Do I Have to Learn Theory?

This question bothers a lot of musicians. True, if you do know how to read music, it can really help you to learn other folks' music much faster. If you know your theory, you can usually guess what the next chord will be in a song, and often be right, and this really helps in jam sessions. If you are a really good listener, though, you can often do just as well, and so can folks who are really good at knowing a song after hearing it just once. If you aren't one of those miraculous folks, though, and write songs anyway, here are a few things you might think of learning just to help you along.

STUDY OTHER PEOPLE'S MUSIC

Make sure you understand standard songwriting format. If you are in a certain genre, there is often an expected sequence like verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus or ABABCAB. There are many variations on this theme, but many perfectly good songs have gotten away with not following these rules. Many folks also use long intros, pre-choruses and outros-see if any of these could help or expand your songs if you are told they need fleshing out. Notice how different groups of chords seem to go together, too, and are often used together in songs that have the same "feel". After a while, you will probably know a certain group of chords that will give you the sound you want to go with a particular lyric. Many bands get a totally unique sound by changing the tunings on their guitars and playing the same fingerings as most of us use, or by trying those fingerings on different areas of the guitar...experiment to see if you would like that sound in some section of your music.

STUDY THE BASICS

If you would like to know a little, but don't want to spend forever at it, get a circle of fifths chart from your local music store (many offer it as a poster, or you can do like I did and copy one onto poster board out of one of your music instruction books that show it), and learn your basic blues scale. This way, when someone plays you a chord, you will know what chord they are likely to play next in the song, or, if you are writing, which chords normally go next (it's fun to break this rule, though, just to add that innovative element to any song, though). If you know your blues scale, you will be disgusted to find out how many solos use this and only this scale, and you will be able to solo along with most pop music. If you know your basic 3- and 4-bar blues, too, you know what chord will go next if you know your circle of fifths, since they are mostly written in the standard I, IV, V format. Many pop songs are written the same way, too, but the trick is to do something with this format to make it interesting and innovative while still following the basic rules. If you want, start to learn your other basic scales, too, especially your major and minor scales, and you will find that you can often totally change the whole feel of a song just by switching a few chords around or changing the starting note of your melody or solo. A little knowledge can go a long way.

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