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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) Kindle Edition

by Nicolas Carter (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,206 ratings
#1 Best Seller in Music Instruction & Study
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Unique, practical and straightforward way to learn music theory and discover how music really works.

Newly updated and massively expanded edition with new content, exercises and images.

Make learning music theory easy.

This book also features the links to audio examples (hosted on external website). These examples allow you to hear the relevant music theory concepts and understand them better!

Have you ever wanted:
  • To know how music theory can make you a better player on any instrument?

  • To understand how music works, why there are 12 notes, how they relate to each other, and why we use intervals with imperfect resonance?

  • To understand why something sounds good?
  • To understand how music theory is not just some made up rules we invented out of thin air; 'what sounds good' is based on the natural laws and stems from natural occurrences.

  • To unlock the mysteries of notes, intervals, music scales, modes, keys, circle of fifths, chords and progressions, rhythms and other important concepts in music, and how they all relate to one another?

  • To get a deep understanding of scales, modes and chords, where they come from, what are the different types that exist, how they're built, and how to use any chord or scale in your playing?

  • To learn how to form, name and play any chord that is possible to play?

  • To learn how rhythm works and how to master your timing skills that will make you sound like a pro on any instrument?

  • To understand harmony and the magic behind all the beautiful music that you love and how you can (re)create it by yourself?

  • To get a wider perspective on tonal harmony and how melody, harmony, and rhythm work together?

  • To understand composition and improvisation, and how to use voice leading and chord inversions to create beautiful harmonies?

  • To get a grasp on the advanced concepts (such as modal playing, atonality, polychords and polytonality, free music) that usually only advanced jazz musicians may consider using?
But...
  • Have you ever had trouble learning music theory or thought that it was unnecessary, boring or too hard to learn?

  • Have you perhaps thought using intellect will be bad for your playing?

If you find yourself in any of this, then this book is the answer you’ve been looking for. It covers pretty much everything that anyone who plays or wants to play music should know. It is the book to have if you want to become a better musician, and have by your side as an immensely useful reference of knowledge.
This book is structured in a way that makes it very easy to follow, digest and internalize all important concepts that constitute music theory. What's great is that you don't have to be a college musician in order to understand and use any of this – anyone can do it, even a total newbie. It also doesn't matter what instrument(s) you play, nor your current level of knowledge and playing ability, because music theory is universal and all about what sounds good together! Anyone can benefit from it. It explains the WHY and HOW, and it is your roadmap - a skill and a tool, guided by your ears, for creating your best music.
This is the most comprehensive and evergreen book on music theory that you can find – a book you'll wish to study and refer to often, and keep it forever. You’ll also wish to gift it your friends and discuss about its content with other musicians.
It will give you what is necessary to become an expert in music theory without frustration and feeling overwhelmed in the process, and this in-turn will have immense benefits to your playing and musicianship!
But don’t take my word for it, use the Look Inside feature by clicking on the book cover to get a preview of what you'll find inside.
Get this book now and solve all your problems with music theory!
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  1. Book 1 of 2
    Essential Learning Tools for Musicians
  2. Print length
    244 pages
  3. Language
    English
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    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    August 11, 2016
  6. File size
    9755 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  1. A note, by the way, is simply a named specific pitch with a particular duration, loudness and quality.
    Highlighted by 661 Kindle readers
  2. An interval is a relationship between two notes. It describes the harmonic distance between notes with a unique sound.
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  3. Note that the terms ‘octave’ and ‘register’ are often used interchangeably.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

DiscoverHow You Can Become a
BetterMusician & Play with More Freedom

There are three main approaches to learningmusic and developing your musical skills on any instrument. All three of themare intrinsically related and work best in conjunction with one another.

First one is through ear -- which is bylistening and learning to replicate what you hear (from internal or externalsources) on your instrument.

Second is by developing your techniqueand creating new neural pathways that make your playing more automatic. This isachieved through continuous practice and repetition, and it allows you to thinkless about your playing and focus more on the music, its dynamics, and how you sound.

Third approach is through understanding musicand how it works. This is done through the study of music theory. Music theoryis simply a study of what sounds good and why. Guided by your intuitivefeelings, it is a powerful tool for expressing all your emotions and creativitythrough music.

