Music Theory for a Newbie

So I don't have any music training background and this is essentially my first shot at really learning the guitar.  Been at the lessons with Anders for a bit now and loving it.  Watching the progression is fun, though there have been a few tough spots where it felt the progression between lessons was a little too much.  But besides that I wanted to delve into some music theory to hopefully just expand my knowledge of everything.  The desire is there but watching just the intro to it (https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson/11518 ) felt like I was drinking from a firehose.  I'm guessing the answer is "yes", but does it get easier?  Is there a point where all this shit just clicks and you say "ah ha!!!!"?

I'm no stranger to hard work and progression, but I'm curious to hear from others that had the same feeling watching that lesson how they felt as time went on.  Just curious if I should actually lean on some private lessons to help with this so I don't get stuck.  That or should I kick theory to the side for the time being so I'm not trying to take on too much at once

No, don't kick theory aside. Another way to think of theory is as a set of lego blocks. In Lego, every block has a purpose and to build a house we need to put the right blocks together in the correct order.

In music we replace the lego blocks with chords and notes. To "build" a song, we need to find the chords that fit together to give us a sound that is pleasing to us and to get those cool solos, we need the right notes that fit in with our chords.

Here is a very simple example:

In the key of C major you have the following chords:

C major - D minor - E minor - F major - G major - A minor - B diminished - 7 chords.

With the exception of the last chord - B diminished - you could put any of the other 6 together and it would sound pretty good. For instance if you play C major - F major - G major in a strum it would sound pretty good, and would be a classic 1 - 4 - 5 progression. A lot of music has been written using a 1 - 4 - 5 progression.

This is very simplistic, but just think along the lines that theory just helps us identify which chords and notes work together. 

Your response is very spot on and appreciated.

So if someone tells you "this song is in the key of C Major" you immediately know that the chords you listed are the sumation of all the notes in the song? 

I have this mixed sense of the lessons should really blend theory with chords vs talk about some notes, then show how they meld and create the chords.  But you have to have a good short payoff process to help envigorate people to continue, so I get the chord focus, since most people just want to know how to play X song.  

I want to understand what makes the chords and why, but my worry is that digging into that now is a quagmire. 

I suggest reading a book called No Bull Music Theory For Guitarists.  That will give you a good background.  When you go back to the GT video tutorials it will make more sense.

Don't let the intro scare you. One of the most important aspects of theory is intervals. Guess what the first series of theory lessons are? Intervals. No doubt that since Chris assembled this set and his attention to theory, if you spend a good amount of time understand intervals, the remainder is much, much easier.

My wife has been, very off and on, slowly learning some guitar. Even though she didn't really need to know at the moment she asked, we were watching something on TV where a guitar player said something about a song being a 'I-IV-V' type of song. So she asked...I said those were intervals. She's a person that to connect info, needs to know and usually right then and there. So I show her the major scale and explain the distance between notes. She still had the confused puppy look. Don't ask me why it popped in to do this, but I fretted the major scale and sang 'doe-rae-mi-fa-so-la-ti-doe' along with it. My wife is a rather skilled singer but no deep theory training. But the 'doe-rae' thing connected. Then I played the major scale and instead of 'singing' the 'doe-rae', I counted of as '1-2-3-4-5-6-7-1'. DING! DING! DING!

Anyway, that interval stuff is critical. It underlies all else that follows. It helps you connect the other elements of theory that might seem more complex. I am by no means a theory master. Far from it. I avoided it for lo many decades and going back to learn it when I kinda already have a 'by ear'  understanding seems like a pain but there's a point where you are limiting yourself.

That is to say, theory expands your ability to grow your playing. It makes learning things easier and makes creating easier too as you now have a understanding of how the lego blocks click together. Otherwise you fall in to the same old things and your playing stagnates.

Most of the theory you need is baked into the courses.  Beginners should mostly focus on physical playing skills.  Otherwise, you know musical ideas but have no way to put them into practice.  

If you want more in depth on theory as a beginner, my old GF2 course is a great place to start.  It starts with intervals, then scales & chords.  

https://www.guitartricks.com/course/fundamentals2(discontinued)

These next tutorials are a little more complex, but here for your reference.

This tutorial covers the basics of chord theory.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial/148

This one covers harmonization of the major scale into the chords that make a key signature.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial/2387

But remember to focus on your playing skills.  You knowledge about theory should grow with, keep pace with, your playing skills.

Please ask more as necessary & best of success!  Hope that helps!

"So if someone tells you "this song is in the key of C Major" you immediately know that the chords you listed are the sumation of all the notes in the song?"

Sort of, but usually the less the better. And the 7th chord - the diminished chord is rarely used at least in classic rock. An artist wouldn't sit down and say "I have to write a song in C major and I have to use all 7 chords in that key!" They might only use 2! They might even mix things up and bring in chords from another key!!  But for now you probably don't want to get that deep into this. 

Right now you just need to get a taste for what is going on, the very basics. 

Everthing begins with a note. There are 12 of them. Pluck a string - you played a note. Pluck (or strum) 2 or more strings together - you played a chord. Strum the notes C E and G - you just played the C major chord. Put a few chords together (in a key) and you have the makings of a song. Write some words down on paper and you might just have a hit - or you might annoy people. But at least you have some chords to groove to. I can't overemphasize how important it was for me to learn how to write a song. This quest pulled me into a learning path of ferreting out what information I needed.

I have trained adults most of my working life and can say there is no "perfect" training style. Most of us use a cookie cutter approach for consistency and effeciency but sometimes the training needs to be modified to accomodate the individual. So if you find a tutorial overwhelming, look for another. There are tons and tons of resources out there that will help you. Just take your time and enjoy the experience of learning.

Hey!  Super cool of you to jump in here and reply to my questions/concerns and offer some helpful advice.  I need to understand the behind the scenes stuff so all the stuff I'm doing in the other course work clicks a little more solidly, otherwise all I'm doing is playing what I'm being told to play, but not understanding truly why.  I'll give your old course a shot and see if that helps me put things in place a bit more.  I want to be all that I can be with this stuff :)

Thanks!  I'll look it up

You're welcome!

Knowing why & how stuff works has always been my method as well.  So, it's always been a part of my learning & consequently my teaching approach.

One of my goals with GT content is to be able to point to an existing tutorial that answers a students question about any given aspect of guitar playing or theory.  So, please ask whenever you have a question.  That's what the forum is for!

Happy New Year & best of success in 2023!

The video you linked to really did help me out.  It still is a lot to take in, so I stopped at A Minor Scale For Beginners: Lesson 2 because I could feel I need to consume the C scale stuff another time or two before trying to move forward, but I feel a lot more confident about things now, at least for the time being.  It helped me understand more and got me trying to figure out some of the aspects of how to play the scale in a different way before you explained it.  

I've been playing for about 42 years, and if I were you I would take Chris's advice. Make sure your mechanics are pretty solid before you go too deep into theory. The mechanics come fairly quickly, with dedicated practice. The early stages are primarily physical challenges, then will become primarily mental, this is when you should start looking into theory with more depth. In this way you aren't battling the mental and physical challenges simultaneously. There will still be physical challenges as you explore different techniques, but the basic physical mechanics will be solid. I've met many players who scoff at theory, but that is absolutely ridiculous. The more you understand a tool, the better your going to be at using it.

The most important thing is to have fun. Be patient, many people don't give themselves time to grow. Your strong work ethic which you mentioned is going to be one of your biggest assets.

Always remember: it's not a race, it's a journey.