Customer Reviews

An Understandable Guide to Music Theory: The Most Useful Aspects of Theory for Rock, Jazz, and Blues Musicians

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a very small, short gloss. Quite a few topics in music theory are briefly touched on, a significant number fairly esoteric, especially given that it assumes (sort of) that the reader knows next to nothing about music. It might be worthwhile as a sort of overview, but it occurs to me that the innocent novice might come away with a rather distorted idea of music theory--maybe not. (Click on the author's name, and see what other disparate titles he has published. I wonder how much this book really cares about music.) On the other hand, it may be just what you're looking for, just what you need.

For some reason this is being compared below to a different sort of book altogether, essentially a jazz and rock technique book. I happen to be familiar with it too, and I wouldn't suggest it (primarily, at least) as an alternative to the book I'm reviewing. On the other hand, that other book doesn't just "list scales": it shows you right hand and left hand fingerings in every key (the fingerings depend on the key, you know) for conventional pentatonic scales, as well as for pentatonic scales you haven't heard of before and says how all these scales mesh together. In addition to the "theory" section at the beginning--which, incidentally, can be understood by pretty much everyone with enough technique to attempt the scales--it shows as it goes along how you might put to use each kind of pentatonic scale. In so doing, it demonstrates briefly and concisely the essential tonal material of the blues--what I suspect someone below is getting at--but this is not its main intent.

In any case, as possible alternatives to this book (if one is desired), that is, to AN UNDERSTANDABLE GUIDE TO MUSIC THEORY...etc., I suggest THE ABC OF MUSIC by Imogen Holst (isn't it silly we that we can't post italics?) for beginners and TWENTIETH CENTURY COMPOSITION by Leon Dallin for intermediate "students". Just a couple of ideas.

Hmm....The most useful aspects of theory for blues musicians include pointillism and hocket and tone color melody? I doubt it. (This is understatement.) If the author has tried to avoid technical language except where absolutely necessary, why does he pepper his chapter headings with such expressions as "ternary form" (known to pop musicians as "ABA form"), and "ostinato" (known to jazz and rock musicians as "riffing)? I don't much care for the premise--if you really want to learn theory it seems to me, you should study theory--but this book is not very true to its premise. It prefers to try to impress us by throwing around irrelevant terms (many of which have only to do with twelve-tone music, a kind of music universally detested by audiences and universally ignored by pop musicians of all stripes). Well, at least a few useful aspects of theory for rock, jazz, and blues musicians are to be found here; other useful aspects of theory for rock, jazz, and blues musicians are to be found in Jeff Burns's PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST.

Recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.

I've docked this book a star for its awkward, unprofessional prose and another star for its frequent mangling of musical matter. For that matter, it doesn't seem to know who or what it's for. Its tone is patronizing. It contains no original thought or substance. If you are content with abbreviated, non-contextual (and therefore, in my opinion, virtually meaningless) explanations, you'll be happier with a pocket music dictionary Prefer music books written--with the television set off--by practicing musicians.

(By the way, it appears that this book has not been edited. Among its typographical errors appears this curiosity: "quartal" is misspelled as "cuartal" throughout. Hmm...well, "cuartel"--with an "e"--is Spanish for "quarter"....)

I picked this up on a lark at the local bookstore. Its perfect if you want to make music yourself and need to learn the really useful parts of music theory. The author discusses examples from many styles (Bartok, Allman Bros., Devo, etc.) and he does not waste your time with anything unimportant or pedantic. I really appreciated his efforts to guide the reader away from overworked musical ideas, and his clear presentation. As to the spelling of quartal/cuartal, what could possibly matter less?

Poorly written and not edited. It will confuse you more that help you.

"An Understandable Guide to Music Theory: The Most Useful Aspects of Theory for Rock, Jazz, and Blues Musicians" is one of the greatest investments I've ever made as a musician! This book is jam packed with information into a little book (about 80-100 pages or so) but is not packed to the point of too much information to learn. The writer is very organized and knowledgable about the subjects in this book and explains them in a easy-to-understand way, even for beginners. He also teaches a lot of scales I was not familiar with and I've been playing music and studying theory for over 10 years! He even touches a little bit on orchestration in the end. All-in-all, GET THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

This is a short and concise book that covers considerable material. As such, I found this book to be a good ADDITION to my library (I also recommend Tom Kolb's book for music theory that is more guitar centric). Note that I highlighted the work addition, this book combined with my other books and my guitar lesson's proved to be a useful reference. I have found that reading the same material written different ways helps me to better understand it.

That said, I do not recommend this book if it is to be the ONLY music theory book you plan on purchasing. However, if you are looking to augment your library, or to clarify some concepts, it would be a good choice.

I found this book very useful. I learned basic scale and chord theory a long time back and had those integrated into my playing. But I have been confused about modes, clusters various scale families and higher level ideas such as pointillism, etc. especially found in jazz.

This book cuts through the clutter found in most books by getting straight to the subjects and often citing their use in blues, rock or jazz standards. There are also suggestions about how to use these ideas in your own arrangements or solos.

The book is short and to the point (74 sparse pages, multiple music examples/diagrams on almost every page):

Scales and scale families with good discussion of intervals ~ 25% of content
Chord construction from scale theory ~ 15% of content
Chord progressions including brief sections on voice leading, subs, other topics. ~ 20%
Melody, Song forms, Musical devices, and Instrumentation guidelines ~ 40%
Good Bibliography with comments - 1 page

One criticism I think is legit against the book is that it is probably too brief for any given subject, except possibly scale theory and usage with/in chords. For example, the section on substitutions is a page and a half; voice leading, a page and a half. If you want a helicopter view of everything relevant to the serious contemporary musician - with some teasers into areas of theory that are less practical - this is a good book. If you need to study any topic in depth, it will only get you started. This is the book I was looking for. I plan to use the bibliography for more directed study.

This book removes a lot of mystery. It does require some note reading and/but is not instrument specific. It is by far the must understandable generic theory book I have ever read. (www.NorthernMusician.com)

The reviews from "Jazz Player" and "Guitar Player" are correct. This book delivers exactly what it promises: a lot of very useful information for the performing (or would-be-performing) musician in an easily understandable format. This is an excellent short guide.