The Guitar

music theory and friends?

I can play the guitar, make my own chords, a full song, with a pentatonic solo in the key of the song and so on. But I dont feel like Im really learning anything Im simply playing and experimenting. Since I want and need to fully learn music theory how can I do this as much as possible for free (Money is insanley tight right now) and/or online?
And
How does music theory tie into writing lyrics to a song?

I’m a classical musician, but I think I have some advice for you. It’s great to play and experiment, this is an important part of learning. Additionally though, find songs you like, and you can often do this online, and learn their chord structure. You can google “such’n’such song chord progression” or the song title with “chords” or “sheet music”. Alternatively, you can find low cost books with transcriptions of popular songs, online and in music stores.

As you learn more songs, not just by finger placement, but also by understanding their chord structure, you will gain a larger “vocabulary” of what certain sequences of chords sound like and what effect they have on you.

Pay attention to, for example, to a song in A major, what does the switch to F# minor feel like? How is it timed with the lyrics? How effective is it? Also, try to get an understanding of how F# minor is related to A Major, the same way A minor is related to C Major…. Do you understand those connections across keys yet? If not, contact me and I’ll help you.

Then, you can take elements of these effects of sequences and apply them to your own writing.

In short, experimentation is often what the classical musician lacks, and formal understanding is often what the self-teacher lacks. We can reconcile this through communication.

Hope this helps.

Live Lightning Crashes www.mikesguitarlessons.com Free Online Guitar Lesson