You know how when you go into a guitar shop you see racks full of pamphlets with nothing but chord and scale diagrams? Well thats what this "book" is. Customer reviews on Amazon have helped me find a lot of cool books, but this is one time where I got suckered. This pamphlet is 103 pages long, and has very sparse amount of text between diagrams, which you will only understand if you already have a working knowledge of music theory.

This book will provide good information for a beginning guitar player. I still have a long way to go in what appears to be a long process.

I am mostly an intuitive guitarist who actually does fairly well as a performer. I was hoping this was the book that would help me along, but it was not what I hoped. It's still pretty technical and fails to link riffs, patterns, and fretboard relationships into music that you can recognize and use. A few bits were OK, but it's back to doing what I do best- listening and playing along, and teaching myself.

I should start by stating that I am a beginning guitar student. So please take my review in the appropriate light. The book "Music Theory" is a unique addition to my quickly growing guitar library. It is broken into 13 chapters:

Chapter 1 - a detailed explanation of the fretboard. This was particularly useful for me, because it explained what every note on the fretboard was. Tuning and intonation are also briefly discussed. Everything in the book is also given in TAB as well as sheet music.

Chapter 2 - covers the basics of reading music including the treble clef, musical alphabet (A-G), accidentals (flats, sharps, naturals), rhythm, time signatures, note values, beams, dotted notes, chords (stacks, names, and frames), repeat signs, and tablature.

Chapter 3 - discusses the major/minor scales, key signatures, and the handy circle of fifths.

Chapter 4 - focuses on intervals (distance between two notes).

Chapter 5 - covers the major and minor triads (chords which are a third interval apart).

Chapter 6 - discusses harmonizing the major scale.

Chapter 7 - a study of chord construction - both in theory and on the fretboard, covering major, minor, power, suspended, sixth, six/nine, seventh, extended, altered, slash, and poly chords.

Chapter 8 - discusses harmonizing the minor scale.

Chapter 9 - talks about key centers (something I must admit I haven't quite figured out yet).

Chapter 10 - covers the 12-bar blues progression, the major and minor pentatonic scales, and parallel pentatonic scales.

Chapter 11/12 - discusses modes, modal harmony, other scales, and chord/scale relationships.

Chapter 13 - covers chord substitutions and reharmonization.

My impression of the book is "Wow!" There is a tremendous amount of information in this book. As a beginner, I really benefitted from the first five chapters, but quickly lost my way as I pushed further ahead. But I fully expect that as I gain more experience, I will continue to consult this very valuable resource.

Written by Arthur Bradley, author of "Process of Elimination" - a cool erotic thriller that pits a martial artist against a world-class sniper.

As always, please be kind enough to indicate if reviews are helpful.

I found this book extremely helpful. For the first time, I learned about a visual pattern on the fretboard that allows me to play a mayor scale on any key. Switching to a blues scale simply ammounts to removing certain steps in the major scale. This is a great work.

I would say that if you are seriously studying guitar and music music theory (yes, the two go together), this book is a must have addition to your library. It gives clear concise explanations of music theory as it applies to the guitar.

This book has been one of the best learning tools I've come across. The author lays out exactly the things needed to learn and memorize. Great discussion on scales, modes, etc. I recommend.

This is a book that should be read after or at the same time as reading The Guitar Fretboard workbook. This book expounds on scales and intervals, triads and arpeggios, but in theory. Helps with learning how to write staff, read staff, sightread, and play! A MUST HAVE!

-Dr. Kenneth

An easy to understand guide in music theory as it relates to the guitar. I'm no wiz-bang when it comes to music. I constantly struggle with it, but despite that I recieve so much gratification from the effort. This book lays out the concepts in very easy and digestible chunks so that even a slow music learner as myself is able to grasp the concepts.

I have been a musician all of my life, since the age of 4, and a guitarist for a decade, since the age of sixteen. I was in high school orchestra and took guitar lessons for a few years, but at no time during any of this did any of my instructors really help me understand music theory. I tried learning a few times by myself, but that always ended in frustration.

Then I found this book. "Music Theory for Guitarists" is the most in-depth, intuitive, and well thought out book on the subject that I have ever come across. After reading this book and completing the exercises in it, I now feel confident in my grasp of music theory in a way I thought would never happen.

