Guitar Music Theory for Beginners

Guitar music theory is an extremely large part of guitar. Music theory in all genres from hip-hop to heavy metal. A degree in music comes from taking a class that does not teach a specific instrument or music production but rather a college course that teaches almost exclusively music theory.

Music theory is the foundation of Western music and an understanding of music theory is a prerequisite to being classically trained. Even musicians who are not classically trained benefit greatly from even a basic understanding of music theory. 

Many musicians can play amazingly without an understanding of music theory. One great master of playing guitar who learned everything via playing instead of learning guitar music theory was Jimi Hendrix. On the exact opposite side of the spectrum, some guitarists are classically trained and play alongside orchestras such as Yngwie Malmsteen.

Most guitarists fall in the middle of the two extremes, knowing enough about music theory to be more proficient than a layman while knowing less than a maestro. Music theory has many different layers to it. Many important moving parts to music theory make it hard to understand for the average person. 

The Differences Between Western and World Music

Western music theory also has many parts that are not applicable in other countries. For example, many passages considered dissonant by westerners are considered consonant by many other cultures most notably many African tribes, and visa versa. 

Scales from world music can be added to the repertoire of any Western musician and World Music and specifically Middle Eastern scales have been part of the reason for Marty Friedman formerly of Megadeth’s fame for years. World Music scales sound exotic so it’s no wonder many Western musicians have opted to use them over simple standard pentatonic scales. 

Music theory has changed over time, its earlier pioneers could never envision the invention of the electric guitar or the creation of genres such as jazz, blues, and world music that changed music theory forever. 

Music theory is fluid. A musician might use one aspect of music theory while ignoring some or even all the others. Even musicians who only use the pentatonic scale and or make three-chord songs would benefit from at least a cursory understanding of music theory.

The more complex the music the more important music theory becomes. Artists such as Rush or Yngwie Malmsteen have such a clear and striking command over music theory that have used many complex and innovative songwriting techniques thanks to their understanding of music theory. Many of the three-chord punks bands of the 70s and 80s have less of an understanding while most musicians will find themselves being in the middle of the two extremes. 

Musicians might change their position in the spectrum over time. Iron Maiden made their sound and songwriting style more complex over time while Metallica simplified it by lowering the heaviness to become radio-friendly.

Understanding Notes, Semitones, and Chords in Music Theory

It is now time to begin discussing the fundamentals of understanding music theory. The building block of guitar music theory is the note. A note is an audible sound that conforms to a pitch required to be included in western music. The notes of Western music are split into usually two semitones.

Semitones themselves may also be referred to as notes. There are eight notes and twelve semitones, A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, and G#. The semitones may also be written as Ab, A, Bb, B, C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, and G. F may as be written as E# and C may be written as B#. B may be written as Cb and E may be written as Fb.

One of these semitones will serve as the root note of the key of the song. The root note is the note the song revolves around and the song will usually start and end with the root. The semitones can be set to loop chromatically forever. 

All chords are three different semitones played at the same time and all songs are at least three chords played in a sequence. Multiple chords played in a sequence are called a chord progression. It takes at least one chord progression with at least three chords to make a song. A chord progression will often have more than three chords and a song will often have more than one chord progression. 

A group of notes played in a sequence is called a melody. Multiple melodies played over each other are called a harmony. 

The Chromatic Scale

The root note is the first note on a scale. The second note is the minor second, the third note is the major second, the fourth note is the minor third, the fifth note is the major third, The sixth note is the perfect fourth, the seventh note is flat fifth, The eighth note is the perfect fifth, the ninth note is a minor sixth, the tenth note is major sixth, the eleventh note is the minor seventh, The twelfth note is the major seventh and the last note is an octave of the root note. 

The distance between these notes is referred to as intervals. The difference between intervals is very significant and changes the sound of the chords that they are placed in. Minor seconds, major seconds, and perfect fourths sound suspenseful. Major thirds sound happy while minor thirds sound can sound sad or epic. Flat fifths sound evil and dark and a chord that uses them is even called the devil’s tritone.

Chords, Scales, and the Circle of Fifths

Perfect fifths are a large part of guitar music theory. They sound very epic and is most associated with power chords in hard rock and heavy metal music. Minor sixths, major sixths, minor sevenths, and major sevenths all sound rich and robust. Most chords use a root, a perfect fifth, and then some other note. Additionally, the most commonly used notes in chords are perfect fifths, minor thirds, and major thirds. 

All chords have a root note because the root is the note the chord revolves around. There is also in every song a key and at least one scale. A key is a group of eight notes that work well together a scale is the notes in a key starting on a particular key and a scale has a root note. For example, the A minor scale is the key of C starting with an A note. 

