Music Theory - can we do without it?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Theory -- can we do without it?

No.

[Gilpy]

I have been gigging fairly steadily for 40+ years. I have never had a formal guitar lesson, but I listen and try to incorporate what I like into my playing. Because I am blessed (or cursed!) with "good ears", I never felt the need to approach music from a theoretical perspective. I'm sure there are lots of musicians like me.

On the other hand, some people really find a lot of value and enjoyment in the knowledge of music theory. And, of course, some types of jazz absolutely require it. But an absolutely rigid insistence on playing what is musically correct can really suck the life out of a tune. Theory is not music, it's an explanation of why certain things sound right to the human ear.

I always thought I didn't know any theory. But a lot of times I'll look at a lesson or Youtube on this forum and realize that I know this stuff. I just don't know what to call it.

So yes, I think knowledge of music theory is a must, whichever way you choose to approach it. And if you're gonna communicate successfully with other musicians it's good to at least know all the notes, chords and intervals.

[fumblefingers]

Harmony and theory are relatively easy to learn. Improvising, composing and arranging effectively are much more challenging endeavors. There's no reason to be so lazy. God forbid a person have to master medicine, law, science, etc.

i think that most people who are faced with theory lessons and reject them are either not committed to music or are a kind of intellectual sloth.

[jzucker]

Theory is very important but formal, baroque theory has little to do with playing jazz. Even guys who didn't read music or understand formal theory like Benson, Martino and Montgomery developed their own music theories based on their transcriptions and analysis of established, great players. The latter is more important that studying baroque theory.

However, having said that, I will say that it's relatively easy to take a couple semesters of college level theory and then utilize that to build up your jazz theory knowledge. My experience is that folks who have absolutely zero formal theory have a harder time with jazz analysis.

Also, the great players of yesteryear who learned by ear had the good fortune of playing and coming up during the glory days of jazz when you could walk down the street and hear jazz coming from half a dozen clubs in most big cities.

My viewpoint is that formal theory is not necessary to play jazz but it certainly can help, so why not?

[fumblefingers]

yeah, and if you want to focus solely on contemporary music with your theory/harmony studies, Berklee online has put together a fairly effective and thorough way to study it that way.