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Show HN: Guitar Dashboard – Open source music theory explorer for guitarists

guitardashboard.com

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Re: Show HN: Guitar Dashboard – Open source music theory explorer for guitarists

#3

Post by DuckTyping »

This is amazing, thank you!

I've been playing guitar for a while now and am now beginning to understand the importance of theory, but I'm kind of at a loss on how to go about learning and applying it. Does anyone have a book/mooc that they'd recommend with lots of exercises and accompanying songs?

I've gone through a few sources but most of them relate everything to a piano. I understand the underlying theory is mostly the same but I feel like I would internalize it better seeing it on a fretboard.

Re: Show HN: Guitar Dashboard – Open source music theory explorer for guitarists

#6

Post by throwaway8879 »

supernovae wrote: post #2

For those of us scrubs just learning guitar, do you have a guide on how to use this? or a link to a good guide?

While these tools are useful, I recommend oldschool hard copy books to get started properly, if you're relatively serious about it. There are some great books for guitar put out by Berklee, I don't recall the names right now, but I do remember a series that had 4 books from intro to advanced.

I spent a lot of years learning guitar technique while not progressing much on the music theory side until I started reading Mark Levine's Jazz theory book. It's probably the best material on music theory I've read, though it's slightly based on jazz, or at least references it a lot. But I think you could use it as a general theory guide.

Another favorite of mine is Yusef Lateef's Chord and Melodic Patterns book, though it's more advanced/exploratory.

Re: Show HN: Guitar Dashboard – Open source music theory explorer for guitarists

#8

Post by throwaway8879 »

DuckTyping wrote: post #3

This is amazing, thank you! I've been playing guitar for a while now and am now beginning to understand the importance of theory, but I'm kind of at a loss on how to go about learning and applying it. Does anyone have a book/mooc that they'd recommend with lots of exercises and accompanying songs? I've gone through a few sources but most of them relate everything to a piano. I understand the underlying theory is most…

I had a collection of hundreds of guitar books at one point I think, though that was a while ago. I've made another comment here - the Berklee modern method books are great for guitar. Also, learn a ton of songs if you can. There's no better way to work on technique than learning songs. I can suggest specific books if you mention what style of guitar you're learning to play...

Re: Show HN: Guitar Dashboard – Open source music theory explorer for guitarists

#9

Post by throwaway8879 »

DuckTyping wrote: post #3

This is amazing, thank you! I've been playing guitar for a while now and am now beginning to understand the importance of theory, but I'm kind of at a loss on how to go about learning and applying it. Does anyone have a book/mooc that they'd recommend with lots of exercises and accompanying songs? I've gone through a few sources but most of them relate everything to a piano. I understand the underlying theory is most…

Another thing, I really do recommend learning music theory on the piano/keys as well as your primary instrument. Doesn't have to be a fancy keyboard, any cheap midi thing just to visualise the way the way chords and scales are structured. I've found that learning other instruments become a lot easier once you know a little bit of theory and how they're laid out on a keyboard.

Re: Show HN: Guitar Dashboard – Open source music theory explorer for guitarists

#10

Post by supernovae »

throwaway8879 wrote: post #6
supernovae wrote: post #2

For those of us scrubs just learning guitar, do you have a guide on how to use this? or a link to a good guide?

While these tools are useful, I recommend oldschool hard copy books to get started properly, if you're relatively serious about it. There are some great books for guitar put out by Berklee, I don't recall the names right now, but I do remember a series that had 4 books from intro to advanced. I spent a lot of years learning guitar technique while not progressing much on the music theory side until I started reading M…

Got quite a collection of intro books, but nothing on theory really. I had hand surgery on my frett hand a few months ago and still do physical therapy twice a week - just now getting some strength back so while I recover, trying to learn more music theory since my practice sessions are limited by a screwed up hand. I tell ya what though, practicing guitar is better than most of my PT exercises :)
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