how did you learn music theory ????????? it makes my brain melt every single time đđâšď¸
honestly wish i had good straightforward advice, iâm totally self-taught and have just been led by own obsessions, iâve learned pieces from books, youtube, wikipedia, and even from r/musictheory (though i CANNOT recommend going on there it is so full of elitismâŚ). the thing that has always worked for me is learning how to play songs i like and find interesting, then picking apart how i personally react to parts of the composition. how do certain chords / chord changes / melodic intervals / rhythms etc make you feel? i make a catalog of these little pieces in my mind and it continually broadens the palette i pull from when i write. seeking out otherâs analysis of music you enjoy can be very helpful for learning terminology. i learned a lot from the book âtwentieth century harmonyâ and it heavily influenced this last record though people iâve recommended the book to said it was wayy too clinical for them to get through⌠i tend to like the very clinical nerdy stuff myself. most of my background is in jazz theory and i have learned so much of that by picking apart standards as well as transcribed solos, i have the bill evans omnibook and have learned much from his solos. but yeah, basic level stuff: look up the chords for songs you like and try to understand how each chord makes you feel and how each chord change makes you feel. see if anybody else who knows all the fancy terms has tried to pick apart the song and their own feelings on it. itâs all feeling at the end of the dayâŚ
music theory is not itself music, it is just flawed representations of musical ideas that can act as a lingua franca for musicians to communicate with each other. i often struggle to describe the most important parts of music with any existing terms, and âwesternâ theory is historically racist so music from outside of the elite, white, imperial world is often lacking in terminology. many find their own languages (sometimes a language that is not spoken with words) outside of that or work alone and see no need to even put musical ideas into language in the first place. find ideas you like, try to understand them, and add them to your palette, thatâs my advice
sorry for the mini essay, hope that helps at all
snowghoul
gracieabrams
discoholicmusic
2087
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