The MOST IMPORTANT Theory Hack I've Learned!
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- Here's how you can come up new ideas FAST without needing to know a ton of music theory!
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Theory is just a way of describing music but doesn't, or at least maybe shouldn't, have any bearing on the music itself. I'm glad I learned some as I have found it useful when contextualizing things for other musicians - especially horns or keys, but if one can HEAR a ii-IV-I or a diminished sound, knowing what to call it is really secondary. If I may be so bold as to offer an idea for those wanting to hear intervals better... When I was learning them I was taught to associate popular themes to specific intervals. We did things like - Perfect 5th is Star Wars, Minor Second is Jaws, Major 6th is My Bonnie etc. Obviously the associations need to resonate with the individual but I found this method helpful for hearing some of the intervals in the lesson. Thanks for the video, I love the lesson stuff, please keep it up. I always learn something and am always inspired. Cheers.
Theory is a way of communicating or describing music for sure. If I'm on a session with other players and I want to change a chord at bar 44 from a minor 2 to a major b7 2 to the 5 chord, it's very helpful.
The way you learned intervals is genius.
For me it started from the "root" note. I knew that every half step was something based on a major scale.
Root, minor second, second, minor third, major third, fourth, flat five, five, sharp five, six and so on.
Shawn - please please please do more videos like this… I love this insight.
Thanks so much, that means a lot!
Look at you with 1 pickup... and it doesn't even buck hum. 💙. When you think of intervals, do you know your intervals based on fretboard visualization, or do you do think of it from an algebraic equation (quick maths)?
Haha, thanks for watching Michael. I learned intervals by ear. Once I could hear or recognize them, it was easy to see them as shapes on the fretboard.
This video was great timing for me. I'm currently taking lesson and was really getting myself wrapped around the axle with trying to understand the different modes! My teacher said to stop focusing on names and concentrate intervals and understanding the relationship between them. I like to think I understood what you were saying in the video, at least I understood what you meant.
Exactly! Intervals are the foundation of all harmony and melody…
ps… when I heard the line I was thinking locrian> diminished> resolution, but yours is a cool way to think about it more granularly….
Right on, thanks!!
I’ve managed to avoid learning most of the fingerboard for 45 years. High Five!
Thanks for watching!
@@ShawnTubbs you know that was a joke. Great video
@@chrisquinn9104 I only know the dot thingy's. Whatever happens between them is well...Whatever... Frets are speed bumps at the end of the day! 🤪
@@ShawnTubbs I actually know some modes and scales, but where all the notes are? There’s and H# on one of the dots, right? When you play a 14h chord like Andy Summers used to?
Nice lick. Basically you are going from A mixolydian to A altered (G# melodic minor) and back, but you’re right in that you don’t need to know that. The altered scale has both the b5 and #5 in it. Part of the lick could also be in A Lydian dominant (E melodic minor). That also has the b5 but not the #5 (or b6). However you organize it, awareness of the intervals is key.
Thanks so much for watching! So many different perspectives on how to define a musical line but understanding the intervals is how I look at it.
This is a really great video, Shawn, thanks! I think it's really wonderful that you identified early on just what tickles your fancy in guitar playing, and then just stuck with that. I was very much the same way growing up. Sure, there were times when I'd learn, say, an entire Hendrix or McLaughlin solo. But once I'd learned it, I wouldn't just play the thing over and over. Instead, I'd focus on one little bit of it that blew my mind, and figure out just how that thing works. Or, it might be just the colour and feel of the way certain notes were picked (or whatever) that made them sound almost effortless. It was that style and feel that I'd then try to incorporate into my playing. I did go on to study all kinds of theory in school years later, but as others have pointed out, those are just tools for analysis that in the end may or may not be helpful. If I'm about to solo on something, the last thing I'd want to be thinking about was what mode to play in! Better yet, I'd rather not be thinking at all. Music is for listening, even for the player. Cheers!
"...take some elements and create some own things" - a great phrase to remember - THX Shawn ❤
Thanks. If you hear something that inspires you but the entirety of it seems daunting, you can just lean into what you can sort out and take advantage of it.
