Milo - says:
Do you believe that it is a necessity to know theory in order to write good songs?

xxxx says:
no, look at xxxx [Name lef out as to not offend fans of band or creat arguments]

Milo - says:
He knows no theory? Im talking about actually knowing the names of scales and bullshit like E Minor Deminished [whatever that is] and crap like that. I say as long as you play good you don't need to know shit.

xxxx says:
I don't think he ever did until he hurt himself
but I guess overall it depends on what you are trying to write. If its uber complex progressive metal then there is no chance, if its simple slam then thats easy

Milo - says:
But I don't know any theory, I caouldnt tell yuo what a chromatic scale is and like thats the best known one or whatever, but I could write a necrophagist or psycroptic song and just as complex, or whatever and I don't know shit. Hmm, oh well.

xxxx says:
I think that scales are the basis of any good solo, but for generic riffs and stff you can probably do it without that knowledge

Milo - says:
Sure, I know how scales work but I never read anything on it. I mean you simply pick that up through guitaring, you know how notes fall in with each other and crap like that. It comes from playing. But I never would be able to tell you what scale is which, or I know no set scales or anything, I just know how notes fit together

xxxx says:
if the music sounds good then who cares if it conforms to scales or not - provided you aren't writing prog, which you already stated you are not

Milo - says:
Well, Im saying I could write some hyper complex blast beating song [whether I could play it is another thing] and I know nothing about theory. Through playing I have simply picked up the way notes fall together and what sounds good together. Thats about anything close to theory I can get.

*Useless bickering that didnt accomplish anything, OR just me being pedantic.

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

Is this you and someone from a famous band talking?

Because I know a form of theory, even when I try to write something crazy and weird and a-tonal, it comes out melodic anyways so eh....

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its not ESSENTIAL, if you give someone enough time and patience they can come up with a mozart piece, but theory is a huge short cut to getting there

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I completely agree with guitar demon. It really makes writing music a LOT easier. I can use theory to help me achieve the feel for a song I'm writing quickly.

Example, if I want something happy and uplifting, I will probably use the Ionian (Major) mode or the Lydian mode. If I want it to sound dark, I'll probably use some sort of diminished or Aeolian (Minor mode). You can also use various scales that you have learned (most people stick to major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, and diminished) to really spice things up.

The bottom line, though, is NO, you don't need theory to write good music, it just helps a LOT to know what you're doing. I also like using theory when looking at other bands tabs and seeing how THEY wrote that riff or how THEY wrote a solo. This way, I can make a mental note of why the song they wrote sounds so damn good and apply it to my own writing/learning

Just my 2 cents though.

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Even if you don't know theory from a book, anyone who is really an accomplished song writer knows theory. They may not know what the scale is called, but they know how to come up with things that have a certain sound. As you progress as a musicial you basicly teach yourself theory without any names or terms, but once you know your shit you know how to get certain sounds just from experimentation over years. But obviously its alot easier if you know the stuff beforehand.

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What you said in the first 2 sentances is pretty much what I was saying, from simply playing guitar you get the way notes and scales work.

I view music theory in much the same way as I do mathematics. In mathematics, anybody can be given a set of formulae and calculate values sufficiently but not many will be able to derive those formulae. It's the same in music; everybody knows how to use a scale but not many know how it is constructed.

At the end of the day, the application of the end results of music theory should be enough for the vast majority of musicians to get by on.

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both of the people in that conversation are tards.

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connect the dot`s,connect the F#$@% dots

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Shut up you fool! You posted that already.
Real fucking useful.

connect the dots if you want to have a crazy out of key solo thats all over the place and makes no sense.

Way to use music theory!

He's got to be a drummer.

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