I want to learn theory

What should I learn? I just play rock, blues and some country. I know some chords and how they are built (open major, minor, barre chords, sevenths chords, sus4, sus2, add9), some scales (mixolidian, major pentatonic, minor pentatonic) and I know how to read sheet music, not perfectly.
SO what other things I need to know about music theory?

screw theory......just play from the heart (I know this is how this thread is gonna end up anyway!!)

music theory does not disable the ability to play from the heart, mood, not at all. unless you get caught up in it, in which case its your own fault.

I know that, I strongly believe theory expands creativity, but every time I try to post that view piont everybody always says forget about theory, play from the heart, so I thought I'd beat everbody to the punch line.

Sorry Everybody....just being cynical (it happens every now & then)

*tisk tisk*

I don't know much about theory I know scales, chords, progressions, and as far as I am concerned technique and feeling get you the rest of the way.

Can I do both? PLay from the heart and get into music theory? Or there's a rule against it?
So, what else should I learn?

A useful thing to learn is about chord construction and voicings. It can be very useful in rock and blues to know how to voice chords differently so that all your songs don't have the same kind of sound. It is also very useful to know that you can play a chord at any point on the neck, so that if you play a chord in a certain position you only have to move a few fingers to get to the next chord. Chord inversions come into play a lot in that instance, where you play a chord but make the third, fifth, or even seventh the bass note. This means you can change chords but keep the same note on the bass which can be useful. This is my idea of what would be useful, if you want me to actually explain some of the theory I would be happy to.

Originally posted by chris mood
I know that, I strongly believe theory expands creativity, but every time I try to post that view piont everybody always says forget about theory, play from the heart, so I thought I'd beat everbody to the punch line.

I think thory is a great tool to help those that are not so talented to express their feelings through music...it helps them know more about what they love in their favourite musical pieces and why they sound this way. Theory gives them the power to say to the others: this is how I feel..this song is me...sorry if I sound like a romantic fool, but that's my opinion anyway;)

okay
1) You should have a pretty good grasp on keys, understanding what chords come from what major scales and how they relate to each other.
Don't forget about minor keys and how the 3 minor scales will change the harmoney (natural, harmonic, and melodic)

2) you should have an understanding of how to construct chords of higher sinorities within the scale, know that the 5 chord becomes a dominant when the 7th is added, and that the 5 chord in minor will often have a flat 9 attached to it and sometimes a sharp 5.

3)know the entire fretboard, and always be able to know how the note your playing relates to the chord. Remember, there are 2 ways to construct a solo, play melodies using the scale that constructs the key of the song, are playing off the chord, the 2nd way will produce infinit results, becuase you will be thinking chord tones rather then scale patterns and will make for more colorful results and introduce you to chromaticsm.

4)always.......play from the heart, good luck!

Very good Chris
I wish i could put that in the words like you i give
you three ***s for this reply.

(And another thing the heart thing really dosn't belong
in the music Theory form i think guitar-tricks should have
a form called (Lose a loved one then play the blues form)

Mark

I'm assuming your interest in theory has more to do with composition than playing. Browse through the threads here. Check out the Circle of Fourths for discussion of a particular type of chord progression. Or take a look at this discussion of Chromatic Riffs. And that's just on the first page of thread titles! Go back as far as your curiosity takes you. There's all kinds of interesting stuff!

I didn't undestand the second way of making a solo, would explain it to me or give me a link to a site where that's explained?
And what is the best method to learn all the notes on the fretboard?

Originally posted by top hatted
I didn't undestand the second way of making a solo, would explain it to me or give me a link to a site where that's explained?
And what is the best method to learn all the notes on the fretboard?

For learning the notes on the guitar link below:
http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/trick.php?trick_id=3341

This is just a crash course useing the chromatic scale
to learn the all the notes on the guitar.

Mark