There are other scales, however. In the key of C alone there are eight scales, B locrian, E phgryian, A minor (aeolian), D dorian, G mixolydian, C ionian (major), and F lydian. These scales are present in all other keys just with different root notes. The scales were listed from darkest to lightest sounding.

Introduction to Locrian and Lydian

Locrian is considered dark enough to be unusable unless in the darkest of musical genres such as black metal. Outside very most extreme music locrian is rather rarely used. Phygrian is often used to make a song sound Spanish or Egyptian. Minor or aeolian sounds sad and epic as usual. Dorian and mixolydian both sound bluesy with the latter sounding happier than the former. Ionian (major) sounds happy as usual.  

Lydian sounds even happier than ionian (major) to the point of sounding euphoric, triumphant, or super-heroic. Lydian is used more than locrian but it is still used less than all the other scales because it does not mix well with other scales. This means that most lydian songs have to stay in lydian. 

All the keys can be cycled through via the circle of fifths, The root notes of the circle of fifths begin with C, then go G, D, A, E, B, F#, Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F, and finally C again. The circle of fifths can be set on a loop forever.

Understanding Central Chords and Scale Structures

The letter of each key is the same letter as the root note which itself is the root note of the major (ionian) scale. The notes of the circle of fifths can be cycled through by connecting it via fifths. This is done by going from the root of the key of C, C to G which then becomes the root, which then leads to D, and so on. Understanding the circle of fifths is the foundation of understanding guitar music theory.

All scales in a key have a central chord that a song using the scale should focus on. The central chord should not be the only chord in the song, however, it should serve as the core motif for the song in the scale. All of these chords are based on the same standard root, third, fifth, and seventh structure. 

The key of G major (E minor) will be used to illustrate this today. The key of G major has 8 notes like all other keys, these notes include G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#.

The central chord of G major (ionian) is a G major7 chord, the central chord of A dorian is an A minor7 chord, the central chord of B phrygian is a B minor7 chord, the central chord of C lydian is a C major7 chord, the central chord of D mixolydian is a D dominant7 chord, the central chord of E aeolian (minor) is a E minor7 chord, the central chord of F# locrian is a F# minor7b5 chord. These chords allow to play the G major scale as chords up the neck. The chords can be played as notes as well.

How to Create Catchy Chord Progressions: Common Patterns in Music Theory

There is a common misconception that learning music theory will cause a guitar player‘s sense of feeling to go away and that their playing will sound robotic and soulless. The reason why this is a misconception is because feeling and music theory are both tools. 

The feeling is more important in some contexts than music theory. Music theory is in some contexts more important than feeling. The toolbox of guitar is highly diverse and everything has its place. There are many more tools in a guitarist’s toolbox than just music theory and feeling. Proper balancing between each skill requires a delicate touch, and is a skill in and of itself, and is a subject that deserves its article.

One large part of music theory is choosing the right chords for a chord progression or the right notes for a melody. One prominent example of a common chord progression is the I-V-vi-IV progression. This chord progression is used in “Let It Be” by The Beatles, “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift, “Take On Me” by A-Ha, “Someone Like You” by Adele, “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?” by Elton John & Tim Rice, “When I Come Around” by Green Day and “Let it Go” by Kirsten Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez from the Disney movie Frozen along with many others. In the key of C major, this chord progression consists of the chords C major, G major, A minor, and F major. Many variations can be done here. 

Japan’s and Western Music’s Favorite Chord Progressions

This includes the favored chord progression in Japanese popular music, the so-called Royal Road Progression which has an IV-V-III-vi structure. The chord progression sounds the way it does because it begins on a perfect fourth which serves a subdominant role meaning that the chord sounds triumphant but still has a large amount of tension. 

This also includes the vi-IV-I-V progression which is a minor version of the previous chord progression we discussed, it’s also highly common. This progression is used in “Numb” by Linkin Park, “Kids” by MGMT, “Africa” by Toto, “River Flows in You” by Yiruma, “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne, “Grenade” by Bruno Mars, “San Francisco” by Scott Mckenzie and “Save Tonight” by Eagle Eye Cherry.

These chord progressions are popular in music in general and especially popular in pop music because they create a large amount of tension, they can be looped and they satisfy enough tension to sound complete. These chord progressions should always be considered when writing a song, especially if it’s a song that is supposed to be very catchy and popular.

In conclusion, any guitarist would benefit greatly from an understanding of music theory. Music theory is one of the most enriching, engaging, and important aspects of music. Music theory should be a part of the repertoire of any aspiring musician, especially any guitarist.