I want to study music theory to understand music as a whole better, and to be able to improvise and create my own melodies/chord progressions to create original pieces. Another big component is that I want to be able to express sounds/ideas to other musicians so we can play together more easily. I have learned a bit of theory in the past, but I quit because I got overwhelmed with how much there was and I was unsure of a good progression of things to learn.
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I’ve been playing guitar since 1968 mostly travis picking and the occasional classical or sometimes more complex stuff like Big Love by Buckingham - however when I play with serious musicians I always feel a bit inadequate because I don’t read music and still take quite some time to work out which key/ what goes with the key etc. The first few modules are quite simple but they are already filling in the gaps so I hope to gain confidence by knowing not just HOW to play that song but also WHY it goes like that.
Forgot to say that whenever anyone asks me to teach them guitar I ALWAYS point them at Justin first.
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Been playing for a few years. I learn a popular song, and imitate what I learned. I’m beginning to realize that I can’t jam, write a song, improvise, etc. - I simply regurgitate a song. I want to learn theory with the hope of moving beyond the “monkey see monkey do” paradigm. It’s all for personal enjoyment - retired, 70 years young, and love learning. Thank you, Justin, for making this available.
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My father is a luthier and gifted me a guitar this year. I’m 40 and have never played, thought I didn’t have the artistic talent. I lean more toward engineering / math kind of thinking. I found the Justin Guitar music lessons and it clicked really quickly. As I learned more I was surprised to discover that music IS math, and I’m hooked.
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I am studying music theory because I want to be able to pick up any sheet music and be able to play the song. My long term goal is to play slide guitar but I want all the fundamentals of theory first before going down the track of what I love. I want to know the “why’ of everything and how it all fits together. I also picked this course because I found Justin to be so generous in sharing his free courses and wanted to support him by signing up for this paid course.
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Hey Justin,
Dan from Thailand. Loving your website.
Why I’m I here. At 69 I decided I had wayyy too much idle time on my retired butt and needed a hobbie. So? Guitar. Now at 71 I’d spent the last two year hopping from guitar lesson site to another. None of them gave me what I was looking for.
“Ok Dan from Thailand, what where you looking for?”
I know my learning style. I learn best in highly structured environments. None of the sites that I subscribed to presented course material in highly structured ways that also were comprehensive as well as integrated.
“Comprehensive?”
Yep. Not just learning a set of chord shapes followed by some tab, or discussing theory that goes so far above me head that I go numb, or seeing how fast I can play a scale that I learned from rote and don’t really understand.
Comprehensive - pulling all the aspect of playing music and songs together and presenting them in an integrated manner.
“Integrated”
Yep. Your course integrates playing chords, strumming, basic theory, ear training, and scales right from the beginning and point all the knowledge at a goal! Being able to play songs!!!
“So Dan from Thailand, why Music Theory.”
Because from where I stand, learning the skills to play the songs is a journey of combining techniques as well as knowledge to facilitate the playing of those songs.
Let me give you an example from today. These two post pretty much explain it in video form.
Ear training leading to an understanding of intervals
And intervals as applied to learning scales - anywhere on the fretboard. “Presto - magic!”
Bottom line? It’s challenging and it’s fun. For the first time in two years of playing? I’m having fun! And I’m learning songs! That’s why Music Theory!
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I want to feel fully conversant all over the guitar fretboard and have technique be second nature so I can explore creatively!
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My reasons for learning music theory are that I enjoy understanding the mechanics of music. Why do certain notes sound good together (or bad)? Also I believe when I understand these mechanics, I’ll be a better musician, I’ll be able to improvise and embellish. I also want to learn music theory as I want to apply it to other instruments, like electronic music and chord progression, learning through guitar is just an accessible entry point for me.
Way back in highschool, I didn’t get into music theory because I thought it was boring, I didn’t understand the practical application.
And my BIHAG is that I want to play confidently, and perform for others. i’d also like to create electronic music with guitar.
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1. Expectations from the course:
To help me understand the whys behind everything I’m learning in the beginner course. I’m not a memorizer, so when I understand the underlying principles and patterns behind something I’m more likely to remember it, enjoy what I’m learning, and apply it to different areas.
2. Why did I stop learning music theory:
I did Grade 1 and 2 of PMT while going through Grade 1 of the beginner course and its related consolidation. I stopped after that as Grade 3 of PMT was too far ahead of where I was. Now that I’m working through Grade 2 of the beginner course, I’m being introduced to scales, keys, sus chords, it makes sense to continue with Grade 3 of PMT which delves into the whys of all of those topics.
3. Big audacious goal:
To be able to play comfortably and with “soul” in a blues jam maybe in front of a small crowd one day.
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Because… reminder reminder reminder
TONIGHT JUSTIN LIVE !!!
for everyone with a subscription to the theory course 
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Unless I learn theory - I’m just memorising shapes. Took theory as a youngster up to grade 6 on the piano. Presented to me in such a way as to make it abstract and “science-y” with no practical application whatsoever. Can’t believe I got to grade 6 with no idea how harmony worked. Hairy-ass goal is to learn why things sound “good” and “fit” with the aim to be able to better make music with other people. So - jamming and improvising in other words…
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I have always just used simple chord charts to play the songs I like, without ever understanding why those chords are placed the way they are-or why those certain chords are used together. I want to be able to use theory to help me know these things so I can not only memorize the songs’ chord progressions better, but also to create my own patterns that I can then apply to my own writings. I have always been curious about how the whole idea of music works, and this course is allowing me to learn new things using an instrument that I have played for a long time. Practical! My ultimate goal is to become a songwriter. I have a skill at writing but no clue how to apply music to my words in a way that makes sense.
