THEORY (the 20% that yields 80% of the results)

[lavaboi]

College graduates (EXCLUDING SCHOOL TEACHERS) 

How much has theory helped in your playing?

What's the 20% of theory that has helped with 80% of your playing????

Asking for myself and other players going into music academia.

 

actually, I want to hear what school teachers have to say I about theory in the context of playing too

 

(BTW Beginner resources here (no theory just where you can start))

[bassist_lewis]

Chords and their inversions

[lavaboi]

3 minutes ago, bassist_lewis said:

Chords and their inversions

that adds up

[itu]

As I try to learn more about music every day, that 20 % is now clearly bigger amount of stuff than it was 30 years ago, when I was so young, so sure about everything, and so wrong. There is still that 80 % that is growing, too, but maybe some Schönberg atonality is not so important to me after all.

There is much theory available, but I see theory as a tool: it is there for us to understand some complicated stuff. It is there like a wrench that is needed once in ten years when repairing an old Ford Fiasco. I can not say that I loved those seemingly unnecessary parts of theory (or that Ford!), but I can assure you that my taste has changed, if not evolved, over time. Even that Schönberg has some interesting stuff.

II: listen more, learn more, play more :II

repeat ad lib

[ambient]

It’s there the whole time I’m playing. Harmonisation is probably the most important thing.

[dmccombe7]

Only took lessons for the first 12-18mths back in 76. Got the basics and i still use that to learn songs.

Wish i had kept it going back then and learned more than the basics. I believe it makes you more fluent as a player but i've done ok with what i know.

I still write all my bass parts out when learning a new song as it just helps me remember the song.

Dave

[ianrendall]

Being able to understand them funny foreign words and yet still reading everything as Presto and FF much to the chagrin of our MD