Guitar Music Theory versus Can I Just Play?

Usually, someone picks up a guitar because some guitar lick caught their attention, and they want to learn to play “just like famous guitarist’s name.”  As their interest in the instrument grows, the lick is not enough to satisfy an expanding passion, and a dedicated guitarist is stuck asking, “What’s next?”

This is where the debate arises:  some guitarists say, “learn guitar theory, take some lessons,” others say, “you don’t need theory to be a guitarist, just keep playing.”  A mix of the two is probably the best way to go at this point in your guitar playing world.

Regardless of the type of guitar you play, having some understanding of music theory and chord progressions are helpful in jam sessions, putting together a band and for expanding your playing options. Many colleges and community colleges offer low cost music theory courses, and there are some great books designed specifically for guitarists that give excellent overviews of music theory, while still being clear and understandable to someone with little or no formal music exposure.

Bruce Emery has a great collection of books that can take a guitarist from day one with their guitar to the finer points of music theory. His books are a little difficult to find (for example, Guitar Center does not carry them), but they are excellent resources.

A key piece to advancing in guitar is knowing about key signatures, what chords fit in these keys and how they all fit together.  For example, an enormous amount of rock, folk, and bluegrass music is written in the Key of G (major).  The chords that will appear in a song in G major are G major, C major, D major, and D7.   Generally, speaking you can determine the key by which chord is played first and often last.  Later, when reading music becomes a habit, other tools can help determine the proper key.  For the purposes of the G key, G major is the tonic chord.

Many things guitarists learn from day one will be covered in music theory classes or books.  However, because either can add depth, and understanding to the instrument and the music that can be created or recreated, it is a small investment to being a better guitarist.