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I’ve reached a point in my journey where I feel I need to know the why as opposed to just the what. The what is a bit like painting by numbers - following tabs, chords in songs, playing a few scales. I see music theory as the why, which will hopefully unlock more purposeful soloing and jamming with others. I like structure and rules that, once understood, can lead me to my own discoveries. PMT sounds just the ticket for that.
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I have always been in to music with different instruments. But I never learned to read music and mostly played by ear. However I feel that I am missing some essentials here. I am 64 years old now, retired from my job and now finally I have the time to study theorie. Not to perfection rather than a better understanding of what I am doing and where it is coming from.Hopefully it will enable me to be a better and more variable player.
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Why am I taking Music theory and where am I headed?? Right from the get go, I felt that I was going to have to learn some music theory. Figured I would go as far as I needed to be able to have a mutual conversation with another musician and progress my skills while knowing where the notes are on the guitar. I wasn’t going to get too involved but I am now working on definate goals!!
Goals:
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Get really good at Blues (specifically Texas Blues, still up in the air there, may go another way) Really want to be able to play a few Stevie Ray songs, while still keeping in contact with good ole Rock and Roll.
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Become an excellent guitar teacher. This is something that has just recently sparked. So I figure I will work at it for a few years and see where it gets me. I am starting to work on a course structure “Super
Beginner Course”. (All in person) no online stuff at the moment. Although I am thinking of incorporating a website to match up with the course structure for
students. I’m sure I will be Pulling from the teaching ways around @JustinGuitar and his team. Who knows, maybe work on a collaboration.
These are the main reasons why I am learning Theory. Both are long term goals. The teaching probably shorter term. The Blues will take some years to get.
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Great questions, thanks for asking! I decided to give this course (Music Theory) a try because I have always loved the idea of being able to pick up a guitar and play with a group (>1) of people. That desire finally led me to commit to JustinGuitar and it’s been great fun and very satisfying. Along the way I’ve learned that I want to go deeper than just memorizing chord shapes and the songs they go with; I want to have a deeper understanding of what makes a song a song and why it works, which tracks back to my original desire of being able to pick up a guitar and play with a “group.” So I guess what I want to get out of music theory is a greater ability to understand, communicate, create, and collaborate among that group. This is my first music theory course, so hopefully I won’t have the experience of it going wrong (:). In terms of my BHAG, a basic ability to eventually improvise, that I can then increase further down the road, will be great! Again, thanks for asking.
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I have dipped in & out messing around with guitars since a teenager (many years ago) learning mostly bits of songs by ear, simply because I loved them!
I would find some chords only to become unstuck as “a small tweak” was required for the actual correct sound – I could feel it, but couldn’t quite get there. I knew there was logic which I had learned in part by accident but it only took me so far.
Now having the time I am enjoying following Justin’s practical course (Thanks by the way JS for changing the A chord finger placement that was fun to unlearn!) The PMT course was an obvious (to me anyway) key to unlocking some of the mysteries & I have to say I am really enjoying it.
I think my BHAG is simply to be able to play my favourite songs really well and be able to pull my guitar out and play with confidence anywhere (and stop my wife asking do you know ANY all the way through? lol)
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GordonMont, your wife and my wife must be sisters from a different mother (I too often hear “Can you play a whole song yet?”)
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I had dipped my toes into Practical Music Theory Grade 3 back in June, and answered this question. I recently decided to continue after six months of hiatus… but, it also looks like Justin has refined the lesson since then. While the overall question remains the same, “Why?” he asks some different specific questions that I didn’t answer before. So, let’s go:
1. Expectations of the Course:
To learn some music theory! Enough to aid in my learning of guitar. I also expect there to be a lot of practical application to cross over with my learning of the guitar using Justin’s program.
2. Why did I stop with any other music theory learning I’ve done before?
Well, I learned a bit of music theory in school being in concert band and choir, even making it into a rather well-respected select choir at university… but I always saw myself as “just” a musician, workmanlike, showing up, performing my part, and that’s it. I never had any real academic interest in music, and only learned enough music theory to read my parts. I don’t know why I didn’t want to learn more. I guess it seemed hard, and I didn’t see much value in it at the time. I’m a rather curious person, so occasionally I’ll watch a video or read an article on music theory just out of curiosity, but never with any application in mind.
3. Big Hairy Audacious Goal
My less audacious, but still somewhat audacious goal is to play with other people, like in a band. I would say that my really BIG goal though, which I have never really spoken to anyone, is to make an album. It could just be me editing it all on my PC and releasing it online, but to create an album. That goal does appeal to me.
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I’ve played piano since I was a kid. What I know of music theory is through a piano lens. And I still have that lens but it would help with my guitar journey to have a guitar lens. Just as a small example: One of the quiz questions at the end of 1st module was how many semi-tones from E to A, going up. The picture in my brain was a piano keyboard and not a guitar fretboard.
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