Music theory serves as a guide to thebeautiful music that you can make. It brings you the power of understanding andopens to door to having more freedom in your playing.

In this easy to follow book you will learnall the most important music theory concepts that will give you exactly that - the power of understanding.

About the Author

Nicolas is an experienced guitar player and the best-sellingauthor of a range of books covering the topic of music and playing guitar. Heis most well-known for his insightful and uniquely presented studies of musictheory, covered in the books: Music Theory - From Absolute Beginner to Expert,and How to Read Music for Beginners. Together, his books have helped over 100000 people worldwide to understand and use music theory, and supported them ontheir music playing journeys.

Privately, Nicolas is a swimming coach, cyclist enthusiastand holds a degree in ecology. His diverse interests do not detract him fromexploring his deep passion, which is playing music and understanding anddistilling complex subjects such as music theory and how music works. As ayoung guitar player he became very interested in learning about how music andsound work. This led him to discovering music theory, which he spent yearsstudying and has since taught to many other musicians. He was inspired to startcreating books because he saw a need for a resource that explains music theoryand how music works in an interesting way, accessible to any musician. Hewanted to create books that will be an indispensable value and a tremendousresource to all musicians. He loves animals and has two dogs and a cat.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01JX6EFKW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ; 4th edition (August 11, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 11, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 9755 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,206 ratings

About the author

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Nicolas Carter

Nicolas Carter

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Nicolas is an experienced guitar player and the best-selling author of a range of books covering the topic of music and playing guitar. He is most well-known for his insightful and uniquely presented studies of music theory, covered in the books: Music Theory - From Absolute Beginner to Expert, and How to Read Music for Beginners. Together, his books have helped over 100 000 people worldwide to understand and use music theory, and supported them on their music playing journeys.

Privately, Nicolas is a swimming coach, cyclist and holds a degree in ecology. His diverse interests do not detract him from exploring his deep passion, which is playing music and understanding and distilling complex subjects such as music theory and how music works. As a young guitar player he became very interested in learning about how music and sound work. This led him to discovering music theory, which he spent years studying and has since taught to many other musicians. He was inspired to start creating books because he saw a need for a resource that explains music theory and how music works in an interesting and accessible way, useful to any musician. He wanted to create books that will present an indispensable value and a tremendous resource to all musicians.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
2,206 global ratings
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5 Stars
Small Typo
Hi, I just wanted to note that there is an error on page 98 (location 911 of 4016). The major scale is shown incorrectly on the piano; it's shifted by a semitone. Hope that helps!
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Top reviews from the United States

Kurt Witowski
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference
Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
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.
3 people found this helpful
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Philip O. Zettle
5.0 out of 5 stars It seems like a well written book to help one understand music theory
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2024
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I got the hardback and it is easy to handle and read.
One person found this helpful
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Hrvoje
4.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to music theory
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2023
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Great way to learn about music theory especially in you are new
One person found this helpful
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Judith M Weber
5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice book, actually about music theory
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024
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I wish I had found this book many years ago. I had a few basic questions about music and purchased the book. Once I started reading, I realized how little I actually knew. I had spent years learning about music mechanics but knew nothing about theory. It is humbling and enlightening.
Love it.
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Z
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for intermediate players looking to break past plateaus and elevate their musical game
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
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.
13 people found this helpful
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M. G. Oneill
3.0 out of 5 stars You Get What You Pay For, And No More
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2017
Verified Purchase
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.)
41 people found this helpful
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KC
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book. Takes you into the science of music
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2024
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Excellent book.
Now I understand more about frequencies and music notes.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ron MacPherson
5.0 out of 5 stars Nicolas Carter's books are excellent!
Reviewed in Canada on September 12, 2021
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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.
One person found this helpful
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Emily
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read, really interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2024
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It can be daunting starting to learn music theory - there's so many terms which sound very complicated. This book does a great job explaining them in enough detail without confusing me. Really interesting and well-written.
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M. blanc
4.0 out of 5 stars bon état du produit
Reviewed in France on December 29, 2023
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ouvrage intéressant- en bon état
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Marcin
5.0 out of 5 stars Just finished reading! Great read for noobs as well as pros
Reviewed in Poland on December 8, 2023
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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
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Michel
5.0 out of 5 stars Very intense
Reviewed in Germany on October 10, 2023
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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.
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