Edly's Music Theory for Practical People

I have and use this book and recommend it highly. My brother started playing piano and this is a gift for him.

A very good treatment of what, for me, has been a very difficult subject. As a guitarist, I found the book to be useful only in conjunction with formal guitar training materials. I'm forging ahead without a teacher, and this book has been invaluable.One area where this book feels lacking, like the other theory books I tackled: They all chide you that you have to "learn your scales". How the hell am I supposed to do that? Rote memorization? Endless repetition of scales based on guitar scale patterns? Internalization of the step-step-half step sequence of the scales? I guess all of the above, but when do know when you're done? When you can verbalize the notes, play the notes, toggle from major to minor with ease, understand alternative minors? I'm still not sure I'm on the right track.

===========PROS:+Good analogies with real world in examples. Helps to understand the roots.+Good book structure with lots of *notices, *jokes, *fun relaxing pictures and *"music pauses".+Not formal very casual way of explanations.+It's more *dialog form of interaction, that the reading.+This is one of the books that did not get me to go to sleep )+Places for exercises with pen or pencil in the book pages.===========CONS:-Not found yet===========EXCEPTIONS (for guitarists):-This is not the book that will teach you to read notes from the stuff fast (I bought this for it: "Guitar Reading Workbook,Barrett Tagliarino").-This will not teach your fingers to move in proper direction and on proper notes on the guitar (I bought "Guitar Aerobics: A 52-Week" for it).===========OVERALL:~ Like it a lot.

Great overview of music theory but it is still complicated. This book will help you understand but it is not magic. It uses good illustrations and examples and is not stuffy. Nonetheless music theory is a lifetime learning process. This book is good starting place because the music novice will be less hit by jargon and double speak. They are really trying to make the complicated make sense to those new to music theory.

I assumed that I knew a lot about Music Theory from my playing and reading music composition books. However, Edly's brought all that I learned together in a much more organized way. I actually understand how suspended 4ths etc fit with the rest of the chords now as well as the other combinations within an octave.I am classical and concert band player so I found all of the chords after the 9th to be overwhelming and unimportant for me. But, its there if you want to know it.In summary its easy to understand as it builds from the simple to complex, but has a ton of information as well.

This is a music theory book for musicians of all levels of proficiency. I upgraded from the second edition because I learned a fantastic amount from it. This third edition is slightly reorganized, and has some new elements of instruction. I play the classical guitar, and the book can readily be used for a 6 string instrument. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in music theory particularly jazz and modern music. The cartoons add to the joy of learning. They are fantastic. Buy it. You won't regret it!

I was hoping this book would truly be different and would stand out from the very large crowd of other music theory books out there. Well, this is just another music theory book with a bit of humor, but no new revolutionary method of teaching the student. I wonder how long it will take for someone to break that byzantine music teaching method and make "theory" be actually fun. There are many disciplines that have transcended that orthodox and almost snobbish click approach to teaching - music schools and their teachers have yet to make that evolution - a real shame.

While I haven't delved into many music theory books, I found this one to be incredibly helpful while studying music on my own in high school. I purchased the latest edition so I could teach my nephew how to read and understand music. While this book was supplemental to my taking piano and guitar lessons growing up, I feel that it should be required reading for any music student.Great book: easy to understand because the theory of music is broken down into simple parts. The easy relaxed tone of voice is helpful too.

Well written to appeal to those without any musical theory knowledge, the author is also very responsive to any questions that may not be answered in the book. Only downside was I had to wait ages for Amazon to get this in stock which

One of the few music theory books which tackles the material with humour and makes it almost enjoyable to learn music theory! First class!.

A different approach to learning music theory. I liked the layout of material, easy to follow navigation and written in a manner that is clean and reads well. The structure and layering of information in each chapter is well thought out. Slowly introducing new ideas and concepts to the reader kept me engaged. There is lots to take in here but if your struggling with learning and understanding music theory, this book is a gentle reminder to take small steps, learn each part well before moving on. Enjoyed the exercises that reinforce what was studied. Wonderful resource to have on hand.

Not enough practice exercises, would have liked to have seen more. He say at the back of the book, that he hoped to write another similiar book, of practice exercises. The book itself is well written, and easy to understand.

I've been through the first half and so far, the book is quite amazing .I will recommend it to anybody who wants to learn music theory without the boring stuff .Although English isn't my first language , I had no problem understanding the author.