Music Theory For Guitar
Music Theory For Guitarists FINALLY Explained! Your Frustration In Understanding Music Theory As A Guitar Player Ends Here!
Have you been struggling to learn music theory for guitar? Or are you simply looking for a faster, better and easier way to learn music theory? You're not alone. I know how you feel and a lot of guitar players have felt this way. What I've found is there are 5 main reasons why guitar players become frustrated when trying to learn music theory on the guitar.
Here are the 5 big reasons other music theory websites, books, resources or products may not work for you:
- The way they try to teach you music theory on the guitar is very often hard to understand and can become overwhelming fast.
- They don't show you how to apply music theory to actual guitar playing. In other words, there is a disconnect between the music theory concepts they attempt to explain and the real music that you want to play or create.
- Most of the time, what is being taught are incomplete 'pieces' of music theory without real connection to other concepts.
- Their approach to teaching music theory for guitar is just BORING - kind of like reading a computer manual… yuk!
- There's a lot of music theory stuff out there for guitar. But there is not not much guidance about what you need to do so that you can focus on what you want to achieve with your music.
If you are like most guitar players, you want a place where you can get:
- music theory help for guitar that is easy to understand but isn't written only for people who began playing guitar yesterday.
- music theory lessons, advice and resources for guitar that will actually show you how to apply what you learn to real life guitar playing.
- a complete picture of the music theory concepts you want to learn, understand and use on your guitar and in your own music.
- an understanding of music theory that is interesting to learn and is not written in a dry and boring way that is painful to read.
- a real idea of what aspects of music theory are the most useful things for you to learn right now and in your guitar playing future.
We designed MusicTheoryForGuitar.com and all our music theory guitar articles, lessons and resources to give you exactly what you want and need. Now you can learn music theory for guitar in a fun, easy-to-understand, and complete way.
Welcome home. :)
Music Theory Guitar Courses
NEW COURSE: Modulation Mastery
Modulation Mastery is the course you want to take if:
You want to learn how to create to write dramatic, engaging, and emotional changes of key that actually work with your songs.
You are ready for an advanced course (if not, take Complete Chord Mastery instead)
You play guitar OR play piano/keyboard, OR you write music using a computer via MIDI or a DAW (yes, you don’t even need to be able to play an instrument)
It's a course for intermediate/advanced players: you need to know your basic harmony (the details are on the product page or feel free to contact me if you want a personalised assessment)
Modulations (i.e. key changes) were literally invented to give you more emotional power when writing music!
Most people think of modulations as a “problem” to be solved, or as an “exercise” to be completed. Such as: "My verse and chorus are in different keys. How do I connect them?"; "I have an awkward transition in my song, how do I smooth it out?"; or "My teacher gave me this exercise to modulate between these two keys. How do I do that?"
And let me be clear here, these are legit and important uses for modulations.. but they are missing the main point of changing keys. But...
... the danger of thinking of modulations only as a “problem” is that you will be pushed to think about the “easiest”, “most direct” and “most correct” modulation, as if changing keys was a mathematical problem that has only one solution.
But in reality, the easy “by-the-book” modulation could actually ruin the effect of the key change. Indeed, an over-reliance of “by-the-book” solutions has made modulations sound boring.
Your listener does not want the “most direct” modulation! Your listener wants an emotional journey, filled with drama. Let me be as clear as I can:
THE PART OF THE SONG THAT MAKES YOU CRY IS MOST OFTEN A MODULATION - The Modulation Mastery course shows you how.
In this course all the examples are played on a guitar, but they are also transcribed in the PDF’s that accompany each video - in both guitar tablature and in standard notation. So the course can be used not only by Guitar players, but also by Piano players or composers that work via MIDI or DAW.
Complete Chord Mastery
Complete Chord Mastery is the course you want to take if:
- Your focus is on rhythm guitar.
- You are interested in songwriting and composition.
- You want to learn harmony on the guitar fretboard.
It's a course for both beginner an advanced players.
What if you already knew and were able to play any chord on the guitar, in any position and could freely create your own awesome music? I’m not talking about being able to look up any chord, or sit there and waste time trying to figure it out. I mean being able to find and play any chord right away in any position as fluently as you can speak. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
If you’re like most guitar players, you might still be struggling to master guitar chords everywhere on the guitar. Hey, I’ve been there too, we all have. It seems like there is soooo much stuff to learn, and it would take a lifetime to learn it all! That’s what I used to think. It was so frustrating.
...but what I’ve found is there are people in this world who have mastered chords and it didn’t take that long to do. They aren’t any smarter or more talented than you or I.
I’ve developed a simple harmony system that I use with my own real-life students. This system takes out the mystery from the guitar so that they can learn, understand and (fluently) play all sorts of chords in a short time. You too will be able to play any chord, from simple to very advanced, all over the fretboard, in any position, inversion or voicing.
