Hacker News Reader

Comment by DuckTyping | Hacker News Reader

This is amazing, thank you!

I've been playing guitar for a while now and am now beginning to understand the importance of theory, but I'm kind of at a loss on how to go about learning and applying it. Does anyone have a book/mooc that they'd recommend with lots of exercises and accompanying songs?

I've gone through a few sources but most of them relate everything to a piano. I understand the underlying theory is mostly the same but I feel like I would internalize it better seeing it on a fretboard.

View on HN

Another thing, I really do recommend learning music theory on the piano/keys as well as your primary instrument. Doesn't have to be a fancy keyboard, any cheap midi thing just to visualise the way the way chords and scales are structured. I've found that learning other instruments become a lot easier once you know a little bit of theory and how they're laid out on a keyboard.

This is really good advice. With all the different places you can play the same note on guitar, it makes it a little more difficult to visualize. The one note to one key ratio can help to make things like chord structures and inversions make a lot more sense.

When I was learning theory, my teacher taught all his students, regardless of their instrument, on piano. It's the most neutral, in terms of scales and chords.

Guitar, on the other hand, usually has multiple valid fingerings (on different strings) for the same chord inversion. Part of the process of learning new chord voicings on the guitar is learning the same chord everywhere it can be played.

Or maybe a melodica? They're cheap and fun to play. (I started out on piano.)

I think each instrument's UI has something to teach. The stradella bass on an accordion with its circle-of-fifths layout is pretty interesting.

I had a collection of hundreds of guitar books at one point I think, though that was a while ago. I've made another comment here - the Berklee modern method books are great for guitar. Also, learn a ton of songs if you can. There's no better way to work on technique than learning songs. I can suggest specific books if you mention what style of guitar you're learning to play...

I'll take a look at the Berklee modern books. I'm mostly interested in jazz/funk, I know jazz especially can be very difficult theory wise.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com