Musical Theory on Guitar: An Introduction:

I am not a big guy in music or even in guitar, I am just learning and I thought that some other people might benefit from such lessons if converted from Chapman stick lessons to guitar musical theory lessons. The lessons should be very easy and simple. Just read and try to digest before continuing to the next lesson. If there is any comment or error please send me an e-mail.

I hope that people will find these lessons useful to get a good idea about some basic theory concepts for guitar and other instruments. Some times you’ll find some mysterious concepts, try to clarify by asking or checking other websites such as http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~desmith/guitar/. Further reading is highly encouraged.

The lessons will explain general basic primitive simple musical theory that could be applied to much musical styles like Jazz, Rock, Country, Blues, Pop (O.K., so maybe it's not that much help for rap).

Musical theory is NOT a set of laws that has to be met! Its like the grammar of the Arabic language. The grammar was outlined and recognized hundreds of years after the language has been spoken or written. So the musical theory was outlined and organized after actually playing the music. “ People probably played it that way in the first place because they liked how it sounded, without much knowledge of theory. It now sounds "correct" to us because we've heard it enough times. If you keep playing it that way, it will continue to sound correct.”  However, being creative is not about sticking to the standards! Its about deviating from them. If you know the rules, you always stick to them or go around them. But f you don't know the rules, you can't make a wise choice and instead you might be going in the extreme opposite direction.. Pianist Misha Mengelberg once said he went to a conservatory to learn which rules he had to break. I believe it is in the player's best interest to understand theory no matter what he/she intends to do with it.