Music Theory For Dummies

It can give the music student an understanding in music theory, but be aware that there may be some inconsistencies. Otherwise, it's a good start book to get the student started on examining scales, measure/time signature, etc. There is an accompanying CD that can help the reader/student listen to the scales and notes for memorization.

I love the dummies book I have 4 books Songwriters, Pro Tools, Music Business and Music Theory, a must have I can honestly say I'm learning and see results big time, and I'm speaking from an Artist point of view.

Another good example from 'the Dummies' series. I found the basics for what I was looking for. Unfortunately however, I was not happy for not finding satisfactory physics behind the notes; perfect fifth, fourth, third, resonance, harmonics etc. I could suggest the reference by; Ian Johnston, 'Measured Tones - The interplay of physics and music' if you find those missing topics important as I do. Have fun, music is forever !..

This book keeps it simple and easy to understand, it allows the reader to grasp the musical theory easily without all the complexity of musical theory Great book for anyone who want to understand musical theory. It want make you an expert but for a musician to great.

If you are interested in learning Music Theory, and you can already read Music from a Lead Sheet (or better), and you also know how to deal with both 1 /4 and 1/8 notes -- look elsewhere.

Save yourself time, effort & money by clicking on the the store "Search" Box above and entering Books (then) Music Theory. Among those available from the store, I bought, have used, and highly recommend:

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"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory" by Michael Miller; or (for a slimmer & lighter touch) "Edley's Music Theory for Practical People" by Ed Roseman. Miller's Book is also cheaper, and either one will take you many miles farther on your Musical Theory journey.

Release of this Book "Music Theory For Dummies" was delayed several months (at least on the store), and IMHO (and my case) I wish its 336? Pages hadn't made it at all. Why?

If you can use a Lead Sheet you won't even need to touch pages 1-104. Also, if you know how to read/use a Key Signature you can keep skipping to Page 147 where you will be introduced to -- Major and Minor Scales in 13 Pages (and listening to 60 of them from the CD's 93 Tracks).

Chapter 13 (pg. 160) starts "Building Chords" (Triads and Sevenths) using 32 Pages with lots of white space on them (for both Piano and Guitar), including blank Page 192. The Book has lots of white space.

In truth, the educational aspects start to improve markedly (for this Book) beginning on Page 193 (Chapter 14: Chord Progressions) and goes for another 53 Pages. Then it falls off a Cliff.

Two "highlights" of the final 70 pages for me included 1. Appendix B (37 Pages): the oversized, graphic "Chord Chart" in one continuous "Stream" for 13 of 14 Keys showing both Piano and Guitar "sets" separately (I already own better ones for Piano though); and 2. (next "best") was an 8 page detailed Table of the contents for all 93 CD Tracks, but .... I did not use the Index.

I continue to (periodically) study in Miller's Book, and wonder if I'll ever be through with it. It also contains "Lessons", "Exercises" to test you, and a CD. I really hope you will be as lucky to find Music materials that will make you feel similarly. Making Music is different from Playing it, IMO, so finding the right "Teachers" to learn that -- are worth the effort.

I got this book for my musician daughter, who says:

"Music Theory for Dummies is a great book to get you started out with learning music theory. It is written for the person with a strong interest in music theory and who has a passion to learn about it. It is by no means a good option over instruction and interaction with a real teacher, or even a theory textbook.

"Starting off, Dummies assumes you know absolutely nothing about music and begins by explaining the most basic concepts of rhythm and pitch. Their method of teaching rhythm is not novel or breakthrough, but it is detailed. The book teaches note values and rests, and then moves on to time signatures, syncopation; clefs (treble and bass, with a brief look at alto and tenor), whole and half steps, accidentals, pitch identification on piano and guitar, major and minor scales, key signatures (using circle of fifths), intervals and qualities, triads and chords, chord progressions ('this-leads-to-this' method, not model method); phrasing, harmony, form, tempo, dynamics, markings, timbre, acoustics; and is finished with an informative 'Why should I care?' section in the back and a list of famous composers. The appendices in the back hold a glossary of music terms and also piano and guitar position charts. My book came with a CD that played scales and intervals.

