Music Theory

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A place to discuss and answer questions about music theory. All instruments are welcome, no question is stupid!

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Practicing vs. learning stuff by heart (feddit.de)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi folks, I wanted to ask you something I have been dealing with for as long as I have learned music theory: when is the point that you simply learn stuff by heart?

For example: I could not imagine writing out all keys in order to learn which notes a contained in them. But I learned all notes in all diatonic 7th chords by simply using flashcards. How am I to „practices“ my way into knowing what notes makes up a Dminor7?

Whats your experience with that? Where do you draw the line?

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[–] R5N 2 points 1 year ago

I think everyone will probably have their own methodology, but I tend more towards having to memorize these things to the point they're instinctual.

For me, the theory and doing it on paper is easy, where I struggle is conjuring this stuff real time when improvising.

The hack I'm using now for chord spellings is that I have all my diatonic 7th chords memorized in C. So if I need to grab a D7 arpeggio, I just need to raise the third of the Dm7 I have memorized. D - F - A - C --> D - F# - A - C.

As stupid as it sounds, having the extra syllable of "sharp" or "flat" in my head really slows down my processing, hence basing it all on modifications to the C major chords.