Music Theory for Guitarists - The Theory Behind What You Already Play

Most guitarists have decided they don't need theory.

Usually that's because the theory they met was written for piano: the staff, key signatures, examples in C, and a list of rules about what you're not allowed to play. It arrives already translated from an instrument you don't play, and the translation loses the one thing the guitar is good at.

This book starts from the fretboard instead. On a guitar, a distance is the same distance everywhere, so learn a formula once and it works from any root, in every key. That's how I teach theory here: formulas and distances, worked out on the neck, with 40 diagrams doing most of the work. No notation, no tab, and no shapes to memorise.

Every idea comes with something to play, a minute or two on the guitar that turns it into a sound you can hear. If a piece of theory can't be played, I left it out.

WHAT IT COVERS

— Intervals, and how they map across the strings

— The major scale as a formula, and why the pentatonic never clashes

— Keys, relative minors, and finding the key of a song by ear

— How every chord is built, and how to read any chord symbol

— Which chords belong to a key, and what each one does

— Minor keys, chords from outside the key, and the tritone substitution

— Why the blues breaks the rules and gets away with it

— Modes, explained once, as one family

— Rhythm, without a single note of notation

WHO IT'S FOR

Self-taught players who can play some chords and want to understand what they're playing. If you've bounced off theory books written for piano, this is the one I'd hand you.

WHAT YOU GET

A 67-page PDF, 6 × 9 inches, with 40 diagrams. The download link arrives by email straight away. There's a free preview of the first two chapters on this page if you want to read before you buy.