Hey Ignite,
So, all these suggestions are very good. One thing that often gets forgotten when learning theory is to actually apply it to the guitar, so definitely do all that!!!
Having said that, a real great way to get a good jump on this stuff is to memorize all the major triads. It's really not that hard and it will serve you endlessly throughout your musical career.
Here's how to do it:
- First, memorize the "circle of fifths" (or "circle of fourths" as it is more often used in a jazz context).
It's C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G. Notice there is one note name (we'll call it the root of our triad) for each of the 12 notes we use in Western Music.
- So once you've got that, memorize the spelling of all 12 major triads....
C-E-G
F-A-C
Bb-D-F
Eb-G-Bb
Ab-C-Eb
Db-F-Ab
Gb-Bb-Db (Alternatively, F#-A#-C#)
B-D#-F#
E-G#-B
A-C#-E
D-F#-A
G-B-D
It may seem like a lot to memorize, but trust me, I've been through an entire college jazz studies program, and you can easily tell in class who knows this stuff and who doesn't. It makes the rest of theory, and even jazz theory MUCH easier.
-Then you need to learn how to alter these major triads to get the other triad types (Minor, Diminished, Augmented).
Let's just take the first one, C for example. We now know (because we've memorized it!) that the C Major triad is:
C-E-G
To get the minor triad we flat the third (the middle note) of the major triad giving us:
C-Eb-G
For the C diminished triad we flat both the third and the fifth (middle and last notes) of the major triad giving us:
C-Eb-Gb
For the augmented triad we raise (make sharp) the fifth (last note) of the major triad giving us:
C-E-G#
This works for all the major triads that you've memorized above, so for Eb we have the following triads:
Major: Eb-G-Bb
Minor: Eb-Gb-Bb
Dimin: Eb-Gb-Bbb (This is B double flat! It's the same note as "A".)
Aug: Eb-G-B (here we'd usually say "B natural" to make sure to show that it's been raised from Bb in the major triad.)
The easiest way to memorize this stuff is to take some 3x5 index cards and write the root of the chord on one side (C, F, Bb, Eb, etc.) and then write the triad spelling on the back (C-E-G, F-A-C, Bb-D-F, Eb-G-Bb, etc.).
Start with cards for the major triads, then add in the other triad types (minor, diminished, augmented).
You'll be a theory whiz in no time. If you do this you'll really be shocked at how much theory you've knocked off by learning these 12 things!
Hope that helps!
_Bryan
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