 Learn Music Theory
When I was a kid, I
wanted to take guitar, but my mom made me take keyboard
lessons instead. She argued that the best thing to do was
to learn music theory. After that, I
could go anywhere with it. I would be allowed to learn
basically any instrument I wanted within reason. I wasn't
very excited about learning musical theory, and I
certainly wasn't that excited about the keyboard. I
wanted to play guitar like my favorite rock stars did.
Nonetheless, I knew that the only way to do that was to
go by her rules. Once my mom made up her mind, she seldom
went back.
I never really liked the keyboard even
when I was playing it, but once I started to learn music theory I got
really excited about it. I had always had a pretty good
intuitive ear for music, but learning theory brought it
to another level. The structures that I had observed for
so many years suddenly had names. I could point to my
favorite devices in music and identify them,
understanding how they worked and why they sounded like
they did. I even started to write my own songs, although
I wasn't very good at it at first.
After about a year or so of piano lessons,
my mom relented and let me learn some guitar. I decided
to learn music theory for guitar as well. The interesting
thing about keyboard is that whatever you learn on it you
can take with you to other instruments. Although guitar
theory doesn't necessarily translate to keyboards, for
example, keyboard theory does translate to guitars. A
keyboard is basically a row of all the notes laid out in
a logical order, so you really get to see how the theory
of music works. You can then take that knowledge to a
more arbitrary instrument like the guitar, flute,
clarinet, or anything else.
Still, learning music theory on an
instrument I really enjoyed brought me to a
whole different level. Suddenly, I was coming up
with songs that I liked and making progress in my
instrument. When I was learning the piano, it was always
very slow going. I would learn music theory and pick up
some playing techniques, but I didn't show any particular
skill or promise at it. With guitar, however, I was
really starting to move. I soon had a good intuitive
understanding of the way it worked, and could play many
of my favorite songs. I had managed to learn music theory
to such an advanced level that I could pretty much
analyze any song I heard on the radio and understand what
was going on in it. I wasn't great at guitar or anything,
but being grounded in the basics of music gave me enough
background to start playing my own songs.
Learning music theory is key to truly
understanding music and helps you to listen and appreciate
music in a whole different level. Go ahead.....give it a
try.
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