I need basic music theory help...

[Mharris]

Get a copy of a book called Bass Logic. A great deal for $20.00.

http://books-videos-music.musicians...Edwards-Publishing-Bass-Logic-Book?sku=906201

+1

This book is practical.

 

[BluesMan1]

Great resource guys. Potential Sticky candidate.

 

[Old P Bass Guy]

Dang, I've been playing bass for 3 years and I don't really understand much of anything in this thread except for the post about the roman numerals T_T

Just a quick question. Do I REALLY have to know all of this? I mean, since the day I bought my first bass I was in a band. After 3 years of being in bands I don't feel that I really need to know any of this terminology.. Someone says key of C and I just start and C and use the notes that, from my experience and listening, go well with C. Is this a bad way of going about it?

I feel like if I knew this I would play like a robot, doing formulas in my head that dictate what notes I need to play

Kuchar, I'm about 12 months in front of where you are right now and you will come to the point that you realize that you have made a lot of progress. Its like a child learning to read. You learn to see a word rather than a series of letters and after a while you see groups of words forming a sentence. One day it all becomes second nature to you and you read a song like you read a book. Depending on where you want to take your music ability, reading music is an important tool to have in you tool kit. Reading opens up a lot more options to you.

 

[Russell L]

You can see how this theory stuff works on the white keys of a piano in the key of C. Really ain't hard.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

After 3 years of being in bands I don't feel that I really need to know any of this terminology.. Someone says key of C and I just start and C and use the notes that, from my experience and listening, go well with C. Is this a bad way of going about it?

You know... many great players could not read music. This isn’t THAT surprising. You don’t have to know how to read words to speak them. Most people who speak English might know what a verb and a noun are, but if you ask them about adjectives, they have to think for a while, and don’t even start on propositions or whatever. Yet, they use them all day!

You can learn a lot about music by playing with better players and listening to better players and trying to play along, and using your ear to figure out which notes work and which don’t. You really can. You can train your ears and fingers without engaging the logicky part of your brain that needs to know WHY certain notes work.

BUT.

You are always going to limit yourself to playing with other people who have the same approach, or who are insanely patient with you. Music theory, even basic theory, is not just about figuring out what to play, it’s about communicating efficiently with other musicians.

If you learn to speak basic music with your ears and hands, but not the words and structure for talking about music, you will limit the pool of people to play with and learn from. Yes, you will play in three or five or ten bands. But a whole bunch of people and books and youtube instructional videos will be just beyond your grasp.

There’s more to knowing theory than just being able to talk about music, it will also open up a whole world of more complex musical forms, and those will keep you learning and growing once you’ve mastered whatever you’re playing right now.

But from the perspective of taking the next step in your musical journey, learning to “speak the language” opens up a much bigger tribe of musicians you can interact with, whether by playing with them or learning from their books and videos, or even just understanding threads right here.

I strongly suggest that it’s worth it just to expand your “tribe,” so to speak.