Music Theory for Dummies

by Michael Pilhofer, Holly Day

For people who want a deeper understanding and appreciation of music, or who want to do their own composing and arranging, a basic grounding in music theory is essential. Written for the nearly 30,000

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference, Art, Education, Unfinished, Ebooks

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Greg F · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an aspiring composer, I felt that picking up a dusty copy of “Music Theory for Dummies” out of my garage was a good idea. I was mistaken. The book is a complete waste for an experienced musician, as it sticks to basic concepts such as note values, the circle of fifths, and progressions. For those who are not familiar with such concepts, researching and applying information found on the internet is far more effective, as no money is lost and a wider range of advice is received. I would only recommend this book for musicians who are having trouble beginning, do not have a teacher to ask, and cannot understand the articles on the net on the subjects they need help with, as this book slows down and breaks down those beginning concepts, making them much easier to understand.

[Cass · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been taking piano lessons for a month and loving it. As an adult learner I am finding the concepts incredibly interesting and have been keen to get into the theory.

My piano teacher asked me to write a tune. It turned out to be a wonderful exercise. I read the book with this tune in mind.

As a high school IT teacher I have been asked on occasion to teach beginner Flash to adult learners. I always enjoyed it as they were fun to teach but I could never follow up with an advanced class. It was too hard, the ability levels were all over the place.

This book is for musicians with some skills, guitarists and pianists particularly.

I found it a good base but some things were extremely detailed and others assumed too much. It was a quick read and I will skim it a bit in the future.

[Andrés Diplotti · Rating 3 out of 5]

As one of the dummies this book was ostensibly written for, I can say I found it quite useful. Last week I didn't even know what a treble clef was for, or why a piano had black keys. After reading this book, I get to look at my past over the shoulder with a little sense of superiority.

I found somewhat distressing to learn that music theory seems to be choke-full with historical artifacts. Of course, that's not the book's fault: there's nothing the authors can do about it. What they do is to include some instructive history asides that help you understand why things are the way they are, rather than just telling you "this is what you need to know, period."

There is, however, something to be forewarned about. The book's title might lead you to think this is some kind of primer, which is the reason I picked it up in the first place. Instead, it is written as a reference guide, so reading it from beginning to end may be a sometimes tedious experience. Every specific topic has its own heading, where it is thoroughly elaborated upon before moving on to the next. You don't get to read anything at all about harmony or melody until everything has been said about beat, tempo, bars, and time signatures; and you don't find a single word about chords until after every possible perfect, major, minor, augmented, and diminished interval has been painstakingly described and shown to you. And yes: some of the discussion seems to be a tad above the "for dummies" level promised by the cover. I doubt someone who just wants to get a better sense of what their guitar instructor means by "this is an E7 chord" will be building a minor harmonic scale very soon.

In short: yes, the book is good and useful. However, like music itself, might have benefited from a better-planned progression.

[Muhammadreza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading this book more than six months ago. One of the best sources for learning music theory for people how have no idea about "classical" or in a better word, "academic" music. After reading this book I could start composing music in the right way. Also, I learned much more about pop, blues and jazz and it helped me write much better songs in these genres.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Świetnie spełniła swoje zadanie, choć rozpieściła początkowym łopatologizmem i przy końcówce z septymami można się łatwo pogubić. Ale podstawa wyłożona prościutto i w punkt — teraz przynajmniej nie mam schizy przed książkami dot. teorii muzyki z sylabusa. Bardzo polecam, choć jest tak brzydka, że musiałam zerwać jej okładkę (piekło już mi grzeje siodełko) :x

[Rick Brindle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book, easy to understand, that introduces the reader to all the building blocks needed to be able to understand sheet music, and allow them an insight into making their own music. I'd say this is one of those books that is ideal for any music student to start reading right at the beginning of their musical journey. It will unlock a lot of the mysteries about reading music. I'd heartily recommend.

[Ramona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erg interessant en leerzaam maar ook erg pittig. Ga vrees ik nooit onthouden en kunnen toepassen wat ik gelezen heb 🙈🙈

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reference book. I knew more than I thought about music theory, but there were several sections that I'll likely reread to fully take in all the information.

[Raw.B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book secondary to another music theory book. This individual book is very short, straight to the point, clearly written, and cleverly thought out. It really helped me pull all the information gained from the other book together and allowed me to understand further the reasoning behind each element of music.

I will definitely be referring back to this book during my musical journey and I couldn't recommend this book too highly. However, if you're looking for something a bit more deep and complex, there is better options.

