I think its heplful to know, ya can always know how to write what your saying ya know??!! I think there is some truth behind the statement that by self-teaching you'll be more original, however I think its wrong to totally dismiss theory altogether. Personally I like learning theory, I think it helps you as a musician greatly :Sylvia:

 

I can't grasp it. It makes my head hurt. Its like learning friggin' algebra.

 

Learn it, then forget about it. I write w/out it, but I use it to analyze my music, and see if it can improve it. Theory is the icing on the cake, but you have to have the cake first.

 

Since genius is distributed with an eye dropper, theory can only help wannabe musicians. Even if all you know is the blues & pentatonic scales, imagine how difficult it would be to learn the blues without that knowledge but completely by ear. You can't re-use the I-IV-V progression because that's theory and you don't want to know it so you must re-learn it every time. Who amungst us is that dense?

Theory is the foundation and your instrument is the vehicle or the means to achieve the sounds in your mind. Good ears and acceptable technique to execute those sounds are also necessary. By itself, theory is supposed to be like knowing the alphabet so you can form words, then sentences, and finally paragraphs with themes.

How theory could limit ones playing is beyond my capacity to understand (or possibly just plain dumb). There are people making a good living selling CDs of their theoretical prowess. Mind you, there's little heart and soul (or "magic") to the sounds but it's theoretically correct. A solid foundation makes learning existing tunes and writing original tunes much easier. I'd have to write obnoxious letters to the editors of any magazine that wrote such simplistic B.S. and demand my money back.

 

well heres my view on this.
Learning by yourself basically gives you your own "style" per say. I also believe it helps you play with more feeling. This gives you your own style and it may differ from everyone elses. An example would be Slash.
On the other hand theory helps you be a better guitar player and improves your technique. Satch, Zakk Wylde are some examples.

Its your own personal preference but i sort of like to use a little of both but lean towards learning by myself. I go to guitar lessons but mainly use them for gear purchasing choices and helping me on some of the tougher songs.

 

Theory IMO is important, because knowledge = power and control over your playing. You become more aware of the notes you choose and therefore have the ability to not sound like the guy that is just playing the same stock Hendrix licks or three note per string excercises. IMO you should at the very least have alot of arpeggios and progressions in your vocabulary so you have the capacity to react to alot of different musical situations whether it be jazz, blues, rock, flamenco or metal, but that's just me:Sylvia: . A perfect example of the latter is Marty Friedman, who, IMO is a monster of player (his vibrato kicks a$$).

 

Just think of when you started to play. You would learn a song by listening to it or a tab book or whatever. But you would have to think and grasp every note as you played it thru a zillion times. Only when you knew that song by heart could you let it fly without thinking about what notes come next. Thats when the technique takes over and your style comes out.
I played ten years by copying songs before I started learning theory. And now I can concentrate on tone, sound and overall shredding,because I don't have to think of what to play next, it just comes natural.
The more you know the better you'll be:thumb:

 

I think theory is a good tool to have, and if you are ever going to become a great lead guitarist you need to know some theory to ROCK! I agree that you need your own style but to combine your own licks and tricks with theory, you get something like... Randy Rhoads, imo.

 

Just think of when you started to play. You would learn a song by listening to it or a tab book or whatever. But you would have to think and grasp every note as you played it thru a zillion times. Only when you knew that song by heart could you let it fly without thinking about what notes come next. Thats when the technique takes over and your style comes out.
I played ten years by copying songs before I started learning theory. And now I can concentrate on tone, sound and overall shredding,because I don't have to think of what to play next, it just comes natural.
The more you know the better you'll be:thumb:

Couldn't agree more.

 

If anything, theory gives you the knowledge to make any sound that you want come out of your guitar. If you know the notes, scales, modes, etc. etc. then you know exactly where to go to let out that "sound in your head" to express yourself.

 

As a guitarist of 10 years now, who's never learned theory, even when he was in school band (all ears for me, I can hardly read tab either), I've found it's hindered me just as much as it's helped me. Because I did not get classically trained, I don't have those limiting rules of "intervals" and "styles" to hold me back, but I do have a limitation when it comes to communicating my musical ideas any way other than actually playing them. It's sort of a catch 22 in my mind's eye.

