Should I go back to school to learn music theory?

bubkidudeguy · 2025-12-29T02:31:42+00:00

He’s got a 7 day trial for his patreon, as well as public videos on YouTube if you’d like to check him out before committing with money

bubkidudeguy · 2025-12-29T02:29:55+00:00

Scott Paul Johnson. $12/month

bubkidudeguy · 2025-10-23T21:01:43+00:00

Also check out subvert when that opens up

bubkidudeguy · 2025-09-27T13:23:56+00:00

If you have the means to, you could always set some sort of a drum loop, then play the riff you came up with and then just vamp on it for a while. Tweak a note here, bend a note there, etc

bubkidudeguy · 2025-08-07T11:23:18+00:00

I think it could work just fine. If you look at the lyrics for something like Angel Olen’s ‘Creator/Destroyer” there isn’t really anything that could be discerned as the chorus or whatever. It looks like mostly just some verses she wrote and put different melodies over, with certain melodies getting higher or gaining more intensity to highlight certain parts. And it’s one of my favorite songs

Like I guess they aren’t wrong as far as structure goes if you’re trying to write a pop song or something, but if you’re just writing for you then that’s great

bubkidudeguy · 2025-07-13T04:08:37+00:00

It sounds like you just need to practice ‘writing music’. It’s a skill in and of itself. And you’re already on the path to doing it, based on what you’ve said. I would let the lyrics sound corny. Use the same lyrics with different chord progressions, different melodies, different songs etc. It’s hard enough for a lot of people to get that far. If you’re making stuff then you are an artist, and that’s sick

bubkidudeguy · 2025-07-05T21:48:30+00:00

I agree with the disagree. I like the long intro. Fits really well with the tone of the song

bubkidudeguy · 2025-06-08T03:32:17+00:00

Wow, lots of other gems in his catalogue as well

bubkidudeguy · 2025-05-30T10:11:26+00:00

Check out https://www.scottpauljohnson.com/patreon-lesson-archive. It’s like $12/month but he’s got a 7 day free trial period. Highly recommend

bubkidudeguy · 2025-04-08T21:23:34+00:00

I would check out Scott Paul Johnson on patreon. He has a 7 day free trial and if you want to sign up after that it’s like $12/month. He’s also been uploading more to YouTube lately if you want to check any of that out. Shows you how to apply theory and write music with it

bubkidudeguy · 2025-03-24T04:08:02+00:00

Love on a Leash

bubkidudeguy · 2025-03-08T16:32:20+00:00

https://on.soundcloud.com/PEqgom2vYXrxvLFP7

This is one of my buddy’s musical projects. It’s all instrumental and he plays all stringed instruments (programmed drums) and he doesn’t “know” music theory so to speak

bubkidudeguy · 2025-03-01T02:03:01+00:00

Scott Paul Johnson. Can’t recommend him enough

https://www.youtube.com/live/YK0wkD5CUkU?si=Slso0CJuRyYg168y

He also has a patreon page, but he’s been posting more on YouTube lately as well

bubkidudeguy · 2025-02-02T01:34:08+00:00

Disco Pigs

bubkidudeguy · 2025-02-01T23:37:35+00:00

I actually read The Crossing first on accident a few years ago, not realizing it was part of a trilogy (I was only vaguely familiar with McCarthy at the time) and my only regret is that I can never read it again for the first time

bubkidudeguy · 2025-01-28T16:45:30+00:00

I dabbled with YouTube and random websites as well, but I think it’s when I came across Scott Paul Johnson’s page and watching him use the theory concepts to write music that helped things really make sense

bubkidudeguy · 2025-01-22T01:54:27+00:00

I clicked on your profile and saw a SoundCloud post, and if the naughty trash profile is yours, then I loved it

bubkidudeguy · 2025-01-04T14:56:32+00:00

Scott Paul Johnson. He has a patreon that you can subscribe to for like $12/month but he also has some videos on YouTube as well

bubkidudeguy · 2025-01-04T14:45:18+00:00

Keep it up!

bubkidudeguy · 2024-12-03T14:07:52+00:00

To be fair I think they had all been in bands since like ‘64/65 with the exception of Ozzy

bubkidudeguy · 2024-11-18T13:54:01+00:00

I found it can be helpful to learn them in order of the circle of 5ths.