This book deftly guides the reader through the journey from the most basic of basics to much more complex topics, such as chord substitution and reharmonization. It also includes an entire chapter on learning to find the key center of songs, which is an incredibly useful skill to have. You can't always tell by ear what key you are in.

Perhaps the most in depth part of this book...the author analyzes the major and minor scales, and all of their modes, in depth. He gives each scale and mode its own section, discussing the nuances of what sets each apart from the others, and giving ideas for how and when to apply it in real world situations. He also goes into detail about building and identifying chords and harmonizing the major and minor scales (a section that has completely reinvented the way I look at writing music.)

I cannot say enough about this book. It has opened my eyes to a subject I thought I was too "stupid" to grasp, and showed me that I was only unable to learn because it had never been presented to me correctly. If you have any weaknesses in your knowledge of music theory, I would strongly recommend that you take advantage of the goldmine of information found in this book. You will likely find yourself, as I have, seeing the language of music in a completely different light, and for the first time really seeing how all Western music is connected at the root.

Although some of the concepts can be a little tough at first, this book has become invaluable to me. It has enabled me to progress as a professional guitarist, not just someone who seeks to "self-learn" things on their own by playing songs of favorite bands.

I am very glad I got this book. It will teach you everything you need to know about music theory- which will greatly improve your guitar playing abilities in the long run.

Ive reviewed alot of material on theory, and I really gained alot from this book. I dont have a guitar teacher, however, I do have a music theory instructor that I meet with weekly, and now that Ive completed a workbook in theory, and now reviewing with Music theory for guitarists, I feel that I am covering things as both review and newly applied to the guitar. There are great tips to understanding the guitar as well, which make me create my own music, and not just learn songs. Songs seem great for the once a year campfire, where everyone can sing along, but I play everyday, and without an audience. Sooner or later, youre going to discover that youre bored with other peoples songs, and youre ready to create your own music, of which this book gives you the keys to understanding this and take off on your own. Before this book, I was very frustrated with the fret board, now its user friendly in all positions.

I've been playing guitar for roughly 12 years now, and I had stagnated. While I could play just about anything I wanted to (except a little Django) I had some weaknesses. I had learned theory in school, but it was strictly on paper - I had only applied the knowledge to guitar in the most obvious ways.
With increased practice time, I've been looking for more material to learn. I wanted a book that would provide all of the scale exercises I'd need to become a little more fluent in my ability to construct interesting ideas.

And this book helps quite a bit!

It is a dense book, since it boils theory down to very concise entries. It isn't a book you can fly through, especially if you haven't already known what you were doing.

So far, my speed has increased, and my scale knowledge has blossomed.

I got this book because it was recommended at Harmony Central, and I was starting to realise that I need some theory to be able to play better.

It presents the material in a fairly approachable way, and I actually learned some stuff, which was good. Then went I went to lessons, I had a kick start, knowing some of what the teacher was talking about. That was worthwile. Lessons are ultimately the way to go though :)

I'm about halfway through this and its fairly thorough w/o being overcomplicated. The only complaint I'd have is that the chapters are sometimes uneven, in that one will take about 5 minutes to understand the material perfectly and another one will take at least a half hour to read through the more complicated info.

This is truly a remarkable book. It covers a wide range of areas important to any musicial regardless of their instrument. I brought it obviously to improve my skill on the guitar, but I've learned so much more with regard to the theory behind music.
As a musician and student with Music as my Major in college, one of the most important chapters in the book for me was chapter# 4 (Intervals). I struggled with intervals constantly. But now I am becomming much better at identifying them. I had not seem this thing called "interval shapes" which is in chapter 4, and was not aware that being able to identify shapes would allow me to achieve the interval I was looking for. There is so much more to this book that I will tell you if you're a serious musician or even if you're not, this is the book for you; hands down!

i would have to say this is one of the best music theory books i have studied. it is very intelligible, and goes into the fundamentals. the cd has quizes that will test your brain about what you learned in the chapter so as to solidify the information.great for begginers and intermediate.i would definiatly request this study aid.

For the guitarist who wants to understand more of the theory behind music notation and the guitar. This is a good reference. It is pretty comprehensive, although the explanations are often a bit brief. Best for those with some music notation experience looking to expand their knowledge.