Should You Learn Music Theory?

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Should you learn music theory?

This is a question I’ve seen asked many times. Some even go so far as to say: “music theory’s going to stop my creativity.”

Is this true?

Well, here’s my train of thought. As a composer and as someone who is constantly studying music, I actually don’t believe that. Controversial. I know.

Here’s the thing. Music theory is a lot, even I have to admit that. There’s a lot of rules, a lot of do this, then don’t do that. But to me, music theory actually helped expand my mind.

There was a time when I didn’t know music theory. Shocking!

During that time, yes, I would try noodling around my instrument, trying to find that cool, new sound. But for some reason I could never replicate the sound I wanted to create. I didn’t understand why certain notes sounded better than others. I didn’t get why certain notes made my entire mood feel different. It left me puzzled, but I just kept on noodling in my own little world.

And yes, while I guess you could consider what I was doing as improv, I wanted a way to understand why it was that things sounded a certain way. And well, yeah. I wanted to write down some of what I was doing too.

And maybe you’re in the same boat! And it’s more than okay. But here’s my argument when it comes to why you should learn music theory.

Is it going to be time consuming? Yeah. But it’s going to be well worth it.

It’s just like having a nail and you need to put it into a plank of wood. If you didn’t have a hammer, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get your task done. But if someone gave you the right tool to get the job done, all of a sudden, things become a lot easier, and it makes sense. Music theory is simply a tool in your big musical toolbox. It’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Think about this scenario. There’s this really cool band that you want to be a part of. It’s a paid gig. They’re having auditions. When you get there, they give you a lead sheet, or even an actual piece of music to read (y’know, the kind with all the music dots on it). If you don’t know how to read music at all, it’s going to be daunting. How are you going to be able to do it? How are you going to be able to nail that audition?

Yes, you could be the greatest musician of all time when it comes to playing on your instrument on your own, by yourself, etc…but if you do get a specific piece of music that needs to be played (especially with a band), and you can’t do it…The unfortunate reality is, you might not get that gig if your competition can. I’m not saying you can’t be successful as a musician who doesn’t know how to read music. There are plenty of pop musicians that have proven the case, but it’s a reality you might face if the band you’re auditioning for is asking you to read music.

Now that’s just a case for those of you who can’t read music.

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What about the people who can read music, but don’t understand slightly more advanced music theory stuff, like understanding chord structures? Should they learn music theory? I mean they already know how to read music for their instrument, right? They’re already ahead of the curve, right?

Yes! They’re absolutely ahead of the curve, and I applaud you for it. It’s definitely an important music step, and not everyone does it. However, I absolutely think they should, and they really could benefit from a deeper understanding of music theory.

Music is full of patterns. Maybe you’ve been playing long enough that you can even see small pieces of a scale that makes learning music a little easier. However, once you understand how chord structures work, you’ll be able to pick up on those patterns a lot more and a lot faster, because you’ll know what to expect after you play something like a secondary dominant chord (ex. V7/V).

Believe it or not, but learning music theory in depth is really going to speed up your ability to read and learn music faster, because again, you’re going to be able to recognize these patterns faster. And trust me, it’s definitely a nice thing to do–especially if you’re in a learning time crunch.

And for those of you who actually want to venture out into writing your own music, this is quite literally the foundation towards being able to do that. This is how you figure out how to replicate a certain tone or mood and use it to your advantage.

In fact, this is how I actually felt my creativity expand. I went from not being able to understand it, to knowing how to manipulate scales and chords into basically anything I wanted to turn it into. I could make my listeners feel heroic when I wanted them to, to make them feel sad, happy, angry, etc…all with the use of my music theory knowledge. This was definitely something I couldn’t do when I was noodling around–at least consistently that is.

Now, there’s a lot more to music composition than just understanding music theory, but this is going to give you the foundation in order to branch out into stuff like counterpoint, orchestration, etc…

So, my take is this: take the time to learn it. I truly don’t believe it will stop your creativity. I think it actually works the opposite of that, and it expands your creativity. And also, don’t be afraid of it. I’ve heard many people say that they were afraid of learning music theory, because they’ve heard it was hard. With the right instructor, you’ll be able to learn. And if you do struggle, that’s okay. Music theory isn’t going anywhere and you can always take time to review stuff. Even I need to go back to my undergrad music theory books to review stuff a lot.

So try it out and see what you think! The worst thing that could happen is that you know a little bit more about music.

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Question of the day: Have you tried to learn music theory in the past? If you have, do you feel it's helped you or hurt your musicianship?