When Should I Start Learning Music Theory?

By Joshua LeBlanc

                This is a question that runs through the mind of any aspiring musician: “When should I learn music theory?” (or more often, “Do I need to learn music theory?”). What’s ironic is that the people who don’t want to learn music theory actually do know music theory. If you can tune your guitar, you know music theory. If you are playing any chord or scale, you know music theory. If you count the beat while playing your guitar… you get the idea. With that said, there are more advanced levels of music theory and the next three questions I ask you will tell you if you should learn the music theory concept.

Is This Relevant To Me?

                This is the first question to ask yourself. If you are playing blues, do you really need to learn how to play a Super Locrian scale? Probably not. However, this is the rabbit hole that we can find ourselves in. There is so much information out there on chords, scales, theories on how to modulate between keys, etc. but where do you begin? I usually make sure that if I’m going to spend my time learning a music theory concept that it is relevant to me and I’m interested in using the concept. My guitar coach also helps me by pointing me in the direction that I need to go in order to reach my goals. Learning theory for the sake of learning theory will not necessarily make you a better guitarist or musician. So assuming that you know why you are learning the piece of theory, let’s move on to the next question.

Can I Play This Item (Or What I Need To Apply This Concept)?

                Many times we want to learn a music theory concept because we think it’s the “secret sauce” to creating the ultimate guitar solo or song. Truth is, more than likely someone already tried the concept you’re attempting to use and found that it’s just not going to be a Billboard Top 20 idea. Sorry to burst your bubble if that was your goal, but it doesn’t mean you still can’t try it. The real question though is are you able to even play the item. If you’re trying to learn the circle of fifths, and you haven’t learned enough chord voicings or how to utilize your fretboard you may be wasting your time. However, this can be a good tool to see if you are weak in an area which brings us to our last question.

Is This Too Advanced For Me?

                Going back to the previous concept of the circle of fifths, let’s pretend that this is advanced for you. You may ask yourself “What is a fifth?”, or if you understand the concept, maybe you don’t know how to play a F# Major chord, or you have trouble just remembering where the various root notes are in order to play the chords. Sometimes this occurs where we go to learn a theory topic but then we open up a bunch of new doors that lead us into a maze of trying to figure out which piece makes sense to learn next. When this occurs we just need to list out the questions and then realize we need to take a step back and learn those concepts first. Having a guitar teacher that can guide you and break down these concepts can not only be very resourceful, but also a massive time saver.

Joshua LeBlanc is the owner and lead instructor at Lafayette School of Guitar focusing on delivering the best guitar lessons in Lafayette, LA.