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Music Theory for Dummies vs. Piano for Dummies
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| Stephen Wiley |
Ok so I have recently purchased two books. ****** for Dummies" and "Music Theory for Dummies" - Both books come with a CD to enhance the learning experience.
Which do you guys think will be more important for somebody just beginning to learn composition. My purpose for reading these books is one and only, and that is to produce good progressive tracks. I'm not interested in being a badass piano player. Just enough to be able to translate what I'm dreaming of into a sequencer and understanding it.
I'm going to read them both, but which should I read first and if I could read only one, which would you advise?
I've pasted below what each book offers...
*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
Discover how to:
* Read notes and understand tones
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Keep proper rhythm
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Master major and minor scales
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Build chords and cadences
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Write in popular musical forms
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Piano For Dummies starts at the very beginning and walks you through everything you need to know to turn that oversized hunk of furniture into an instrument that can make beautiful music. If you don't know how to read music, this book explains in friendly, uncomplicated language all the basics of music theory and applying it to playing the piano. And if you've been playing piano for a while – or took piano lessons when you were a child but haven't played since – you can pick up some valuable tips to improve your playing or use the book as a refresher course.
Here are some of the topics you'll find in Piano For Dummies:
# Buying a piano: Acoustic versus electronic
# How a piano works, and how to care for one
# Left- and right-hand piano techniques
# Examining keys, scales, melodies, harmonies, and chords
# Plenty of musical examples to play
# The history of piano musical styles
# Advice for piano teachers
# A Top Ten list of pianists you should know about
Piano For Dummies also includes a glossary and a free CD, which includes audio of all of the examples in the book so that you can play along.
THANK YOU !!!! |
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| cryophonik |
Since you're not looking to become a pianist, I'd definitely recommend the Theory book first. Pretty much every theory book is going to base its examples around the piano, so you'll be getting used to the piano as you follow the examples.
That said, I've never looked at "Music Theory for Dummies", but IME, the "Dummies" series are generally not very good and you can usually find better starter books for any subject by looking elsewhere. Amazon.com has a feature on each product page that tells you what people looking at that book actually ended up buying. Go to those pages and read their reviews before buying the Dummies book.
Also, you could probably pick up a cheap (<$10) book of basic piano scale exercises to help you along (or look for freebie pages on the web) - I would highly recommend that because it will help you get used to the "proper" fingering techniques for scales/chords. Believe me, it's much better to learn good technique at the start than to try to unlearn bad technique. |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by ********
Doesn't matter you can find all the same stuff on the net for free. |
...but hard to read when you're sitting on the can. :) |
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| EddieZilker |
| quote: | Originally posted by cryophonik
...but hard to read when you're sitting on the can. :) |
Why do you think I keep a bucket next to my computer? ;) |
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