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Music Theory For Dummies

Music Theory For Dummies

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Authors: Michael Pilhofer, Holly Day
Publisher: For Dummies
Category: Book

List Price: $24.99
Buy New: $13.36
You Save: $11.63 (47%)



New (41) Used (10) from $13.36

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars 14 reviews
Sales Rank: 16130

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9

ISBN: 0764578383
Dewey Decimal Number: 781
EAN: 9780764578380
ASIN: 0764578383

Publication Date: April 2, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Many people grimace at the sound of music theory. It can conjure up bad memories of grade school music classes, rattle the brains of college students, and make self-taught musicians feel self-defeated. Music Theory may seem tedious and unnecessary, especially since not many people can read music.

Luckily, Music Theory for Dummies shows you the fun and easy way to understanding the concepts needed to compose, deconstruct, and comprehend music. This helpful guide will give you a great grasp of:

  • Note value and counting notes
  • Treble and bass clefs
  • Time signatures and measures
  • Naturalizing the rhythm
  • Tempo and dynamic
  • Tone, color, and harmonics
  • Half steps and whole steps
  • Harmonic and melodic intervals
  • Key signatures and circles of fifths
  • Scales, chords, and their progressions
  • Elements of form
  • Music theory’s fascinating history

This friendly guide not only explores these concepts, it provides examples of music to compliment them so you can hear how they sound firsthand. With a bonus CD that demonstrates these ideas with musical excerpts on guitar and piano, this hands-on resource will prove to you that music theory is as enjoyable as it is useful. Don’t get discouraged by the seemingly complicated written structure. With Music Theory for Dummies, understanding music has never been easier!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.


Customer Reviews:   Read 9 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars For the Music Theory Impaired   October 2, 2008
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

From a person who has always had a love for music, but a limited understanding of how it works, this book was very informative. As a beginner of the piano and acoustic guitar, this book has equipped me with some of the fundamentals of scales, chords, music composition, music reading, as well as helping me with sight reading.

For beginners, this book is a good start to truly learning music and applying it to playing music.



4 out of 5 stars Music Theory for Dummies   September 8, 2008
This book is well done. It has al the information neded to read and understand music. It is easy to read and it is not boring.


5 out of 5 stars Music Theory For Dummies   March 27, 2008
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

It was easy read, and it gets to the meat of what is necessary to learn about music theory.


5 out of 5 stars A good introduction and a solid foundation   February 25, 2008
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Being an obsessive music listener, music theory is something I have always thought I should know more about, but it's a subject I have never seriously approached before reading this book. The author does a good job of gently leading you through the door, and also introduces more challenging ideas in a readable style. The chapters on building chords and chord progressions gave a nice glimpse into the construction of even quite complex music, something that had previously seemed impenetrable. The examples used were well chosen, and were written without any condescension. As a way to ground the more abstract ideas, I especially appreciated the commentary by modern composers and musicians. Recommended for anyone wanting a good introduction and a solid foundation from which to build.


2 out of 5 stars Patchy discussion of music theory   November 30, 2007
 1 out of 4 found this review helpful

The first few chapters of this book -- on notes, scales, rests, etc. -- are done well -- though it would be hard to do them poorly, since they are such basic topics. Once the book gets to intervals, chords and beyond, it all falls apart. The text is confusing and incomplete. I took a year of music theory, and play classical guitar. I bought this book as a review of music theory, but it is unsatisfactory even in that role. The later chapters serve to confuse, not illuminate, the topic.

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