what exactly is music theory?

[kearney]

yeah, im in the dark on this one, can someone tell me what it is? i think theres a class on it at my school, maybe i could take it next year if you guys reccomend it

 

[MichaelScott]

Link Removed

 

[fulcrum]

Yeah, what he said.

I've yet to hear a bassist who was artistically or stylistically crippled by learning theory. It will also make your transition to other instruments much easier, if you ever decide to pursue instruments other than bass.

 

[Munjibunga]

Music is just a theory. It's never been proven.

 

[Nick Gann]

Music theory is all about how different sounds and silences work together to form music. Take the course. You will NOT regret it.

(moved to General Instruction)

 

[geoffkhan]

Music theory is what makes music tick. You can play songs from sheet music note for note, but with music theory, you can understand how the song works.

 

[Krisfield]

Western music is based on the Twelve-Tone Equal Temerament (12-TET). This is a schema by which an Octave is divided into series of equal frequency ratios. The calculation for the below values is a bit complex, so I havn't gone into much detail about that.


12-TET Decimal Values
--------------------------------
Unison - 1
Minor second - 1.059463
Major second - 1.122462
Minor third - 1.189207
Major third - 1.259921
Perfect fourth - 1.334840
Diminished - 1.414214
Perfect fifth - 1.498307
Minor sixth - 1.587401
Major sixth - 1.681793
Minor seventh - 1.781797
Major seventh - 1.887749
Octave - 2.000000


Examples:

(Open A)55hz * 1.498307 = (D) 82.04hz
440hz * 2.0 = 880hz


Bass guitar open string frequencies
-----------------------------------
B = 31hz

E = 41hz

A = 55hz

D = 73hz

G = 98hz

C = 131hz


There is also another shema called Just Intonation Tuning, which is not as flexible as 12-TET.

(0) 1:1 - unison
(1) 135:128 - major chroma
(2) 9:8 - major second
(3) 6:5 - minor third
(4) 5:4 - major third
(5) 4:3 - perfect fourth
(6) 45:32 - diatonic tritone
(7) 3:2 - perfect fifth
(8) 8:5 - minor sixth
(9) 27:16 - major sixth
(10) 9:5 - minor seventh
(11) 15:8 - major seventh
(12) 2:1 - octave

Example:

55hz * (3/2) = 82.5Hz

If you want to know more, Google "Twelve-Tone Equal Temerament"

 

[cowsgomoo]

theory is very useful for a bass player in particular because you'll likely spend a lot of your musical life attempting to play complementary figures to other people's idea of what music is

so you generally need to be able to have a framework that enables you to make sense of what people are giving you... it's not like being a guitarist, where your communication with other musicians consists of saying "it goes like this...." *NYAANNNGG*.... *BRANNNNNGGGG*

 

[geoffkhan]

Western music is based on the Twelve-Tone Equal Temerament (12-TET). This is a schema by which an Octave is divided into series of equal frequency ratios. The calculation for the below values is a bit complex, so I havn't gone into much detail about that.


12-TET Decimal Values
--------------------------------
Unison - 1
Minor second - 1.059463
Major second - 1.122462
Minor third - 1.189207
Major third - 1.259921
Perfect fourth - 1.334840
Diminished - 1.414214
Perfect fifth - 1.498307
Minor sixth - 1.587401
Major sixth - 1.681793
Minor seventh - 1.781797
Major seventh - 1.887749
Octave - 2.000000


Examples:

(Open A)55hz * 1.498307 = (D) 82.04hz
440hz * 2.0 = 880hz


Bass guitar open string frequencies
-----------------------------------
B = 31hz

E = 41hz

A = 55hz

D = 73hz

G = 98hz

C = 131hz


There is also another shema called Just Intonation Tuning, which is not as flexible as 12-TET.

(0) 1:1 - unison
(1) 135:128 - major chroma
(2) 9:8 - major second
(3) 6:5 - minor third
(4) 5:4 - major third
(5) 4:3 - perfect fourth
(6) 45:32 - diatonic tritone
(7) 3:2 - perfect fifth
(8) 8:5 - minor sixth
(9) 27:16 - major sixth
(10) 9:5 - minor seventh
(11) 15:8 - major seventh
(12) 2:1 - octave

Example:

55hz * (3/2) = 82.5Hz

If you want to know more, Google "Twelve-Tone Equal Temerament"

Not sure if that'll help me play music, though...

 

[mattmcnewf]

its help when u want to remember a song because its much easier to remember patternes than just random notes.
Also it helps when u want to communicate with other muscians.

 

[Krisfield]

Not sure if that'll help me play music, though...

Sorry about that. Got a bit carried away. Another interesting fact, musicians in Ancient Greek times, had to be mathematicians as well.

 

[ogyen]

I think the most useful way to think about theory is that it is a means of explaining the sounds that we hear. It is a way to understand more thoroughly the music we play/write/hear, which means we can communicate those things more clearly.