Have you ever tried to learn music theory?
I have, a couple of times. Once when I was a newbie at guitar. Almost none of it made sense.
Later, when I was in college, I was forced to learn music theory.
Lots of it.
It made a lot more sense then, but it wasn’t because I was better or smarter or even because I had a trained professional teaching me.
It made sense because I was using it.
Every day, I had to write music using what I had learned.
This forced me to think carefully about what I was doing.
It forced me to understand the concepts and put them into practice.
The “into practice” part is what made all the difference in the world.
Later, I was thankful for all the counterpoint and harmonic progressions I had to write because it made composing much easier.
It also made me more creative (not less, which is a common myth about music theory).
So, this weeks tip is simple: Do not study music theory for the sake of studying music theory.
If you’re going to learn music theory, put it into practice.
If you put it into practice, it will become clear how useful is music theory.
If you’re not sure how to put it into practice, find a teacher who can help you.
