Book – The AB Guide To Music Theory (Part 1)
Author – Eric Taylor
Amazon Link – https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Music-Theory-Part-Pt/dp/1854724460
About
The AB Guide To Music Theory (Part 1) provides an introduction to the basic elements in harmony and musical structure. It covers the basics of rhythm and tempo, an introduction to pitch, intervals and transposition, articulation, ornaments, reiterations and much more.
What I liked about the book?
The book is a very in-depth guide on how to understand all the fundamentals of music theory citing many classical pieces throughout with bits of background knowledge on certain composers. If you are a fan of classical music then this book will strike a chord (excuse the pun) with you.
The author takes us through many key elements such as scales, keys, rhythm, rests, cadences and much more. He does so in a very deep and interesting manner – provided you are actually very interested in the subject matter.
Is there an audio cd and is it any good?
No, but as there is a strong focus on reading rhythm, which many guitarists struggle to do, there possibly should be. There are also many examples of music written in standard notation, which, if you don`t read music well, can be hard to decipher and play.
I always think, especially when reading rhythm, you could do with some audio to play along with to check you are reading it and playing it correctly.
What I don`t like about the book?
Unfortunately, for the casual guitarist, this book is way too in-depth. Some of the concepts are not at all relevant to most guitarists. Although the book was written for all musicians, not just for guitarists, I am reviewing it from a guitarist`s point of view.
To start with, you either need or want to learn how to read music to understand this book. To be able to apply that to the guitar you also need to be able to know where all the notes on the guitar are too which this book obviously doesn`t cover.
The amount of in-depth knowledge on offer is huge but not very relevant to guitarists and there are much more relevant books out there aimed purely for guitarists that will take far less time to decipher and will be more applicable too.
Conclusion
If you are super interested in all the nuts and bolts of music theory, can or want to be able to read music, then this book is great. If you want to just learn some of the in`s and out`s of theory, then I would look elsewhere.
Rating
6/10