I took theory in 1988, it was a high school elective and we covered the introductory concepts leading up to modal playing. Wish there were more classes available. Afterwards I needed to apply the teachings to every song I know and would learn. Even after learning theory, you would still need to learn how musicians apply it and how they borrow chords and notes not diatonic to the scale. Such as this lesson.
Prior to Rick Beato’s lessons there was a great documentary called How Music Works with Howard Goodall. The series would frequently get deleted by YT, but it appears to finally be available for viewing. It’s somewhat of a history lesson too because music evolved from drones and chant. They cover the Blue note, and what a profound impact it had.
Your intervals approach is entirely understandable. Of the many times I’ve tried to grasp your outside approach, this is a good lesson for me seeing the flats and sharps and how you keep them part of the scale you’re using. It does have a distinct sound, relative to the Blue note mentioned.
My biggest takeaway from the classes was the progressions, and how to use the framework in any key. So if you liked a theme from a movie, you could learn the framework and play it where convenient. Important to keep learning, classics from the 60s through modern dark metal all use slight deviations from the diatonic framework. Helps us from being repetitive.
Thank you for your insights Shawn. 👍
I think it's important to always be focused on melody and phrasing as well. Understanding intervals and the concept of a "blue note" or "outside tonality" is important but, where that concept is employed within the context of the music is paramount.
@@ShawnTubbs I’ve never met a musician who didn’t enjoy the How Music Works series. It’s a fun presentation, but there’s music in it which causes flags here on YT. So it’s often removed or muted. One day if you get a chance. I think you would say to yourself maybe I DO know music theory. 😜
With Rick, you have to slow him down because he goes 201 almost immediately.
Thank you for this!!!
Dude, I love your pedal so much. It's the front end to my board and D20. Woohoo. Great video too. I did a bunch of lessons on my channel about intervals. So fun.
Right on! Glad you dig the Tilt OD. I'll check out your vids!
@@ShawnTubbs Right on my man. Yeah, people have no idea how hard this YT thing is. As long as you do what you love, you are winning. Keep crushing Shawn, love your positive vibes.
Really glad I found this video, even if two days late to the discussion!
When I discovered that I was "hearing" the next interval I wanted to play and my fingers were going there instinctively, I could suddenly play all up and down the guitar neck. It allowed me to link up all the scale positions (pentatonic and otherwise). Guitar was finally fun to play, not a struggle. And now, with Shawn's video, I am hearing new patterns to find with my fingers and hear in my head. Thank you sir! 😊🎸
Awesome!! Just be open to trying things!!
Excellent way to explain your approach. Very easy to understand and digest. Love the example. Thanks, Shawn.
Thanks so much for watching! I hope this helps you expand your musical vocabulary!
More teaching content please!! Great video!
Thanks so much for watching!
Shawn, I dig what you said about taking inspiring bits from something for creative purposes and get out of a rut. We all go through them! It’s nice to hear someone giving ideas on how to escape those times for the better.
Thanks so much for watching!
Great lesson Shawn. I love the sentiment behind listening to other musicians, learning what they're doing to get a sound, and then using that knowledge to create your own sounds. I've been thinking a lot about this exact thing for the past day or two, so this is very timely.
It's really the only way I know to go about it. Thanks so much for watching!
Great,thanx
Thanks for watching!
My favorite lesson so far 🍻
Thanks so much for watching!
your note choices have always intrigued me.. you play some very tasty and interesting lines.. I've even approached you on this subject before and you kind of poo-poo'd your theory knowledge.. intervalic is a great way to summarize how you think.. and dominant 7th scale is typically called Mixolydian.. but duh.. you know what to play despite knowing what to call it.. Mixolydian is perfect for so much of Country Rock music.. but your altered note choices outside of fixed modes are what really catch my ears as very tasty.. thanks Shawn!
My friend Robert Baker told me I was playing a Mixolydian scale. So over E dom7, I'm playing A Mixolydian?
to play an A Mixolydian scale you could play a D major scale against the A and it was sound great especially. from an interval perspective it’s mostly a major scale BUT with a flat 7. try that D scale against the A. or any 4th against the Root.
just to be clear I'm talking about the Mixolydian scale in general terms.. that lick you play in the intro has some "outside" notes going on so I guess you could call it a hybrid scale.