[Stephen Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Will be useful reference, but was disappointed in the end, it felt quite 'dialed in' in many places and also lots of filler. hard to know who target actually is. Good chord diagrams and I will refer to it for some things, but lacking something overall

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed. There is a lot that can be learned for someone who can learn without having a human available to answer questions.

[Frederike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sommige hoofdstukken van dit muziektheorieboek bevatten behoorlijk geavanceerde concepten en sprongen, terwijl andere best 'basic' zijn in de typisch kijk-mij-eens-grappig-zijn dummie-stijl

[Shawn Pi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should have read it way before😅😅😅

[Umberto Fontana · Rating 4 out of 5]

As all the books 'for dummies', is a great instrument for beginners, but not sufficient for a very deep understanding of the subject. Accompanied with other tools, though, it can be considered as a music theory 101 course.

[Fusquenllo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading it. Doesn't mean I remember all I read. It was surely an introduction, and a very good one.

[thuys]

Well this book covers lots of basic stuffs you need to know when it comes to music theory, but Id rather say no to recommend to any truly madly deeply dummy, because you can never get the best understanding of any new knowledge when stumbling upon "check out X in chapter Y" (chapter Y lies sonewhere far behind in the book) over and over again. If you already had some basic ideas then this book is just fine.

[Danny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it was a good review of basic theory, I don't think this book would do a great job of teaching someone for this first time. (AKA a dummy)

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good refresher!

[Javier Sánchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy útil para empezar a familiarizarte con los elementos básicos que componen la teoría musical y para poder entender una partitura cuando la tienes delante.

[M.C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para mí que no sé nada de música, muy interesante. Me ha hecho comprender cosas que me parecían chino. Supongo que para el que sepa será algo básico pero bueno, ya dice que es para "dummies"...

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seriously, what did you expect? I believe that I have one or two other of these "Dummies" books on my shelves, probably related to Web design or something else that I don't know shit about - and I think that's the key point, if you have even a basic grasp on music theory then I suggest you should skip this book and go get a serious book on the subject.

In the case of my aforementioned web design books, I'm sure that I was suitably impressed by flicking through and seeing terminology that indicated the correct subject matter. In the case here, I found that apart from a few obscurities all of the content was either 1) not covered in enough detail OR 2) so basic as to not need as much detail as was provided.

In my view this book would make a reasonable reference source for absolute beginners, but after that I think there are better sources to reference - not least of which is your own notes and summaries!

The part which I liked most was the trivia at the end regarding "composers who I should know" which began to finally touch on some of the theoretical reasons for Western musical conventions.

Full disclosure, I moved through this so quickly because I listened to it while working and I did not stop to examine or memorise the reference tables which a beginner should definitely take the time to do.

[Jim Poling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The popular adage about learning that states “the more you learn, the less you know” suggesting that learning is a paradox because the more you learn the more aware you become of how little you know. This idea really applies to this book and topic for me.

I have tinkering with the piano for about a year or 2 and Iv done the same with the guitar for the least 6 months or so. Iv never taken any formal music classes but Iv spent about 15 minutes a day for the last year or 2 trying to self teach on these instruments using apps. Iv felt like Iv come a long way even knowing there’s lots I don’t know. However, this book really opened my eyes to how little i don’t know about music. Holy shit, I know nothing about music! Most of this book seemed like a foreign language to me. The parts I did understand were fascinating but so much of it went right over my head. I definitely don’t think this is a book for “dummies” as the title suggests. I think the information presented in this book would be much better served for someone who already has a strong grasp on musical concepts.

[Horatio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hat mir auf jeden Fall geholfen, dass theoretische Wissen, was ich mir durch englische Medien im Internet selber beigebracht habe, nochmal zu festigen, und auch einige Zusammenhänge zu verdeutlichen (besonders Eigenschaften des Quintenzirkels), was ich aber ein bisschen bedenklich finde ist, wie das Narrativ "Die westliche Spielweise, die im 18. Jh profilierte, hört sich am besten an, und wenn du davon abweichst, tust du dir und deinen Zuhörern keinen Gefallen" dem Leser eingeflößt wird, und mit Konzepten und Ideen, die aufgrund ihrer Unbeliebtheit in der Musiklandschaft als Ganzes (Sonettform, etc.) nicht häufig vorkommen, viel zu viel Zeit verbracht hat. Ich fände es dann doch besser, wenn man mehr Wegweiser in verschiedene Genres bekommen hätte ("Der Jazz zeichnet sich durch X, Y und Z aus, wenn man daran Interesse hat, dann lohnt es sich in Richtung A umzuschauen" und solche Sachen halt, wenn überhaupt kam das nur ganz am Ende durch die kurzen Personenprofile auf).

