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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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Sometimes you can just figure it out by counting. In your specific example a Dminor7 will contain a basic Dminor, which based on the minor intervals is D-F-A, plus the 7th which is the C. With enough practice, you can learn to count it very fast, or even learn it by heart without needing a flashcard.

I'm the kind of person who doesn't like memorising things, I prefer to learn the underlying rules and then count my way. Even when playing the guitar (which I completely suck at), I'm so bad at remembering chord fingerings that I sometimes have to reconstruct them.

[–] MiddleWeigh 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yea I'd be lost with flashcards. Ground up approach is what I tend to gravitate towards for most things.

It also helped I had a piano to help me visualize things. Like if I learned theory solely on guitar I'd prob want to quit.

[–] R5N 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I'm a guitar guy but I learned theory completely by visualizing it in a linear way like on a piano and then sorting out how to make it work on the frets. Would be a nightmare trying to sort that out purely in a 2D guitar fretboard setting.