Whilst I'm waiting on the inspiration for that world-changing album I'm one day going to pen (twang?), I thought I'd brush up on my music theory and playing skills. I've had a good look about and am now the proud owner of a considerably holey grasp of musical theory. I've also just about managed to get my hands to play in sync well enough to know some scales and a lot of chords on the guitar, and out of sync well enough to master some simple piano pieces in C and G.

I know enough to construct scales (major and related modes) chords (using all of my fingers) and put the two together. But it's far from intrinsic. So I figured the best way may be to start from scratch(ish). I'm hoping I have enough ability (ha!) to be able to catch up quicklyish, though I'm not in any kind of rush. I'm doing this for the long term results, rather than a quick fix.

So, what I was after was:

How would you guys approach the greatest understanding and familiarity you could if you were learning again from scratch?
Which books would you choose, which practice patterns, which musical pieces to consider, study and learn, and so on.

My goals are:

To be the best darned musician I can be.
To maximise my time and efficiency.
To cover a range of genre.

More specifically:

To get to the point where I can play the tunes I hear in my head on my guitar AND my piano.
To understand the rules of musical composition, and to be able to break them. (I don't know them yet, I might not want to break them).
To be able to listen to a piece of music and understand what is going on.
To be able to approach musical composition as a craftsman and artist, rather than a bodger and a cowboy.

I know I've tried to adopt a jovial position with this mail but I am deadly serious. I'm mediocre at a great many things. I'd really like to be great at this, my favourite of those things.

Post Extras