How to self-teach music theory on guitar?

Question

So I've tried a lot of resources out there( the free ones) on the internet, from YouTube to PDFs. But my progress is not much. The basic stuff like major scale is clear to me only in theory, but I don't know how to use that practically. I want to feel music but I also want to know what I am doing theoretically while I am playing. What am I doing wrong? Please help.

Answer 1

Here it is in a nutshell: study the major key chord chart. (Look it up on Google.) Learn to play chord combinations in any particular key all across the fretboard. Learn the pentatonic scale and play it all the time in all keys. Play chord combinations in any key, plus the pentatonic scale.

What do I mean by chord combinations? Chord progressions in any one key. Here is the key of C:I = C, II = Dm, III = Em, iV = F, V = G, VI = Am, VII = B diminished. Go up and down the fretboard playing the pentatonic scale and the same chord progression. Be able to play a C chord everywhere it exists on the fretboard. Be able to do this with every major and minor chord, then learn seventh chords, and from there, increase your vocabulary.

Once you know the pentatonic scale VERY well, be able to turn it into the major diatonic scale (7 notes instead of 5). Then learn to superimpose the pentatonic minor and mixolydian. These scales are the same scale you are playing, just at a different starting point. For the key of C, you start at C. But what if you start at A, which is the fifth note in the scale of C? If you play an A scale over a song that is in the key of C, you are playing Mixolydian.

But don't start doing that sort of thing until you get the pentatonic scale everywhere. Be able to play pentatonic in all keys everywhere on the fretboard. Be able to play chord combinations everywhere on the fretboard. Know what key you are in. Then you can branch out and learn Mixolydian and the pentatonic minor scale and the blues scale. The blues scale is just a pentatonic scale with a flatted third included.

Answer 2

I suggest that you first learn the "feel" of the sound over the fret board in the pentatonic (root) scale only, then move to major, minor, etc. Don't look up the formation of the scale through diagrams. Listen to super basic rock music, like "Can't You See" by The Marshall Tucker Band, and just pick at all of the notes across the fret board (randomly at first) -> I chose this song because it is rooted in the D Pentatonic scale and has a simple beat/rhythm to play along with. If you have the right ear (some don't....) then you should be able to disseminate which notes do and don't go with with the song. A helpful hint is to use the rule that NO two notes on the pentatonic scale lie on adjacent frets across each string. After doing this for some time (without directly looking up the form of the scale!) you should be able to mark off each note that does and doesn't harmonize with the song. It is very tough to do this by playing each note isolated (in time) from one another so I suggest playing two notes close to each other for a comparative effect (in both time and space a.k.a. close in tempo and on the fret board). Once you have found all of these notes by simply listening to the song (20 or so times most likely) then compare what you found with the actual pentatonic scale in D. If you found the correct pattern then you're now able to creatively flow with any song that stays in one key. When the key changes for a different song, the same shape that you found with "Can't You See" for the pentatonic scale in D is simply moved or translated by a set number of frets either up or down the fret board. For example if a song is in C then you just translate/move every note on the D pentatonic scale lower (in frequency not height) by two frets (closer to the top bridge). This shows you how every scale is a copy of itself in a different key but moved up or down the fret board. Keep iterating this method with many different songs (preferably simple songs like "3 am" by Matchbox 20) for long enough time (at least months->years) you will start to see that if certain notes (usually not that many for each song) on adjacent frets (same string) are played fast enough notes adjacent to one another that go with the song. This is where the more complex scales begin to creep into this foundation of playing by ear (such as the major and minor scales). If you learn the pantatonic scales first you will find that most of these more complex scales are simply a sum of two or more pentatonic scales overlaid on top of one another. If you can figure out the identity of each pentatonic scale summed together then you can find the root chord composition then iterate to the actual progression and vise versa. BTW! -> all notes comprising each chord lie on the scale present throughout the song. This framework allows for you to make up chords that lie within the the scales that go along with the music. The craziest part is that you don't even need to know what a single note is named (a,g,d,b,c,...) you just need to know how it sounds. Who really cares what the notes and chords are called! This is how every great guitarist learned to play (i.e. Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, David Gilmore,....etc.) Good luck with learning to FEEL the music instead of memorize it. It takes time and patience at first. From my experience, people that pick up the guitar to just play their (or whoever they want to impress) favorite song then chances are they will quit out of either boredom or frustration due to the complete lack of creativity. I would stop speaking English too if all I could say was scripted for my by someone else! If you keep looking up the names and diagrams of the scales and chords just to memorize them then will you never learn to speak the language of the instrument. TIP: close your eyes as much as you can while doing this. You feel with your ears and fingers not your eyes.

Answer 3

One thing that I've found works while teaching my friend to play bass/guitar, is playing to a song while trying to find out what notes work with the song.

Step 1: Pick a song that you love

Step 2: Find out what notes sound good with it.

Step 3: Google the major scale pattern and start with the note you think sounds good.

Step 4: What other notes sound good? Chances are that those notes will fall within a major or minor scale, as the most popular scales.

As long as it's fun to learn, you'll figure out the music theory eventually :)