Do you need music theory?

[mambo4]

...if you play more than a few years, you can't help but incorporate music theory, whether you are aware of it or not...

That was my response.
Music theory is not a single discreet chunk of knowledge that you either know or don't. It's a continuum of knowledge that starts with the names of the 12 notes, and continues through the name/sound of 12 intervals, triads, scales,more complex chords, modes, cycles, and spider webs out into a universe of nutty stuff. Everyone who plays is somewhere on that spectrum, weather they believe they "know theory" or not.

There are 4 ways to "know" a musical concept:

• How it sounds
• How to play it
• What it's called
• How it's notated

Every famous musician who "doesn't know theory" is at least up to snuff on the first two aspects.

@Joe Nerve probably understands a lot more theory than he might realize.

 

[Droopy_TX]

You don't NEED to learn theory. I am sure many great musicians never did.
But, there is really only one reason not to... laziness.

All of the other reasons one may give are simply excuses.

 

[Wasnex]

You're firmly in the first camp. Nothing wrong with that.

Learning theory was the right choice for me . Funny thing is I never planned on being a professional musician, and I never would have been one if I didn't have an interest in theory.

But I don't speak for everyone. I consider music theory pretty essential for a working commercial bassist, but there are lot's of musicians who will not really use theory in any significant way.

For any of you who do not have an interest in music theory, hopefully your interests line up with your goals.

 

[IamGroot]

Houston jazz piano player Joe LoCascio said something to the effect "Music Theory is a tool to make up for deficiencies in our musical ear."

Some people are born with a gift. Some acquire it by experience, Others can learn it from a book. The end result is the same.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Music theory is like spelling and grammar. Yes, you can write without studying it, but it's a lot easier when you understand the rules.

 

[lfmn16]

Hopefully, not a divisive question

First day on TB?

 

[phillipkregg]

I'll put it this way...

If you're playing something that sounds good, but you don't know why, then you are accidentally applying music theory.

If you spend the time to understand music theory, then you can do the same thing but expand on it to make your music more interesting intentionally.

So you have to ask yourself if you're the type of person who is ok with just plowing forward and accidentally discovering things on your own, or if you want to understand the finer details and really know what makes the gears turn.

And there is nothing wrong with either of these approaches, in fact, most musicians spend time on both sides of this coin throughout their careers.

 

[IamGroot]

First day on TB?

Learning from my social gaffe with 16th notes, hopefully I framed this question so it didn't sound judgemental. I am honestly interested and sometimes surprised by the responses.

And I gave folks two options for carrots.

 

[dan1952]

I have always found it helpful to know WORKING music theory in order to transpose on the fly since I play with a variety of singers who sing a various keys. I don't know all the modes or the names of scales, etc., but I can hear them. It can't hurt to know the language of the country you live in, right? Since I live in Musicalvania, I should be at least conversant in the language...

 

[Joe Nerve]

Sorry Joe, I don't buy that You have learned a ton of theory having played up to the level you are at. I have heard a few of your clips. You are really good, your band also very good.

You may not know what a music major would consider formal theory but you recognize harmony, intervals, chords, timing, subdivisions and apply that to your playing.That is music theory.

You may not call any of those things by those names and not write or read music(don't know) but you know a LOT of theory. Regardless if you ever choose to pursue more, keep playing what you are playing!

Thanks. And you're right, but any theory I know, I know by ear and experience. I never studied it and I can't tell you why I do what I do, why I did it, or why it works or doesnt.

People tell me stuff like it's a 5-3-whatever progression, and honestly - I dont have a clue what they're talking about.

 

[MDBass]

Hopefully, not a divisive question

The answer is yes, whether you realize it or not.

You don’t have to be able to explain it technically, but your ears have to understand it in order to actually play it.

 

[Samatza]

I notate bass parts most of the time out of necessity. We’ve been a band for 34 years and at any time someone may call a song you haven’t played in ten years so if it’s written you have half a chance.

also we don’t really rehearse new material, we write out our parts and give it a run through at sound check.

 

[MVE]

Kind of a silly question. There's all kinds of music theory systems. Theory is just a report on what has happened and how you can go about making music that sounds like that. So... I you want to sound like Gregorian or Ambrosian chant (yea, there's a difference) you'd better study ancient music theory, but that's not going to give you much when you try to get through the changes on "Autumn Leaves". You could study Hanson analysis, but that's mostly vertical. Schenker might be some help, but not so much with pop music. Twelve tone music with Schoenberg, but again, that's not going to be much of any help for heavy metal bass playing.
In other words, there's a lot of information out there, but it only works if you learn it AND apply it to your music.
There's no definitive music theory on the music that is going to be created tomorrow, for that you need your ears... but if you know any theory, you'll be able to create quicker.

+1
Yeah, let’s start by agreeing on exactly what we are talking about when we use the term.
To some people “music theory” can mean knowing how many tones are in the Major scale or even knowing what a Major scale is.

Other people might think of music theory as purely a study of composition and why “this” sounds like “that”.

 

[kevindahl]

This is an age old argument. You really don't need theory if you have perfect relative pitch and are able to play chords that you immediately hear. Unfortunately that removes most of the population so yes you do need to know music theory. You are illiterate if you don't and we all know how far you can get in life when you can't read.

 

[Hounddog409]

You wanna be a musician or play cover songs lol?

......and has ZERO bearing on the question.

 

[aprod]

If you want to be a lawyer you study law. If you want to be a doctor you study medicine. If you want to be a musician you study music theory.

 

[Dr Zee]

Maybe I'm too demanding but I even expect a drummer to know what I'm talking about if I say this song is in 6/8 or to accent the eight note triplet here.

 

[Wasnex]

If you want to be a musician you study music theory.

Some people think it's: If you want to be a musician you get a job as a pizza delivery driver?

 

[jcopas]

As a person that is just deciding to learn music at 40, possibly as part of an impending midlife crisis, I'm going with "knowing music theory" doesn't just mean book knowledge.

Most of us realized that getting hit in the chest with a baseball will hurt before we got hit, or we learned Newton's laws. That to me implies you don't have to know the names to understand the basic theory. It seems to me music theory would be similar. Knowing what does and doesn't work is an example of knowing music theory, regardless of whether you know the name or who penned it.

 

[Wasnex]

+1
Yeah, let’s start by agreeing on exactly what we are talking about when we use the term.
To some people “music theory” can mean knowing how many tones are in the Major scale or even knowing what a Major scale is.

Other people might think of music theory as purely a study of composition and why “this” sounds like “that”.

To me it means having a decent knowledge of key centers, scales, modes, chords, and how they all fit together. Understanding time signatures and rhythmic subdivisions would also fall into theory. It used to also mean voice leading, but I don't really use voice leading as a bass player, and I haven't written any music for a long time. Another aspect of theory I haven't used recently is tempering and intonation.