You too can learn how to understand and apply chords and harmony on guitar. You will be able to write cool chord progression - the kind that make people say "what did he just play?". You will be able to use complex chords without even thinking. You will be able to play awesome rhythm parts on your guitar in any style YOU want!
Ultimate Rhythm Mastery
Ultimate Rhythm Mastery is the course you want to take if:
Play with total confidence
Sound better
Be able to play any rhythm, song, or solo with perfect timing.
It's a course for both beginner and advanced players.
The reason why many people don’t sound the way they want to sound is their lack of mastery of rhythm and timing. In fact, I personally struggled for a long time trying to answer this one question: "Can I really learn and master rhythm, or is this something you have to be born with or have natural talent for?"
To make matters even worse, sometimes (no matter what you do), it just feels hard to learn rhythm in the traditional ways with boring rhythm exercises that nobody wants to practice when all you really want to do is be able to play any rhythm easily by feel.
When all is said and done, my guess is you really just want to sound awesome when you play, impress yourself and others, enjoy playing more, and even be able to sit in and play with other skilled musicians instead of struggling to keep up...
Well, search no more. This course helps you develop rock-solid timing that will make everything you play on guitar sound better instantly. You will finally master rhythm on guitar, become a rhythmically creative player, and have that groove that make people nod their heads and tap their foot.
Master Of The Modes: The Supreme Course To Understanding And Applying Scales And Modes On Guitar
Master of the Modes is the course you want if:
- You want to focus on lead guitar playing.
- You want to completely master the guitar fretboard
- You want be able to improvise over ANY backing track or chord progression
It's a course for both beginner an advanced players.
Some guitar players seem to create unique, creative and awesome guitar solos. Somehow, being creative just comes easy for them. How do they do it? They have mastered how be creative with scales & modes on guitar... and with this I don't mean a bunch of scale patterns thrown together: I mean REAL musical insight.
Scales and modes are one of the most difficult (and controversial) topic in music theory... To make them easy-to-understand you need a simple and consistent system. A system for learning, mastering, and actually using scales and modes in real music without any limitations.
Armed with the core knowledge of Master of the Modes, you will learn and connect all there is to know about the modes. And yes, together we will use everything you are going to learn to play real music.
Learn how to finally master completely scales and modes on guitar. Learn a system that is musically useful and will help you to write, improvise, and play the music YOU want to play!
The Complete System Of Learning, Mastering And Applying Scales For Blues Guitar
Scales for Blues Guitar is the course you want to take if:
- You want to focus on pentatonic Blues and Classic Rock leads
You hear great Blues players creating solos that sound amazing but have no idea how to do it by yourself? Do you struggle in playing the Blues in all keys and over all the fretboard (as opposed in just one basic position)? Are you thinking too much about "what to play next"? Wouldn't you rather than let your emotions speak through your playing?
If you have answered "yes" to any of the questions above, then you need to learn how music theory applies to Blues. And you need to understand how to use this knowledge into your guitar playing in an effective way.
Here's how to finally master all the scales for Blues guitar. Get rid of your frustration and lack of confidence once and for all. Learn how to play Blues from your heart!
Free Music Theory eBooks And Courses
Free Video Guide "6 Easy Steps To Learn And Play Any Rhythm With Perfect Timing"
NEW: What is the one thing that can make everything you play on the guitar sound awesome?
That's "Rhythm" (aka Timing and Groove).
Playing with a solid sense of time makes everything you play sound better. Most people won’t even notice if you play a bad note if the rhythm is solid and in the groove. On the other hand, even the best ideas sound awful if the rhythm is off.
All the best guitar players have a great sense of rhythm. It is what sets them apart.
In this Free video, “6 Easy Steps To Learn And Play Any Rhythm With Perfect Timing,” my friend and rhythm expert Brian Fish lays out the exact steps you should follow to develop awesome rhythm skills and make everything you play groove.
Free eBook + Video "How To Learn The Notes On Your Guitar Fretboard"
NEW: They told you that one of the most important things to sound great on your guitar is to “learn the fretboard”… but they never told you WHAT to learn exactly, or more importantly, HOW to go about it.
In this eBook we will see an easy, compact, user-friendly system that anybody can use and that will make you learn the notes on the fretboard permanently and without any pain.
And the best thing? It takes only 5 minutes a day
Free eBook: 18 Tips To Make Your Pentatonic Solos Sound Professional
You know your pentatonic scale, but you don't sound like your guitar heroes? It turns out that "sounding good" on lead guitar can be broken down in few, simple elements that anyone can learn with just a little practice.
