Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method)
by Tom Kolb
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tom KolbEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-05-01
ISBN: 063406651X
Number of pages: 104
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780634066511
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method)
Book Review: Mediocre, but main problems aren't particular to this book
Summary: 2 Stars
All the other reviews are ignorant and biased. Bet I'll get a lot of sympathy now that I've said that... (I wish sarcasm came off better in print).
What this book claims is "music theory" is a jazz and western and notation-name-jargon bunch of explanations that are specific to certain styles.
Some of the ideas are good, rhythm and such being alright. The book is laid out well, but the content doesn't actually explain music. It explains particular historic naming that has been used in jazz and pop and classical western music. Everything is based on scale and chord names. Since the majority of theory texts have this same questionable focus, basically few of the readers of this are any wiser and they all think that because they can now tell you the difference between m7b5 and fully diminished 7 that they understand how music works.
This book will successfully teach you to communicate with jazz musicians and all sorts of other rock-pop-classical people who happen to also have learned this same jargon. You will not understand how music really works, and if you assume that this jargon equals "music theory" then many of you will assume that music theory in itself is not worthwhile.
Don't get me wrong: most books teach this same stuff. But real understanding of music is based on tension and release, the harmonic series, stylistic expectations, melodic voice-leading, rhythmic accent and grouping, phrasing, etc. If you stick with the stuff in this book, you'll be learning nothing much about the vast majority of music styles in the world. You'll learn that certain chords go to other chords (which they do only if you stick to cliche western music).
The following books aren't perfect, but are the best I can recommend here: If you really want to understand the chord-scale issues of music, read Harmonic Experience: Tonal Harmony from Its Natural Origins to Its Modern Expression, and if you really want to get into it, get Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale. If you want to understand rhythm (versus just learning complex drum patterns, I'm talking about understanding how we experience rhythm) then get The Rhythmic Structure of Music (Phoenix Books). There are also great books covering music psychology which really explains a lot, although they aren't necessarily accessible reading. The most comprehensive overview is Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology (Oxford Library of Psychology), and the best book for general audience is probably Psychology for Musicians: Understanding and Acquiring the Skills
Actually, none of these books really is the book you are probably looking for. As far as I know, it doesn't exist. These books are some of the ones that do the best job of getting at the right perspective, but they aren't the book that we need for accessible understanding of music. I'm still searching for such a book, hoping I don't have to write it myself. Real understanding of music requires discussion of physics and psychology and has to account for all the variations in the world of music. So ethnomusicology, psychology, and physics of music books are worth looking into, but I wish there were options for general audience that were less technical. For now, just keep these points in mind and be skeptical as you go through your studies.
If you really want to just learn the most generic pop jargon and chord and scale names, you might as well get this book because I don't know of any others that are clearly better... but, there are many others just as good, this book is nothing special.
UPDATE: If you want practical and applicable to guitar, then a better alternative is Play Guitar by Ear: An Innovative Guide to Listening and Learning (Guitar Educational)
More Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method) reviews:
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Summary of Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method)
Guitarists of all levels will find a wealth of practical music knowledge in this special book and CD package. Veteran guitarist and author Tom Kolb dispels the mysteries of music theory using plain and simple terms and diagrams. The accompanying CD provides 94 tracks of music examples, scales, modes, chords, ear training, and much more!Instruments & Performers Books
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