@@BobbyLaneProductions Right on, that makes sense.
Thanks for the lesson i do stuff like that myself cuz was self taught kid of the 60's am 63 years old..
Thanks so much for watching!
I'm with you. I'm often embarrassed that at my age (I'm just a yr younger than you) that I don't know more about this stuff and have been by ear since I first picked up the guitar. Ive just had to survive with my "search and destroy" method for guitar all these years lol..This stuff Shawn's covering is great. I took about a 3yr break where I didn't pick up my guitar but have been pretty steady since Covid and my buddy helps me with my S&D voyage now on the songs we've done together. Shawn and Rick Beato have been great inspirations for me to be sure.
@@MoreMeRecording You're very kind. Rick is indeed one of the best musician/instructors I've ever seen. Thanks so much.
Learn basic major, minor and pentatonic. Intervals and then you can experiment and play by ear to find outside notes and you’ll come across these exotic more expressive modal sounds without diving too deep into theory.
Same with chords. By subtracting or adding notes. Like I found that with my small hands I prefer to not play full open chords. Use sus2 and probably 4s and just major and minor dyads and let it be more open and use open string drones to create more ambiance and ambiguity. Use drop tunings too which makes some stretches and intervals easier to experiment with
Right on! Thanks for watching.
This is awesome, sir!! I noticed you were doing away with the C# in the scale... did you do that as a timing thing, or as a tonal thing? Because from the timing of what you did, it had a bit of a shuffle feel, which as Eric Johnson has clearly shown, if it don't bounce, it don't groove. So did the omitting of that note get you to the last note on time? Or was it more of a tonal thing that made the sound more "outside" and it didn't really matter how many notes you played? God bless you for sharing this stuff!! It means more than you know!!
Great ears and intuition! The C# would eventually end up revealing itself later on as a target note.
It amazes me how the best players can be the worst teachers. You, Guthrie Trapp, and Guthrie Govan simply cannot describe the genius you share. I guess it's like watching Bob Ross try to explain how painting scenery is just SO EASY, well it is for him at least. You do however perfectly describe the fact that your brain just works differently, and I think that is something, which for better or worse, cannot be taught. Still, I appreciate the effort to be transparent about how you "arrive" at your level of genius! Thanks Shawn!! Please don't stop, maybe I'll get it someday.
Thanks so much, it means a lot to me.
Thanks for this lesson, great riff! You shouldn’t let your alleged lack of formal theory training stop you from teaching in the way you see things, if it works for you, maybe it’ll work for us! (I think you know more theory than you let on!) By the way, that dominant 7 scale you were playing, I would call A mixolydian (I think you knew that!)
The only reason I would know that is because it was pointed out by a kind individual. I still don't know what it means other than it's a mode thingy.🤪Thanks for chiming in!
I would say it comes from Phrygian 3rd mode of A
Your outside stuff sounds like stuff Jimmy Herring do. Started A mixolydian then went to something that sounds diminished. A mixo. is A maj with a flatted 7th.
Jimmy Herring is incredible. I stole a lot of the diminished or whole-tone half-tone ideas from Robben Ford. I didn't learn the whole tone, half-tone scale or a diminished concept. Just the sound.
@@ShawnTubbs Definitely has the sound.
Looks like you are starting with the 3rd so it'd be phrygian mode...starts with 1-2-4 fingering
Thanks so much for chiming in! I've heard that it's mixolydian as well.
@@ShawnTubbs I wasn't too sure which key you were in cuz I wasn't paying full attention.. phrygian mode starts from the 3rd and mixalydian starts from the 5th of the major scale. Mr tubbs you know way more than I..lol..you're amazing and I am not.. 😂
I don't get it. It just sounds like you're playing the wrong notes after you go to the 13th fret.
Agreed. It's an "outside the key center" tonality. It's not everybody's cup of tea.
Been playing for 50 years. You lost me at intervals. 😶
It's not difficult to learn.