Music Theory: From Beginner to Expert - The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide to Understanding and Learning Music Theory Effortlessly (Essential Learning Tools for Musicians Book 1)

I love this book! A few years ago, I decided to try to learn the guitar again. But this time I wanted to first gain a thorough understanding of Western music theory, and how and why music works the way it does. This book is a jewel in that it explains in plain language that is suitable for a complete novice the how, but far more importantly the why of music theory. Like a true teacher, the author explains in concise language the fundamentals of music theory and then builds on that foundation to more advanced stages of learning. As music theory is quite complex, the author does a good job of explaining critical information at each step but avoids going down that rabbit hole by simply saying “we’ll have more on that later.” The reader gets the gist of the topic, without being overwhelmed by all the minutiae related to it, until a later time when the reader is better able to understand further details. This approach also makes this book an excellent reference work, and I have gone back and re-read various chapters as my experience and understanding has evolved. Lastly, I have found more “why” in this book instead of the usual “what” as in other books. Knowing why something is so makes the “what” far easier to learn and apply for me. I rated this book based on the tremendous value it added to my learning in a clear and concise way. It is my go-to theory book before branching out to other volumes. I wouldn’t be surprised if ChatGPT keeps a copy of this book handy for theory questions, and I consult it regularly as well.

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.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. I found the explanations thorough and easy to understand. Scales, chords - how they are built and how they relate, chord substitutions, modes, inversions and extensions all became more clear to me and will give the aspiring songwriter a wealth of ideas to explore and have fun with. Not that you need to be or want to be a songwriter to benefit. All players should know the information in this book. Being such a broad and deep subject, it's impossible to cover all of the aspects of theory in a single book but this little gem certainly has enough that anyone wanting to get a grasp of the more important/fundamental concepts of music theory will be well rewarded. I don't often rate anything 5 stars but Nicolas' book comes close to that standard for me. The (very minor) faults as I see it are an occasional mis-spelling and such, maybe auto spell raised it's ugly head once or twice. I want to re-read it and update this review as I didn't bother making any notes while reading but all in all I would highly recommend this book to anyone with no knowledge on the subject, or someone like me with a more intermediate understanding. I'm sure there are professional players who could gain a lot from reading it. I'll be looking at Carter's other books and hope their quality are as good as this one. I'm very impressed with this book and want to help encourage more from this author so I also paid for a copy. It's that good.

Great book! I just finished it and I have the fundamentals to take my musical journey as far as my efforts will take me.

Nicolas Carter has written an extremely well rounded book on music theory that can be understood by beginners; This is the first part of the book (excluding only the last chapter) that starts by explaining basic music theory fundamentals and then eases into scales, modes, chords, rhythm, movement, and concludes with musical structures. Amazingly, Mr Carter has done this without using standard music notation, which is conveniently covered in his companion book, How to Read Music. Chord progression is explained and expanded upon throughout the book as appropriate. However, experienced musicians may also learn a few things or gain valuable review by reading this first part too. Please note that chord abbreviations are meticulously defined, thus music notation (staff/staves) can be avoided without compromising explanations regarding chords. The final chapter goes beyond these fundamentals; it focuses on improvisation with parallels to actual composition. Here Mr. Carter explains advanced musical concepts and expands on concepts introduced earlier in the book, such as further techniques for modifying chord progressions (substitutions, modal reduction, polytonal substitutions, chord scales), chromaticism, polytonality, modal harmony, polymodality, atonality and even free harmony. In the discussion of the melodic minor scale, Mr. Carter uses a definition where the exact same tones (degrees 6 and 7) are used for a melody going up versus going down. While his definition is agreed upon by a significant number of musicians, I do believe that Mr. Carter should have mentioned the other definition (where degrees 6 and 7 shift up/down a semitone depending on melodic direction) , which is usually mentioned by most other books on music theory, even to exclusion of Mr. Carter's equally valid definition. I will not claim to be an expert on reviewing music theory books. In college, I was a Mathematics major. My major professor suggested that I take music theory classes; I took two full years of music theory classes and applied this knowledge to a simple computer program that computes chord progressions. The program followed all the rules of chord progression that I had learned. I had not yet learned how to break the rules successfully, so neither did the program. You will read a great deal more about music theory from Mr. Carter's book than I learned and retained from two years of music theory courses! His book is available through kindle unlimited, so if you have kindle unlimited, you have no excuse for not reading his music theory book! Even without kindle unlimited, the cost is minimal; try it; I'm sure you will enjoy it!

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 learned so much and introduced to amazing advanced theory in the end. Thanks a lot. I can’t wait to keep learning and practicing

Best Music theroy book I have seen. It explains things in an easy to understand format. No fluff. Everything is explained in a logical maner without expecting you to know anything yet not insulting your intellegence. The knowlege can be applied to any musical instrument, but seems primarily targerted toward guitar and then piano. It is concise without being terse or leaving out important details. I was able to understand more reading this book for 3 hours than I have with other theroy books. You can use it as a reference book that you can dive into when you are trying to make sense of something. You won't get lost or over your head in theroy trying to remember some detail you may have forgotten because the book is written extremely well. I also had a question that I emailed to the author and I got a responce within a day or two. I like the book so much I gave a copy as a gift. The book is well organized. I only wished that I could have discovered it sooner!

excelente! o livro foca nos assuntos mais importantes de uma forma bastante direta e completa, ajudou bastante a entender melhor a musica

This book is a solid starting point if you’re trying to make sense of music theory without getting overwhelmed. It explains the basics in a clear, step-by-step way, and it’s easy to follow even if you’re starting from zero. I liked that it builds gradually, so you’re not thrown into complex concepts too early. That said, it’s not perfect. Some sections feel a bit repetitive, and a few topics could use more real musical examples or short exercises to really lock things in. It’s more of a “guide” than a full course, so if you want deep detail you’ll probably end up pairing it with videos or a teacher. Overall, it’s helpful, straightforward, and good value if you want a structured way to learn theory from the ground up.

Nicolas Carter's books are excellent teaching/study aides! I have several, and they're the best I've found! His guitar books are well written, and provide a complete and well laid out course of study, with exercises to guide you along.

I thought to buy and see if I can use this in my music teaching. But the book is very elementary and without a good structure. I find the way of explaination very unclear. There are much better books in my library about theory. It seems writing a book for both beginners and advanced in one doesn't work out very well.

It's a very special book, unlike all the other classical music theory books. It is written in a way as if the author is chatting with you. I like it because it not only explains the theory itself but also a bit of the logic behind. For instance it is the first time that I learned why the minor scales is constructed this way whereas the other books just tells you what the minor scale is without any explanation of the underlying logic. According to my personal opinion things that can be improved include making more visualized examples. Sometimes the explanation is convoluted and can be suddenly clearer if with the examples visualized with the notes. Additionally I think that despite the title one can in no way become any expert at the end of the book. but that is natural and expected, since one needs enough practicing. just to learning the concepts does not necessarily mean that one has mastered it.