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Do you know music theory?. Do you care?.
I bought a used Push1 and was checking out some videos on how to play chords with it, the one below i found specially educational.
Well, I realized my problem was not the grid notes, It’s music theory, in general. Im totally illiterate when it comes to scales, chord modes, etc. Im sort of surprised at myself. Playing guitar for about 30 years and never felt I needed music theory. Im not a session musician and I sort of embrace the punk attitude of imperfection, grew up with Pixies and Nirvana… Don’t care about fast solos or jamming on whatever scale.But I’m doing less guitar and more keyboard, I guess, also with the Push and apps like Scalar2. It’s exposed my blatant ignorance, I’m half surprised, half ashamed, I hardly know what a third or a seventh is. Why do I care now?. Where has the punk gone?.
So I’m curious, how many of you know music theory?. Do you think it’s needed?. What place does it have in your music making?.
Comments
Well, I think, if you stick to 8 bar loops, no theory is needed. If it sounds right it is right. And In electronic music I think it is more about texture and atmosphere than chord and note structure.
And if you operate strictly in the diatonic range of notes, music theory is still pretty simple.
If you step out of that, I think music theory opens new doors.
I’ve been involved in several music projects in the past, mostly on guitar/ bass/ vocals. Some of them were with musical literates, in fact in my current one folks talk scales and I get noodling on my bass like a bored kid in class. If someone shouts out a chord I don’t know it just takes me a bit longer to work it out, no big deal.
This has been part choice, part laziness for me. Choice, because I feel quite comfortable musically and what I lack with theory knowledge I more than compensate with musical skill and perhaps I could loose some of that freshness and spontaneity if I were to embark or learning the notation etc.
If I was offered a Matrix style injection of all required music theory I’d probably go for it though. 😇
When it comes to playing on a push style controller my solution is to be in a chromatic scale except I tell Drambo the root key. So if I have a guitar riff in D, I press a C key on my controller and turn transpose until I get to D and just play my well oiled C scale. Of course that’s no use for multi chord creations with bridges and choruses but my pieces normally don’t go that far when it comes to electronic music. The ‘proper’ song writing is for human bands. 😂
A little bit, and the more I learn I feel like the less I know.., a bit like other theory stuff related to creative acts, I find the best way to use it is to create instinctively, to find that sound/melody/harmony you’re looking for on whatever instrument you’re happiest with, then if you need to take it further maybe look at what scale or chords it’s fitting into and use that as a way to explore further… or just keep finding it by ear, tbh that’s what I usually end up doing after I’ve procrastinated in theory too long…
Similarly with writing, I’ve gone through stages after doing various courses, where I’m all fired up about structure and journeys, but ultimately the best way to write is just to write, and then only later read and analyse. Otherwise you end up with predictable dull stuff that can’t be improved, rather than sometime wild and interesting that can be tamed and sculpted into something more digestible…
Make a mess and then clean up later 😄
I don't have theory, at all. and after actively shunning it for many decades (I was one of those who believed "all those rules!" would crush my musical 'soul'), I now find myself extremely frustrated and confounded by my musical ignorance. The frustration, for me, is the same as i feel living in a foreign country without being fluent in the language. I can get by, but not without many frustrations.
Having listened to so much music, for so many years...and been futzin' around with making it for a very long time, I can make pretty good stuff. Once I have an idea, I'm good to go. But the main spark for ideas is mostly driven by luck. Randomly throwing hands down on a keyboard, then agonising over trying to pull it into a finished piece is exhausting. Without theory, I'm denying myself options and a much smoother, much more enjoyable, workflow
Anyway...Now's the time I've determined that I will just go for it.
Going to be following Max Konyi's courses. He has three, which are on Udemy. However, he also sells them from his website, at a better price, where he also comes away with more of the money earned. Very comprehensive introduction and progression.
https://www.maxkonyi.com/
I think some knowledge of music theory is going to be pretty helpful, just in order to understand the basics of chords and scales, but of course many musicians and songwriters work purely on instinct and that can work really well. John Lennon had no idea what the "Aeolian cadence" that a music critic heard in one of his songs, saying he thought it sounded like and exotic bird.
If you're writing songs though I think it's worth knowing how to resolve a chord progression (or indeed how to not resolve it to create tension), how to create a melodic cadence so that your melodies are satisfying, and how to create tension and release with dissonance and harmony. It's like a painter learning about colour theory, the knowledge is never going to hurt, but it can be used to augment existing instincts.
I do think however that the emphasis on harmonic theory really overshadows the other equally important building block of music, which is rhythm. The reason a melody or a riff is satisfying to listen to is down to its rhythm just as much as it is down to the notes and the scale. Seven Nation Army is almost childishly simple in its melodic structure: it's basically just a walk up and down the E minor scale. The reason that riff is so good is because it has a really interesting rhythm, with a mixture of whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and triplets.
Two of the greatest composers Paul McCartney and Benny Anderson cannot read music. To me that speaks volumes in terms of song writing, composing etc. But I do think you should know some theory, scales, chords. Using different bass notes for chords just sounds so much more interesting than play root notes of chords. try using chromatic bass runs for chords progressions.