Now, some people would call them "secrets"... but these are actually the complete opposite of a secret. These are things that all good players do - they just don't realize they are doing it (and so they never explain them!)... and you can find them in this eBook!
Beginning Music Theory Guide Free eBook
Are you a complete beginner on music theory on guitar and you need some help in starting from absolute zero? Don't worry: we got you covered! You can download here your free copy of our Beginning Music Theory Guide: this short and simple eBook will get you started so that later you can move to our more advanced eBook and courses.
If you need a gentle but comprehensive introduction to music theory on guitar, this is the eBook you want to read first!
Find here more Free Music Theory Resources
LIVE Streams
Exclusive LIVE Streams with musicians, music educators, music trainers, and overall cool people ;-)
Click here for more Live Streams and to know when we are doing the next one!
Latest Music Theory Videos
Use THIS To Make Your Chord Progressions Sound WAY BETTER
Do you want your chord progressions to sound better? Of course you do! If you use this tip, your progressions will instantly come out sounding more professional!
Click here to see how to write better chord progressions with voice leading
The WORST Advice That EVERYONE Gives Musicians
Is 'play by feel' good advice for guitar players? Is there any merit to believing in this method?
Click here to see if you should be playing guitar by feel
Boost Your Creativity with Rhythm Mastery Cells
Do you find yourself playing the same strum patterns or lead phrases all the time? Rhythm Mastery Cells will help you break out of the rut you are in. To learn what Rhythm Mastery Cells are and how to use them to boost your creativity, watch this video.
How To Transcribe HARMONY And Not Just MELODY
Do you struggle with transcribing chords progressions in songs? Maybe you are completely fine with transcribing melodies, but with chords it just doesn't work?
If this sounds like you, click here to see how to transcribe chords
Write SWEETER Chord Progressions With The HONEY CHORDS
Do your chord progressions always come out sounding boring and simple? Want an easy way to make them sound way more interesting?
Click here to see how to use the honey chords
Watch more Music Theory Videos
Latest Music Theory Articles
7 Simple Tips To Have A Better Guitar Tone And Spend Nothing
Most guitar players are on a quest to find a great guitar tone, and are on the hunt for the best guitar, amp, digital modeler... And yet, we all know guitarists that have the best rig in the world and still have a bad tone. The fact is that regarding tone, the player comes before the instrument. Click here to see how you can get a great guitar tone by spending nothing and only changing the way you play and approach the instrument.
Is Music Theory For Guitar Different Than Music Theory For Other Instruments?
Is music theory for guitar different than music theory for other instruments? Well, in theory it's the same... but in practice it's very different. The topics of study for a pianist or a violinist are different than what a guitarist should focus on... and the method is different too! Click here to understand how Music Theory for Guitarists is different from music theory for piano (or trombone), and how this affects you.
Do You Need Music Theory To Write A Song?
"Do you really need theory to write a song?" is one of the most common questions I receive. The answer is both "yes" and "no", and probably not for the reason you think it is.
Click here to see if you really need theory to write music, how the musicians who adamantly refuse to study theory are in fact making their own life harder, and how you can make YOUR life easier! (5 minutes read)
Read more Music Theory Articles
Latest Music Theory Interviews
We recently interviewed Jeff Loomis of Nevermore fame, and picked his mind on his approach to composition. Jeff shares some great advice on dealing with writer's block and on keeping your solos fresh and spontaneous.
Read our new interview with Christian Muenzner (Obscura, Necrophagist, Spawn of Possession). Christian shares with us some of his tricks on how to use theory to compose music out-of-the-box, and how to have theoretical concepts work for you rather than being slave of them. Recommended read!
An exclusive interview with raising star Julia Kosterova about how she approached composing on her new album Springs of Time. Learn how Julia used music theory to create melodic and original songs. Click here to listen to the inteview with Julia Kosterova on composition.
Listen to more Music Theory Interviews
What My Students Say
James Maxwell
Course: Master of the Modes
"I have been playing guitar for 30 years and have a Bachelor's of Arts in music, but I was still missing a huge piece of the puzzle. After buying several recommend books and countless Youtube tutorials I was left very frustrated. The information was there but it was still boring and lifeless. When I found the Master of the Modes course I knew I was on the right track just by how it was described so I enrolled immediately."
Josh Beetler
Course: Master of the Modes
"This course is the first and only course I've ever found that simplified the entire process of learning scales into comprehensive, well though out lessons that build upon one another. I can't wait for the next lesson!"
Gottfrid Norberg Waxin
Course: Master of the Modes
"The Master Of The Modes course is one of the best investments I've made into my own guitar playing. It's such a fun course that explores the theory and practice of modes in a way that I haven't seen before. I have been able to progress with Tommaso's course very quickly, and a big part of that comes from how the concepts are being taught."
See more Music Theory Students