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One thing that I'm sure really helped me, was I know my way around a piano/keyboard, so I already knew where the sharps/flats go, which is the kind of thing if you don't know well, will hamper the next stages like learning chord construction, as rather than thinking about what the I, III, V are, first you're having to think where the sharps/flats go.
*By a while, I mean for a couple years! I generally learn a bit, then get distracted/frustrated then ignore it for a while, however I'm very gradually working my way through it.
https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/513G7qJMFGL._SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_.jpg
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Theory-Dummies-Michael-Pilhofer/dp/1118990943/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Theory-Practice-Grade-ABRSM/dp/1860969429/
Michael New does some really good keyboard based theory lessons on YouTube which helped me grasp a few concepts.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Is there a book that you recommend that does explain the whys and theory?
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I've been playing guitar for nearly 50 years now and my knowledge of theory is tightly locked to the guitar. In recent years I've been trying to get into keyboards and struggle with visualisation in that context. I find it hard to instantly see intervals on the piano keyboard (especially the intermediate intervals around a 6th) whereas I can instantly see them on guitar.
I hear and see things in terms of patterns, and those patterns are easier for me to relate to guitar than a piano keyboard.
So in summary I'm not sure about the 'keyboard argument' but @viz knows much more about theory than me so maybe I'm wrong.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
For me, what you say about your experience with the guitar is definitely valid, and lots of violinists, flautists and trombonists I’m sure would agree with you. In fact come to think of it, I’m a guitarist and violinist and I also know exactly what you mean. Your point about being able to see a 6th better on the guitar resonates with me.
I think it’s possibly because you’ve just grown up that way, but also possibly because the guitar really is a better tool than the piano for showing intervals, because it is a more key-agnostic instrument. Although the guitar is basically tuned to G major / E minor, it’s not as rigid as a piano which is more grounded in C major / A minor.
And Phil’s point about each string being like a piano, just offset by a few notes, is aligned with that point too.
So in terms of playing, I’d be comfortable with what you say. What I think I’m trying to say is that the piano is a very good theoretical model of C major and the other keys too. I’m not saying that it necessarily facilitates playing in different keys as well as other instruments (though a pianist would definitely say it does!), but that it actually models the entire construct that the diatonic system is founded on.
It means that you can build up the keys, one-by-one, perhaps referring to the circle-of-5ths wheel or other mnemonics like Father Charles Goes Down..., and see exactly how the accumulating sharps or flats get added to each key, very simply and intuitively. The piano effectively models the whole construct of the key system. And of course therefore you can do the same with modes. And you can also use it for harmonising the scales - for example, a ii-V-I in C major (Dm, G7, C) uses only white notes. And for knowing which neighbouring notes don’t have sharps between them. That sort of thing.
If you don’t have a picture of a piano keyboard while trying to work through this stuff you are just working a bit more blindly, and I think it takes that bit longer.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.