Music Theory: from Absolute Beginner to Expert: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Learning Music Theory Effortlessly

Comprehensive, concise and practical. Nicolas does such a good job of covering what’s important to understanding HOW music works, that I can see how it would be overwhelming to beginners. So take heart if you are and want to attain a professional level because this book will take you there.There’s something for every level in this book. Expect to ponder many aspects of this wonderful thing we call music and improve your musicianship as you do. There’s so much information that even seasoned professionals will find “I didn’t know that” topics. At the very least you’ll get different perspectives that will expand your horizons, i.e. there’s plenty of food for thought (that’s not wordy or a waste of time).I particularly appreciated how Nicolas points out crucial information that is easy to not to think much of. For example, page 192 Timbre/Tone points out the importance of this subject. For years I was “unable” to figure out songs by ear because no matter what I did, it “didn’t sound right” to me. When I heard other people play I’d think “yeah, that’s it, but something’s wrong” without having a clue what it was. If only I had known that coming out of the gate.I can only think of two suggestions to improve this book. 1) The word “microtuning” is never used. The subject is covered to a degree with equal temperament, overtone and just intonation, but does not point out how modern synths can easily create other divisions of the octave (19, 22, 24, 27 and 31 divisions are common) and that there is music specifically written for various tunings. 2) I was pleased to find Spirituality and Music covered on page 233. This would be a good place to add the healing aspects of music. Steven Halpern’s Chakra Suite (and the book Sound Health) are good examples of what I’m talking about. When I first seen Steven in the 80’s, He demonstrated how powerful music is and the seminar not only made me a better musician, it changed my life. So if you’re looking for a book to take you to a professional level with music and change your life, this book will help you do that. It’s that good.

The best book I've read regarding music theory. It's broken down into the simplest form to make it an easy, understandable read.

Great way to learn about music theory especially in you are new

This book is not very friendly for people brand new to either music theory, music appreciation/history, or a specific musical intrument. However, if you are passionate about music and want to either learn more about the theory or be able to use theory to make your playing more interesting and work on your improvisation and composition skills, this book is a great fit for that. I have played guitar for 14 years and I am very technically well accomplished in my playing skill, but I struggle to remember popular chords if they aren't power chords or major and minor triads and 99% of my playing is in the minor pentatonic scale. I am halfway through reading this book and I have already gotten more out of it than clinics and 8 week courses in music theory that I have taken from knowledgeable guitar/music instructors. I wish I had bought this book 10 years ago, but it's better late than never! The two complaints I have are that the audio examples are included as annoying goo.gl links that bring you to soundcloud but the author doesn't have a playlist with all of them in one place, which is highly inconvenient, and the fact that the English is kind of broken and the book was clearly not proofread or edited for grammatical mistakes before it went to press. All things considered, this book is well worth the price and I would recommend it to anyone who has progressed past the first few years of playing or studying music.

I bought this for a grandson that wants to be a pro musician. He jokingly referred to this as his gift that gave him homework, lol, but he also said that he really needed the info within.

This is a very superficial review of music theory. It is an introduction to music theory, and no more. I have nothing bad to say about the book, except that its description is misleading. It properly should be labeled as what it is. If it had been, I would not have bought it. This is at most an outline of music theory topics, with definitions of terms and in some cases, very short explanations. To suggest that it progresses to some form of "expert" level is absurd and quite disingenuous as a selling point.I would describe myself as an "advanced beginner" musically. I learned next to nothing from this book that I did not already know, and everything here is available readily from the internet and YouTube. Yes, almost anything can be found somewhere for free on the internet, but I find books useful if all the information is gathered in one place, the author guides you through the information in more depth, and the author has expertise that he or she shares together with insights into the subject matter that might not be so easy to find. This book does not fit that description. I think I could have written the book, or at least two thirds of it.Having said all that, I give the book three stars instead of one or two, because it is written well enough and accomplishes the modest task of presenting an introduction to music theory. The price is in keeping with what it delivers, as opposed to what it promises. Indeed, it is not a bad value, and if the author did not exaggerate the nature of the book's contents, it would merit the four or even five stars that others have given it. (But I still would not have bought it.)

I just received this the other day and haven’t gotten very far into the book, but it seems like it’ll be ideal for someone like me, who is used to single-line music and is not very familiar with chords and their variations.

ouvrage intéressant- en bon état

I love the structure of the book and the accessible language it uses to explain complex concepts of music theory starting from the very basics (intervals, chords, scales, rhythm) all the way to modes, chromaticism and improvisation. I can recommend this whole heartedly - 10/10 <3

A good book to learn about music theory, it really goes from basics to an advanced level. As it's packed with information, be prepared for some very intense and contentful learning sessions.

Este livro leva o leitor pela mão explicando desde as noções mais básicas e fundamentais de teoria musical até noções complexas de uma maneira muito simples e eficaz de digerir. Eu já tinha algumas noções básicas antes de ler este livro, que no fundo me está a ajudar a consolidar o que já sabia mas também a aprender a lógica por detrás de ideias que eu entendia apenas intuitivamente. Não posso recomendar o suficiente. Vale mesmo muito a pena!