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 enlarge | Authors: Michael Pilhofer, Holly Day
Publisher: For Dummies
Category: Book
List Price: $24.99
Buy New: $13.53
You Save: $11.46 (46%)
New (47) Used (11) from $13.48
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 8380
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
 I finally put 2 and 2 together thanks to this book November 23, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'm 48, and I've been playing guitar, bass, keyboards and a lot of other instruments since I was 12. Two of them well, all of them by ear. I didn't have a clue what to call anything I did, aside from knowing when I was playing a major, a minor, a 7th or a 9th. But only because better players told me so. Having found some success in other areas with other books in the Dummies franchise, I took a shot at this one.
Turns out I was doing a lot of things right all these years and even being fairly close to correct in the way I described them to my guitar students. Yes, a guy who needs a Dummies book for music teaches kids to play. The nerve, right? Well, I feel a lot better about it now. I'm able to give my students some theory with their Green Day, and using the same matter-of-fact way of describing and discussing it as I found in the book, it gets across quite nicely. I'd bought a different book on music theory that was supposed to be very simple. In fact, it seemed extremely short and unintimidating... at first. Shortest book I ever failed to complete. THIS book, on the other hand, clocks in at 330-some pages and it never bogs down. They stay with a topic instead of flying past it without making sure you are ready to move on. In my opinion, that's the most important quality a Dummies book should have: a flat-out refusal to leave any reader in the dust. I appreciate that. Now if the same authors will just do a MIDI For Dummies book, aaaaand maybe books for Studio-In-A-Box 24Track Digital Recording, Signal Processing, Microphone Techniques, Child Rearing and a few other topics I need help with, life will be complete.
More than a Dummies Guide November 18, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
While I have been a musician for most of my life, I don't know much about music theory (including sight reading). It would be difficult for me to pick my favorite chapter in this book, since I learned something new about music theory in every chapter, but Chapter 10 (Intervals) was probably the biggest bang for the buck in my mind. The later chapters that described the use of the intervals were reinforcement, but the explaination of the qualities of major, minor, diminished, and augmented intervals was a breakthrough for me. Chapter 13 (Building Chords) was almost as valuable to me, since it built on the same concepts.
This is a textbook that I will be referring to for years. I strongly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with music theory.
As Shoan Sees It.... November 15, 2007
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I was gifted with the musical talent of playing by "ear". For over 20 years I tried to study music theory but I found it complicated and boring. Having read and actually "studied" Music Theory for Dummies I am now able to understand exactly what and why I am playing. Music Theory for Dummies changed my whole understanding and heightened my abilities. At the very least, Music Theory for Dummies is highly recommended.
Great for beginners May 12, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book really helps if you want to learn the basics of music theory. I sing in a choir and I always feel like I don't belong there because they spout off all this technical music stuff and I can't read music either. This book teaches you everything you need to know.
 Very good, but lots of typos and errors May 12, 2007
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Overall, the book is very good. I've never had music theory but had piano and band as a child and am learning guitar as an adult. The best parts of the book explain a lot of things together (major/minor key signatures and associated sharps/flats, chord realtionships/progressions, scale structures, and so on). Things are seeming to click in the ol' gray matter and I WOULD have given it a "5" for the coverage of the subject matter, BUT...
...there are typos/errors throughout the WHOLE book. There are incorrect references to table numbers (trivial mistakes) and there are errors on a few of the example music measures and, in at least one instance, on guitar notes on a fret chart. The editor of this book did a horrible job. I know enough to say "yeah, that's not right" as I read through the book, but the number of errors is appalling.
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