A Player's Guide to Chords and Harmony: Music Theory for Real-World Musicians

by Jim Aikin

If you'd like to know about music theory but don't want to get bogged down in a stuffy college-level textbook, this guide was written just for you! It's a practical, no-nonsense book ideal young musicians learning guitar so they can play rock, folk or blues; DJs who've started recording their own tracks and need to know how chord progressions work; anyone who wants to play from the chord symbols in sheet music; classical musicians who want to do more than just “read the dots ” and countless others. intervals, scales, modes, triads and advanced voicings; interpreting chord symbols and reading sheet music; voice leading, chord progressions and basic song forms; classical, jazz & pop; and more, with helpful quizzes and answers.

198 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Jim Aikin (born in 1948 as James Douglas Aikin) is an American science fiction writer based in California. He is also a music technology writer, an interactive fiction writer, freelance editor and writer, cellist, composer, and teacher. He has in the past written hundreds of articles for various music industry magazines, including Electronic Musician, Keyboard Magazine, and Mix. His modular analog synthesizer is close enough to his writing desk that he can reach out and touch it.

Aikin sold his first fiction story to Fantasy & Science Fiction where it appeared in the February 1981 issue.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good music theory text but it is very wordy.

Although the language used is easy to understand and it is less abstract than many college music theory books, it is still geared towards musicians who want to learn by reading.

There is a lot of text on each page. Concepts are explained well but it is very wordy.
If you are a musician who is less inclined to absorb information by reading, or if you want to quickly skim a book looking for relevant concepts, this is not the book for you. It is impossible to understand this without fully reading the text. Many musicians may be better served by video lessons.

On the other hand, if you have an academic interest in music theory or if you need to study for a course and find your current textbook isn't helping then you might want to try this book out. The author has done an excellent job explaining concepts and linking various terms i.e. Tonic equals I equals Do. Borrow it from a library and see if it meets your needs.