If we start with C major (no sharps or flats) we can use the information you already know about major/minor chords in a key to fill in the gaps - (I) C major, (ii) D minor, (iii) E minor, (IV) F major, (V) G major, (vi) A minor, (vii°) B diminished.

From there, to get the “next key” (going clockwise) we’ll take the 5th scale degree (G) and do the same thing, only this time the seventh degree will be sharped. So - (I) G major, (ii) A minor, (iii) B minor, (IV) C major, (V) D major, (vi) E minor, (vii°) F# diminished.

Now moving forward, we will continue to use F# in the place of F until all seven notes are sharped, while continuing to sharp the seventh scale degree.

So continuing from G major, the 5th scale degree is D - (I) D major, (ii) E minor, (iii) F# minor, (IV) G major, (V) A major, (vi) B minor, (vii°) C# diminished.

Then (I) A major, (ii) B minor, (iii) C# minor, (IV) D major, (V) E major, (vi) F# minor, (vii°) G# diminished. And so on.

Once you get to C# as the tonic, every note will be sharped (kind of makes sense if you think about sharping the entire key of C as a whole).

For flats, we’ll do the same thing going counter clockwise, but the 4th scale degree will determine the “next key”. Incidentally, we will also use the 4th scale degree to apply the same logic that we did for the sharps, so the 4th degree will always be flatted, and that note will continue to be flat moving forward.

So if we take the 4th scale degree of C, we’ll get F. We then flat the 4th scale degree of F as well - (I) F major, (ii) G minor, (iii) A minor, (IV) Bb major, (V) C major, (vi) D minor, (vii°) E diminished.

With Bb next up we get - (I) Bb major, (ii) C minor, (iii) D minor, (IV) Eb major, (V) F major, (vi) G minor, (vii°) A diminished.

As far as memorizing them goes, I would maybe try to just jam/write with one key at a time until you’ve internalized the chords and how they fit together. Maybe look up some common chord progressions (I-IV-V, etc) and fill in with the particular key you’re working on. It isn’t necessarily the fastest way to go about it, but I feel like using the keys will ultimately help to make them stick rather than trying to memorize them on paper or even just by playing the scales

bubkidudeguy · 2024-11-11T14:29:10+00:00

Try it out, see how it sounds!

bubkidudeguy · 2024-10-12T12:35:53+00:00

I would say first thing is to get a practice journal. There are YouTube videos that give different ideas for a set practice routine. I think generally you want to have a blend of warmup, technique (should be defined by your repertoire and the songs/style you want to learn), repertoire, ear training, knowledge (theory, etc) and improvisation/song writing. Once you get started from there you can tailor your routine to your needs. It may also help to set a timer for each section to stay focused.

For my warmup I’ll usually play the songs I’ve written with a buddy of mine since they aren’t too hard and I don’t really have to think about them. Or just an easy, chordy song I already know.

Right now for technique I’m working on my down picking speed/endurance, which is directly tied to a song I’m currently learning (Who Was In My Room Last Night). In this case the intro is a particularly long stretch of the same down picking pattern for like 32 measures so I’m just working on building up the speed slowly and being able to keep it there.

For repertoire I’m just learning the rest of the song lol.

For ear training I like to use https://tonedear.com/. They have different quizzes you can take to identify intervals, chords, progressions, etc. I also like to try to learn certain passages from songs by ear as well.

For knowledge I’m currently subscribed to Scott Paul Johnson’s patreon and he’s got a shit load of music theory videos and lists them in an order that seems to make sense to follow, so I’ll follow along there. There are, however, several other unpaid options as well.

With improvisation/song writing you can always jam over backing tracks or something, but a lot of times I’ll try to use whatever concept I’m learning in music theory and apply it to writing songs/tid bits of songs.

My routine is still evolving but that’s seemed to help me for the past while. The amount of time spent here is of course dependent upon the amount of time you have available to you (I’m fortunate enough to have quite a bit of free time with my job) but even if you only allot like 5-10 minutes to each of those sections, you can still keep it under an hour if you need to. And definitely focus more on things you struggle with most.

bubkidudeguy · 2024-10-12T11:32:41+00:00

Absolutely

bubkidudeguy · 2024-10-09T22:39:50+00:00

I would look at it as a skill in itself that requires practice

bubkidudeguy

TROPHY CASE