjoyment, a knowledge of theory will help you better appreciate the music you play or sing.

Here's a good example: Let's say you're helping out at your daughter's school and someone, knowing that you're a musician, asks you to work up an arrangement of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" for the upcoming school pageant. There are two girls and one boy in the class who sing pretty well, and another boy who knows how to play trumpet. You'll accompany them on guitar.

This doesn't sound like a tall order, but it's one that requires a lot of theory to complete. First of all, you need to know how to read and write music -- which includes the knowledge of clefs and keys and time signatures. Then you need to know about chords and chord progressions, and how to create harmonies and counterpoint. You also need to know how to arrange music for different voices and instruments, and even how to transpose music from one key to another. (That's because the trumpet reads music in a different key from everybody else.)

But here's the deal: If you don't know your theory, you won't be able to complete this rather simple assignment. It's as simple as that.

When you know the theory behind the music, playing and singing gets a lot more interesting. With a little grounding in theory, it's easier to understand why some melodies are more appealing than others, and why certain chord progressions work better with certain melodies. You'll see how harmony works, which will really help if you're singing background or accompanying someone on piano or guitar. You'll even be able to arrange music for your choir or band, or to create your own compositions.

And here's the neat part: Music theory isn't hard. Once you learn the basic notes and scales, the rest falls together fairly easily. After all, a chord is just three notes put together. That's all -- just three notes; and a song is nothing more than a few chords strung together in a series, along with a melody -- which is just a series of notes, all in a row. Figuring out what goes where (and which notes sound well together) is what theory is all about.

Music Theory for Non-Musicians

Music theory isn’t just for musicians, either. There are a lot of listeners out there who are curious about how music is created. Just what makes a particular song so special? Why does some music sound uplifting, and other music sound sad? And just what are your musician friends talking about when they say things like “cool changes” or “take this up a third”?

You don’t have to be a music student to be interested in how music works -- just like you don’t have to have a literature degree to be interested in how words and sentences fit together. Basic music theory is for anyone who is interested in music; the more you know, the more you can appreciate the music that you listen to.

Music Theory and Me

There are many different ways to learn music theory. Your school might have music theory classes you can take. Your music teacher also might teach a little theory, or know a private teacher you can study with. Or you can learn theory the way I did: by yourself, from a book.

I taught myself music theory back when I was in eighth grade. My junior high school had the usual general music classes, as well as choir and band, but didn't have any theory classes. So, because I wanted to arrange some tunes for a band I was in, I had to teach myself the theory behind the arranging.

My theory education came from a lot of trial and error, and from two books: Dick Grove's Arranging Concepts: A Guide to Writing Arrangements for Stage Band Ensembles (1972) and David Baker's Arranging & Composing for the Small Ensemble (1970). Both these books are still in print today, and still as valuable as they were back then. I recommend you check them out.

Now, if you look at the titles of those books, you'll see that they really don't have anything to do with basic music theory. There's theory in the books, of course, but you really have to read between the lines (so to speak) to pull it out. I would have given my right arm back then for a book that focused on beginning-level theory, written at a level that I could comprehend.

Well, 30 years later, I wrote that book.

It's interesting. I was a fairly serious musician throughout my junior high and high school years, and went on to attend the prestigious Indiana School of Music, in its even more prestigious Jazz Studies program. But something shifted along the way, and I ended up graduating IU with a business degree, and found myself some years later working in the book publishing industry. After serving my time in the corporate world, I became a full-time author, writing books about all manner of topics, from computers to business management to home theater systems.

Then, in 2000, I wrote a music book -- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Drums (available at a bookstore near you). Things had finally come full circle, and I was writing about the music that I loved, and lived, so many years ago.

That book led to my writing other music books, chief of which is the one you hold in your hands -- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory. The first edition of this book, published in 2002, became an overnight success -- one of the best-selling music theory books of all time. I'm still amazed at how well this book has been received, and am grateful for the tens of thousands of readers who helped to make it so successful. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to introduce a new audience to the joys of music -- in, I hope, a manner that is easy to follow, reasonably comprehensive, and somewhat practical. And I'm pleased to present this updated second edition of the book, made even more useful by the inclusion of The Complete Idiot's Guide Ear Training Course on the accompanying CD.

As to the book itself, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory, 2nd Edition, is designed to be a self-teaching tool for anyone wishing to learn music theory. The book starts with basic notes and rhythms; advances through scales, melodies, chords, and harmony; and ends with valuable information about accompanying, arranging, and conducting your music. In short, it presents pretty much every thing you'll need to know about music theory -- for musicians of any level.

Of course, I always recommend studying with a good teacher. Even if you're reading this book, you can learn even more by supplementing the material in these pages with the hands-on instruction you can get from a real human being. To me, that's really the best of both worlds; self-paced study accompanied by interaction with a good music theory instructor.

What's on the CD

The CD that comes with this book is a fun bit of business all by itself. Pop it into your CD player and you'll find that it contains The Complete Idiot's Guide Ear Training Course, a self-paced audio guide to improving your musical hearing. Work through the examples and exercises on the CD to learn how to recognize scales, intervals, chords, and rhythms. It's a great way to learn how to understand and transcribe the music you hear. (And you can check your answers against those supplied in Appendix D of the book!)