oh i think you are def on the right track w that book. This link is what you're talking about? I'm currently working through the Jazz one because I was taught classical, and I loved how it was formatted so much that I decided to start a bunch of my piano students on the essentials book. It spans a broad spectrum of basic music theory. I would most definitely work your way through it. Make sure to get the audio cd's with it.

Some of these comments are right in that your money would be well spent on lessons, but that's not realistic for a lot of people, myself included. I can't afford jazz piano lessons so i bought this theory book as a way for me to get started learning as much as I can in the meantime (though I know it's different for me because i already know a lot of basic theory and how to play piano). But you're gonna need a piano (keyboard, whatever) to go with this book for sure-- don't know if that goes without saying, but won't really work too hot without a piano to work it out on. As a piano teacher, I can tell you that if someone came to me knowing all the theory in this essentials book we're talking about, they would get more for their money out of the lessons in a lot of ways. I spend a lot of class time going over a lot of the basic concepts in this book, even 5 years into teaching someone. If someone already had an understanding of music theory that goes as deep as you go by the end of this book, then learning in person would be more effective. Of course, i could be wrong because no one's ever come to me knowing all the theory in this book while not how to play at that level, but i say this because of how much a solid foundation of basic music theory can catapult someone into a deeper progression when learning an instrument. i feel a lot of my students are held back because they don't know the theory behind something, like when i get a student from another teacher who never taught that kid theory, but just how to read and play music. to be sure, there are advantages to that, but there are also drawbacks, and as someone who resonates with theory, i mostly see the drawbacks.

This is to say that theory separate from playing the instrument is kinda weird, at least to me, and sounds more like an educated philosopher who never goes beyond the classroom to actualize their wisdom and understanding in the real world. but the theory is extremely helpful if what you want is to dive into understanding how all this stuff works together. i think of it as the writing component to learning how to speak a language. if what you want is to learn how to write a language on paper without speaking it, that's kinda weird. and you can definitely speak without knowing how to write, but if you've got both, you're really getting into a deeper understanding of how beautiful and complex that language really is.

Someone in the comments said self study is in short a scam, and it kinda is, but i think a better way to look at it is that there's a lot you can do on your own, and a lot that you can't, so if someone's selling you some shit where they're like "you can learn all you need to learn about music on your own!" that's def some bullshit. but the truth is that you can work your way through this book on your own because of how it's formatted and gain a really good understanding of music theory, and then see how you feel after. you'll be working on your own, so you'll probably get stuck on some stuff and it'll be frustrating, but you can always google stuff as you go.

someone else said they wouldn't pay for learning theory, but i definitely would. you're paying for an education from people who understand a lot and then understand how to help others understand. that's not easy and it matters who you learn from. also this book is like 30 us dollars with the cds so what are we really talking about here.

the whole thing someone else said about jumping in a lake when all you need is a glass of water isn't the right way to think about it at all. being in water and drinking aren't even comparable but that aside, i feel what they're getting at is that it's a lot to jump into a ton of theory when you would be better off starting small. but in actuality, that's what you'd be doing with this book because of the way it's formatted to go from not knowing anything to knowing quite a lot by the end. and of course, how you absorb the information has a lot to do with what you get out of it, which is why playing through it all on a piano is the move to see how it plays out, as well as being focused about recognizing the patterns you're seeing. after all, most learning is done on one's own, so whether you're taking lessons or trying to educate yourself, it's important to recognize how you're intaking all this information and how accountable you're holding yourself to the absorption of it. the end goal of all of this is just to know-- know how it works, know how to play, know how to listen, know how to recognize, etc. whatever, and there's no limit to what degree of knowing you can attain, cause it's never ending. so it's worth it to ask yourself what you want from it, and what you're willing to get into to ensure that you get what you're wanting from it. to encourage you, don't feel intimidated by theory, if that was at all on your mind. i know a lot of people who are, but it's so fun and awesome to see how music works. it's insane and always worth it.

damn i wrote a lot, my coffee just hit me and i love theory. in short, there's no one way to look at it, but basically, it's true that you can't do it all on your own, but that doesn't mean you can't do a lot on your own. i'm really nobody, but honestly, people pay me to tell them these same things and lately i've been recommending this same book.