I was very sad.....my friends in my school who play music doesn't know anything about music theory....

well, I found, nowadays guys picked the guitar, drums, bass, just because see the other played those stuff, and think: "wow that's cool!"

that's pretty normal, but I found they started with tabs and chords....then if they heard a good song, they browsed on the internet for the tab....
finally, they can play music but they don't know anything about scales, note duration, whatever....

they just show off on the stage, playing a song, trying to be as cool as they can, but I know, they only playing CHORDS not a lead phrase or soloing part.....

and the sad part is I can't do any jam session with them because it's hard to play with somebody who don't even know C major!!
So when somebody ask me to play one local song together, they always say: "I'll play the chords, you take the lead!"......and I feel if they always do this, they'll never learn the real music.....so I always answer: "Otherwise! You take the lead!".......as result, they stop asking me to play together.....


That's my sad story.....thanks for reading.....

I'm sorry to say it but alot of the classic rock players from back in the day didn't know music theory either. Some of us are just born with the gift of playing by ear and learning by watching others that have been playing longer. I would hold it against them if i were you and just accept the fact that what they do play sounds good. Just my .02 cents

yeah, you have the plus point: your ears and learn by watching the seniors....

did you realized by playing by ears you'll find how to play good rhythm, how to play lead?
while searching the tabs and chords from internet are otherwise?

i started playing guitar beacuse i thought it was cool and decided that i needed to learn thoery so i signed up to take the music thoery class offered at my school

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Paddle faster! I hear banjo music!

Well, I'm sorry to say I have no music theory either. I like to play but I dont like to read.

Yeah, I consider playing by ear the most effective, 90% of the time it's also much faster for me to learn a tune by ear rather than using tab
I might look up chords but if I do, I work a bit with it, try it in different positions and keys. And I always work out the leads myself, either imitating or doing my own thing

But I would still say someone has to teach you 'the blues'.. (if that's your style) What i refer to as 'the blues' in this case is just the basic open 7th chords in the key of E and the basic E shuffle. From that moment, it's a lifelong quest

I do however want to learn theory, to be able to teach guitar and take a shot at some sort of guitar oriented education, just to make my life easier.. after all, there isn't much of a scene for blues and classic rock back here

So quit being judgemental of thier choices and just play with them. Then maybe you can "sneak" in some theory by showing them how to play leads.

Sorry to not be too sympathetic but it sounds like you've caused your own problem. Now go out there and fix it.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

That sucks. Keep at your threory. It'll only improve you.

I have to agree with mthorn here Leonard, maybe if you showed someone say the minor pentatonic scale lets say A in 5th position and played a standard blues progression they would see how they could solo for days in just that one position. Then you could make them play chords and show some advanced licks and you would probably get them excited. A lot of guys dont want to solo because they are not confident enough at the point they are at in there playing or believe me as almost everyone on the forum would agree you would have to signal to them for you to start soloing because most of us want to keep on going and going lol. Hey theory is great but most of all the legends cant read they know there way around the fret board and if they hear a progression will not have a problem but if you just put sheet music in front of them they would be lost. I just picked up a dvd by Paul Gilbert and he did a bunch of songs in off keys Bd-A# and said he had a hard time because he does not play in those keys often but wanted to see what sounds he could pull out and he can read and knows theory. Just try to help guys out and dont down anyone or seem like a snob if you know things better and believe me guys will want to play with you.I always help out a kid if I see one playing and will show him something or answer a question and then I have friends who just dont have patience for that which is not cool.

I started out learning theory, and I could read music. But, I don't use it anymore. Most times, I just improvise. My wife was a music major and can read really well. (She plays trumpet)... She can play anything on the page. But, she can't improvise... she's got the right note... but there's no emotion in the note. I don't say anything, though. (I was married once before and unlike some folks, I learned when to keep quiet...)

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"...The final truth is, there is no truth..." - (from "Nice n' Neat" by the Boomtown Rats)

Learn to read music
Learn theory
Learn to read tab
Learn to play by ear

Embrace both sides of this, and become more versatile.
Why should you intentionally limit yourself when it really isn't all the difficult or time consuming to learn music theory?

There's no reason you can't learn various approaches to learning.

I know a to of music theory--but I don't think about it when I play--I just play--but it can help in arranging a song, etc.

In fact knowing theory can help you figure out songs as theory isn't just a set of rules & ways to do things invented by some boring or sadistic guys who wanted to torture student musicians. It developed & grew out of how to standardize music so others can play it. It developed out of how we actually play.

Learning it helps--but don't stop there--be open minded musically.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

I know plenty of people who don't know theory. Myself included.

Hey man, you wanna hear an amazing guitar player who can't read music. Check out my friend Mikey. Dude is awesome!!

http://www.myspace.com/mikegentry


I listen to his playing all the time. I always go to this page and just let the list run through when I'm working on guitars. It's easy to just get lost in it and wire some s**t up.

Aren't all the 'stars' just saying they can't read music? I don't hear anybody saying they don't know any theory

haha, i remember a time there was the lead guitarist the star. when start up a new band the 2 guitarists fights to be the lead guitarist. that was in the 80's.

that's the time today. a lot of young poeple want to play music and don't ask where it come from, they want to have fun. there are also a lot they do and have fun to also to discover new inspiration from the past artists. in these guys i have hope.

cheers

That sortof happened to me.
But I just had an urge to learn something about theory. I try to do as much by ear as possible and improvise as much as I can.
There's nothing wrong with what your friends are doing, I think, as long as they want to make progress.

In music you've got to be progressive, and you've got to enjoy it.
That's all you need, at least that's my opinion about it

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