Before I move onto the main topic of this article, I'd like to reveal something about myself: I have been writing songs for years on my guitar without any formal musical training. I just learned how to knock out a few of the main chords, got my strumming technique down and belted them out.
Admittedly, my songs were rarely chart-topping material. I wasn't exactly churning out While-My-Guitar-Gently-Weeps caliber stuff on my beat-up black Ibanez accoustic series. My style was DIY, and it often showed; I was like Tim the Tool Man Taylor of songwriting.
But I have to say that my feeble infant stage in songwriting blossomed to sturdy adolescence shortly after I turned my attention to studying music theory. My compositions really took off as my style matured. I realized that music is a language like any other, with its own set of rules, vocabulary, dialects and slang. I'd been getting by on the slang alone. Now the slang is a lot of fun, but, as I began to see, it is painfully limited.
What is music theory and how exactly can it improve your songwriting?
Well, take any song you've ever heard-- let's take one from the classics section shall we, say, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, it's practically up there with Beethoven's 5th, right? Music theory breaks down all the components of the song, starting from time signature (the beat that used for the song-- yeah, Dave Grohl!!) and tempo (how fast the song is played), to the keys, notes and chords that make up the melody and musical accompaniment to the piece.
Once the song is broken down into components, each detail can be written down and thus communicated using the agreed upon system of signs and symbols that musicians can recognize by sight (sight reading). Just like most of us know how to read English, musicians know how to read music and can then interpret any sheet music they've got in front of them into awesome, rocking sounds!
This comes in handy if you are, for example, a guitarist who has been hired for a gig. If you know music theory and how to read it, then you can step in and easily follow along with rest of the band. In fact, if making money with music is your goal then being able to interpret music theory is as close as it gets to a true necessity.
There is a very good reason why a lot of amateur musician forgo the challenge of studying this discipline: it's damn hard! Studying music theory is very time consuming, involves mastering a lot of information and it does not happen quickly. Imagine trying to learn Mandarin in a couple of weeks. You can't. For most of us, it's downright impossible. But let's say you fell in love with someone who only spoke Mandarin; you'd get down to some serious studying, I'm sure.
Well, I love music and you probably do, too, especially if you're a songwriter. In order to "speak music," it's imperative to invest time into learn about things like scales, notation, rhythm, harmonics and texture. After a few months of regular study and practice, you will truly be amazed at how much more interesting and diverse your compositions will be.
It all depends on how far you want to go, and where you want music to take you. If your goal is to just stick to three-chord punk rock power ballads like "Smells Like Teen Spirit," then you probably won't need to delve that deeply into the nitty gritty of keys and scales. But if you want to develop your talent and bring out your creativity in ways you haven't even begun to imagine, check out some more Music Theory resources to boost you knowledge:
More Music Theory Resources on my website http://www.howdoiwriteasong.com/music-theory-resources/
Thanks For Reading and Good Luck!!
I'm a fanatic for songwriting and I'd love to help you and your art in any way I can. check out my website for more info and resources:
http://www.howdoiwriteasong.com/music-theory-resources/
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