"As a musician, then, I see Dummies this way: I understand the book because I understand music already, but I'm not sure if it would be confusing or not to someone with no music background who just pulled it off the shelf to learn a little bit by himself. I don't agree with their order of teaching the concepts, but that could be just me. I do see it, however, as a great place to get started on brushing up on terms if you already know what they're talking about but need a little review.

"I give it 4 stars for being complete and accurate, but I was really hoping for a lot more of a fun, new approach to learning, and I didn't find that. I was also hoping for something that made music theory really super easy with radical ways to remember stuff in a page-gripping book that no one could put down, but I found that it was pretty intense, traditional, and clear-cut. As with any other music book, it will require dedication to stick with it, but someone with a love for music and drive to learn will do just as well here as anywhere else."

I can't honestly review Music Theory for Dummies as a beginner, but I hope to suggest who might find it useful - or not.

The book has an odd split between a first half that contains very elementary material about reading notation, intervals, scales, chords and progressions, followed by a later part that describes high-level form and composition ideas from a classical point of view. I don't think the transition works: the first part doesn't adequately prepare you for the second, and I'm not sure how much the second even belongs in this kind of book.

If you're interested in jazz improvisation, there's barely a couple of paragraphs that mention jazz and nothing worth your while to play. If you're interested in computer music, in spite of the pop references sprinkled throughout, there's a single mention of synthesizers in the chapter on tone and timbre; otherwise this book could have been written 40-50 years ago.

If you're a rock or blues player, there's little besides Roman numeral-style outlines of blues and pop song formulas - which is ironic because that's how a lot of people who don't know theory already communicate.

If you're a listener who wants to understand or analyze how music works - there's solid information in here but it's an overview and very compressed. At best it may point you in the direction of other books with more depth.

If you're interested in writing music of whatever genre, there are much better books out there - including the one written by co-author Holly Day, "Music Composition for Dummies".

Personally, I think this material is covered in more depth, with useful exercises, and better writing in Michael Miller's three volume series that includes, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory, Music Composition, Arranging and Orchestration".

Well organized with many mnemonics written by a musician with a Master's in Music who did his thesis emphasis on jazz music. I have previous musical instruction, but I was able to refresh and clear up some more basic concepts, as well as learn more advanced techniques.

Music Theory for Dummies is the best of both worlds for those of us interested in learning music theory for the first time or refreshing our musical memories. As a child music student I was inundated with music terms which meant little or nothing to me. I faked my way along, despite my ignorance of proper theory or terminology, never thinking it might pertain to me. Only as an adult, who has now written a few songs with the desire to share them, has it occurred to me that I need to know how to write music others can read rather than trying to express myself by humming my songs out. Music Theory for Dummies is a necessity for anyone who wants to truly understand the basics of music, or anyone who already does but needs an excellent reference for refresher or support in learning or comprehending the more difficult aspects of music theory. Music Theory for Dummies is essential for all students, be they beginners, or the more advanced, in need of a simplified backup source for more difficult concepts. Additionally, the drawings and CD are simply a delightful topping on a very solid foundation.

I've seen other reviews of this book complaining about it being confusing. All I can say is that it's a lot better than the other music theory books I've seen that try to cram way too much information into less than a hundred pages. I admit that I found some of the advanced parts a bit over my head, but unless you're a classical musician I doubt that you'll really need to know how to form a minor 7 flat 5 chord or any of the other oddball chords that poorly written music books throw at you.

The basic thing I took away from the book is that there are only a handfull of chords that work in any given key and that the individual notes that make up a song come from the scale based on the key that it is written in. So memorize the various scales and study sheet music to figure out the most commonly used chords in each key and just sit down with your instrument and experiment. Most of the songs that I know on the guitar use only 4 or 5 chords for each key so it's just a matter of trying them in different combinations to see what sounds good.

Some background: I am a music producer who plays several instruments and was fairy well based in music theory when I bought this book. I saw it for cheap and decided to give it a go.
The book is well organized, with condos being introduced at their proper time. It is easy and enjoyable to read. Despite the fact that I was not a beginner, I found a tremendous amount of useful information in this treasure.
I would most definitely recommend this book to a friend.

This is a very decent book for learning music theory that suffers from poor choices in organization. For example, you'll learn about Key Signatures in chapter 11, but it's not until the next chapter that you learn WHY a signature is the way it is. For people reading this with little or no prior knowledge of music theory, it will be difficult to understand more advanced music theory due to the way the book has been organized.