[Brian Hutzell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a longtime musician who used to do a lot of songwriting. I’ve been entertaining the idea of doing some more serious composing, and toward that end decided I should give myself a quick music theory refresher course. Reading a music theory book borrowed from the library from cover to cover is not an ideal way to get the most out of the book, unless you are simply reviewing what you (mostly) already know, like me. For anyone just beginning their musical journey, whether as a performer or composer, a far better way to go about it would be to buy the book and keep it handy for at least a couple of years, using it alongside practicing, listening, and other studying. As an all-in-one music theory overview, Music Theory For Dummies does a pretty good job, covering the absolute basics and at least touching on more advanced concepts like composition form. My biggest quibble with the book is that there are a few too many typos, both in the text and in the musical examples.

[D.A. Fellows · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars. A comfortable introduction to the world of music theory and notation for this noob. While it will still take a long time for me to learn this language fluently and without hesitation, I’m happy to have this knowledge in mind as I go forward learning to play the guitar. While I know guitarists can progress a long way without theory knowledge, my mind is the kind that likes to see the science behind the things I’m doing, and for this, I particularly appreciated the sections on chord progressions and key signatures.

There were a few unfortunate printing errors which, if I hadn’t been paying attention to the lessons I was learning, would have had me absorbing bad information. Small things like incorrect fingering for a scale pattern, and saying “flatted” when it ought to have been “double flatted”. Or maybe these things were just put in there to test me!

[Gabriel Rhenals]

As a child, my loving parents often played classical music to my prepubescent delight. As a teen, I amassed a wealth of MP3s of my favorite film soundtracks and briefly practiced piano and guitar. As an adult and filmmaker, my most involved creative collaboration has been with composer Ben Morris. Indeed, like most, I've nursed a love of music all my life.

After having been in league with Ben Morris for over 10 years, I was hit by an urge to increase my understanding of musical language and concepts to perhaps aid in my communication with Ben on subsequent projects. However, if I'm being honest, a part of me envies what he possesses and that which I've only appreciated from the distance of a mere enthusiast. So, how did I fare as a returning student of music?

I must admit I lost my way in the chapters on fundaments such as scales, keys, intervals and chords. But this entry in the popular 'For Dummies' series helped clarify many semi-familiar theoretical concepts and historical developments which I'd encountered over the years as a mild autodidact of musical forms, figures and movements. So, while I'll be staying out of Ben's lane more than I anticipated, I certainly relished this brief excursion into an art form somewhat familiar, somewhat alien and always alluring.

[Qukatheg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up mainly looking to learn more about chords, intervals and chord progressions, to learn more about the underlying structure of music. There was a lot of useful information on these topics.

However I felt a lot of pages were wasted on very basic instructions and illustrations of how to play the piano and guitar. It made me feel this book was only targeted at beginning pianists and guitarists, not other musicians.

The book also leans heavily on audio samples (understandably), but the url listed for the accompanying audio tracks (www.dummies.com/musictheory) gives a "page not found" error. Very disappointing.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading books about music theory I thought I would never be able to remember what an interval was. I was lost. After reading several books about music theory I understand music theory a lot better than when I read that first book on music theory.

So anyway I enjoyed reading music theory dummies. My favorite chapter was the chapters about intervals and chords. It was fun learning about the quality and quantity of intervals. And learning about 9th and 13th chords.

What else do I want to say about music theory for dummies? I hope that I remember a lot of what I read from reading the book. As I think the information will make me a better musician.

[Maximillian Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

The structure in this book is terrible. Consistently throughout they mention or explain terms that reference a later chapter but expect you to grasp and understand the terms? Is this a choose your adventure? Am I supposed to be constantly flipping into the later parts of the books so I can understand the references if I don't already have the knowledge of it, then flip back and continue on?
What a PITA.
There's no point paying for this book when there's a plethora of free information on the web.
Learn from my mistake and look elsewhere.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because I'm a self taught musician this answered a lot of questions I had. It also gave me some new insights into Western music. To top it off my playing improved, as did my improvisation skill. Although I'm finished reading it, I'm not finished with the book. I anticipate spending several hours going over the material in the book with guitar to hand putting theory into practice.