I know a little bit but I’m no music major. I can get by I guess but I can’t really read music. I just know notes and scales. I don’t think it’s super important though. Unless you’re in a jazz band. It might help then. That said, I would like to learn more some day.
I love that old story about the Beatles where they supposedly schlepped over to someone’s house in west London some time after they were already successful because he knew seventh chords😅
Maybe it’s not true though
Reading music is only important if you plan to play written music. It has no bearing on one's ability to compose music. The same goes for knowledge of scales, chords etc. Very useful, but not essential.
As far as I remember McCartney tells this story in the Beatles Anthology videos: he and George took a bus across Liverpool to visit some guy who knew how to play a B7th chord. I think it was pre-success though, when they were still quite young.
I always hated creative academia so I never really commited to properly learning theory. I learned the cmajor scale in a piano class before dropping out and then did self-study via apps and music theory for computer musicians book.
I kind of wish I knew more but I know that I can just place notes on a sequencer and do what I need to and improvise (poorly) with keyboard/guitar.
Music theory allows me to pick up most instruments and quickly figure how to play the notes or chords i want. If you wanna be a multi-instrumentalist, then theory is the key to fast adaptation and confidence.
Ah, I hadn’t realised it was before, though to be fair I’m sure they’d already invented their own ‘strange’ chords, I know most of the non major minor ones I used in bands were just odd combos of fingerings that just sounded ‘right’…
I was going to give @tahiche some friendly hot takes here but this changes everything. I mean Paul, sure - but Benny ABBA??? I honestly didn't see that coming.
A somewhat younger equivalent, I am told, is Jay Kay from Jamiroquai, even though his songs sometimes include nice exploits of (apparently non-existent) music theory knowledge. 🤷
I know a certain amount, but I know there’s a lot I don’t know. It certainly helps with reading a score or a lead sheet, and it’s useful in composition.
However, it’s not really necessary if I sit down and just play around with iPad apps, and arguably limiting because it makes me think within a predefined framework.
I’m glad I know theory though, as it’s definitely very useful.
Is it necessary? No. Is it helpful? Definitely. My high school had a music theory class and a modular synth class (hey, it was the 1970s) and the theory class was very helpful. I ended up minoring in music composition at college and made money on the side by playing bass in the university's pit orchestra for some shows. I could sight read just enough to get by and it's still a challenge.
Ha!
Abba where awesome and I am not ashamed to admit it. Another thing people over look is how they were always at the forefront of music technology. Their last album the Visitors has some great use of prophet 5's, OBX's, Moogs etc.
Benny and Bjorns song writing is phenomenal. but again they both admit the Beatles were they're inspiration.
Basically no and no.
I think it depends on what you want to do. I tend to go by ear on the whole, but I’m fascinated by alternatives such as the EDO stuff I found about through Sinusedo and related apps (apologies, can’t recall the dev off the top of my head), and finding that there’s a quantiser in MiRack that will do those scales.
It’s probably much more important if you want to do things that rely on harmonic theory, or traditional orchestration etc. I’m more interested in sound primarily, so it’s less useful.
There’s also the question of which music theory. I found this video interesting despite not being madly interested in theory per se:
I have a classical music education, so yes I know music theory. And yes, I do care. To me, it's easier to map out a melody or phrase in something like Notion and export it to MIDI. It's a technical pursuit, though. I base my sound decisions on my ears, and use theory to get where I want to go. What I really wish I understood better is the aesthetics of music. What makes something appealing to others and why?
If you’re jamming or writing songs with other musicians playing instruments, you’re going to want some theory so you can communicate effectively with others. But I just make beats on my iPad so I do it by ear. I do know what scales and chords etc are and how they work. But I’m not going to be able to tell you what the name of this chord or that chord is. Theory isn’t something I actively think about ever when making tunes at this point.
The one that surprised me was when I found out that Hans Zimmer can’t read music. All those film scores and he can’t read music?
😶
I mean, does this mean he needs a theory-trained scribe to write out his ideas for the orchestras that sometimes perform them?
I think he composes with software that can print sheet music for him?
Just a guess…
That's a good point, but he started in the 80s. Was all the necessary software around back then?
Being able to read music is mainly important for performers of live music.
I don’t think it is necessary to create music, but it helps a lot in trying to deconstruct music.
Not too likely, but maybe he used someone else to orchestrate his ideas?
I can't imagine orchestrating stuff without theory, but that may well be my limitation.
Yeah, not sure.
But I think there were definitely the early attempts and prototypes at computer assisted composing tools around since the 70’s.
Reading/writing music is different from music theory. Music theory guides you when composing, and helps in analyzing other pieces of music.
Reading/ writing music is a way of capturing musical ideas and storing or communicating them. It is easy to imagine the effect widely available audio recording had on the importance of reading/writing music. You didn’t have to write anything down anymore, you just record your ideas and trade tapes with your collaborators.
My kid played cello in the school orchestra. I don’t think she could have done it without being able to sightread and play what she was reading.