I only just started to learn theory more and more in recent years just by bizzaro self-discovery through playing lead. I've finally figured out where the Major scale is, and where the minor scale is, and how I can use BOTH modes in the same lead (say E minor is G major and such). But if you want to wax about the actual mode names and such, I'm not going to be able to keep up.

 

I think a certain amount of theory is handy if you're into composing your own music as it will help you play different styles and tap into different flavours of music but as a guitarist I think having a lesser understanding is healthy as you can approach the instrument in not such a cliched manner and find unique things on the instrument to do. I learnt a fair bit of theory as a keyboardist and can pretty much play what I like on that instrument but on guitar, because I am completely self taught, I draw on my ignorance on the guitar to do what I do....I'm quite happy with that. I'm not the brightest guitarist in the pack but I enjoy playing guitar far better than keyboards now.I think using your ear is a better weapon in your arsenal than theory to a certain extent, IMO that is...but theory is a great road map to have when you are first learning as it will make you a more rounded player in the long run.As with anything, there are always pros and cons.

 

I think a certain amount of theory is handy if you're into composing your own music as it will help you play different styles and tap into different flavours of music but as a guitarist I think having a lesser understanding is healthy as you can approach the instrument in not such a cliched manner and find unique things on the instrument to do. I learnt a fair bit of theory as a keyboardist and can pretty much play what I like on that instrument but on guitar, because I am completely self taught, I draw on my ignorance on the guitar to do what I do....I'm quite happy with that. I'm not the brightest guitarist in the pack but I enjoy playing guitar far better than keyboards now.I think using your ear is a better weapon in your arsenal than theory to a certain extent, IMO that is...but theory is a great road map to have when you are first learning as it will make you a more rounded player in the long run.As with anything, there are always pros and cons.

I kinda second this post

It's very useful in helping you understand the structure of your playing, but you need creativity to make good music

 

Alot of people assume theory is limited to writing things down on paper ,

not true in my opinion . theory covers ear training alot too and has only strengthened my playing by ear skills .

If you know what you're doing , you'll be able to develop the skill of forgetting the theory and just playing as well as using it to get you out of a bind .

Of course there are people that use it to the extreme and over think things alot . but as long as you are careful and have a good teacher to show you the relativity of the knowledge it can only make you better player

 

I agree with Stiglar.

Just because a person plays by ear, doesn't mean he's not using theory. The only difference with ear training is that instead of learning and memorizing by names, he'd be learning and memorizing by sounds. For example, he'd still be learning a C major scale (theory), but instead of learning the actual notes (C,D,E,F,G,A,B) he'd learn the sounds (do,re,mi,fa,so,la,ti).

I think ear training is great, especially for improvising and being able to analyze music by ear, but 1. it's still theory and 2. you'll have a hard time articulating musical ideas if you just learn by ear.

I'm also not sure why people seem to equate learning theory with not being creative. As simple as I'm able to explain it, music theory is basically a collection of patterns that produce a certain musical effect. Like "this pattern will produce this sound" and "that pattern will produce that sound". I don't see how learning these patterns, and building off of them for a person's own musical expression, makes that person any less (or more) creative.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents on the subject... take it or leave it.:thumb:

 

I would say it depends on what kind of music you like and want to play. The advanced technical stuff without any knowledge of theory won't work to well, If you're into rock 'n' roll and stuff like that you might be better off without that knowledge...

btw, hi everybody !

 

no.

Well, i think theory only helps you, because if you see players like Randy Rhoads, Yngwie, Joe Satriani etc.
they all make something orginal, and they all know/knew their theory.

 

I've learned theory, but I just didn't know it until, after several years of playing and jamming with other musicians the fretboard was "unlocked" and I realized I could converse musically and verbally with schooled musicians and not feel like a total ****er. I've been on both sides of the theory issue and know that when I first started learning guitar I was one of those "theory just gets in the way of my creativity" kind of guys, but the reality of it was, I was too lazy and undisciplined to commit to really studying music. If I was to start all over again I would learn theory, but in balanced increments with playing guitar.