banjoy - Posted - 12/20/2020:  06:46:15

Music theory is not dependent on or unique to any musical instrument. Here is a pretty nice video which explains basic scale, chord and key theory using a piano so it's easy to visualize what's happening.



Personally, I've always felt that a very basic understand of what a scale is, and how chords are constructed from scales, can go a long way in unlocking mysteries which are right underneath your fingers. The concepts here can be applied to any musical instrument including the banjo.

szbassoon - Posted - 12/20/2020:  07:13:18

I took music theory in undergrad and I remember finally being able to apply it to the music I was playing at the time. You're not going to get far on any instrument (especially one that relies on improvisation) without at least a little bit of music theory.

finger-picker - Posted - 12/20/2020:  12:17:04

quote:

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Originally posted by banjoy

Music theory is not dependent on or unique to any musical instrument. Here is a pretty nice video which explains basic scale, chord and key theory using a piano so it's easy to visualize what's happening.



Personally, I've always felt that a very basic understand of what a scale is, and how chords are constructed from scales, can go a long way in unlocking mysteries which are right underneath your fingers. The concepts here can be applied to any musical instrument including the banjo.

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Thanks Frank! I learned a few things and I liked how it was based using the piano, which I haven't studied in 30 or so years! 

banjoy - Posted - 12/20/2020:  13:45:16

dan_the_man



So true! I took maybe 6 months of piano maybe 45 years ago (before picking up banjo two years later) and I never really enjoyed the piano, but I always liked how visual it was, it's all laid out right there before your eyes.



A piano to me is a one-dimensional instrument. Everything on a keyboard is laid out in one straight line. One octave appears identical to the next up or down the board.



A stringed instrument, I think, is more complex, in that the fingerboard is two dimensional, one being movement up or down the fingerboard, the other dimension being across the strings. You can kinda think of it like length and depth. The more strings, the more complex possibilities (depth) there are to create chord formations, play scales across strings, etc.



But the theoretical concepts of notes, scales and chords are pretty much identical and cross-platform, so to speak. A piano is a nice place to start if something is confusing, because it's very visual and in one domension, so it's easier to wrap your head around. This is a generic statement, but it works for me :) and I really like these theory videos using a keyboard. They help and don't hurt. Just my two cents...

Edited by - banjoy on 12/20/2020 13:48:00