My Musical Journey (and my theory learning method since 2018)

As I get older, I realize my history with music goes back further than I usually give credit for. I usually attribute the beginning to when I got my first guitar and started learning how to play Weezer songs (age 14). From that point forward, I really fell in love with playing and the idea that I would always end up as some kind of professional musician. Before that though, I had spent years in church singing hymns and even playing a performance in church of the First Noel around christmastime on the piano. I took a few piano lessons as a kid, but never really felt that connected to the instrument. We started working in C, which I assume every person who takes lessons starts in, but then we went up to G and my first black key ended up being F#. For whatever reason, I just wasn’t into the sharps. Seemed like too much work. I much preferred the flats. I think its because the flats kind of looked cool and smooth and the sharps looked like the sound a phone makes when you dial the wrong number. I just felt turned off by the whole thing and told my mom I was done with piano and the piano teacher (I was 9 or 10). 

And there I wandered aimlessly for years, from 14 until about 29 without really knowing anything substantial about music or music theory. I wrote a bunch of songs, recorded an album, played a bunch of gigs with my band, but I always felt like an imposter. I couldn’t read music and definitely struggled communicating certain musical themes with my band. If they ever started jamming, I was exposed for the musician I really was. Uneducated and pretty unrefined. Id you gave me 20 hours to play and practice by myself, I could play something moderately impressive for you. If I had to make something on the spot, you would think to yourself “wow, this guy really sucks!” I hated it…

I figured the key was to learn piano and do it the long way. I signed up for pianolessonswithwarren.com after finding him on youtube and listening to his story and his lessons. Warren is amazing. I’ve never seen anyone explain theory concepts like him in my life. He takes some crazy complicated ideas and breaks them down so well. I love that guy. I signed up with him, and started my journey along the circle of 4ths.

Yeah, that’s right. The circle of 4ths. We’re going counterclockwise baby and adding flats to the mix, not sharps. Just the way I like it. I actually think it’s way easier to learn music theory by following the circle of 4ths than the 5ths. When you’re moving along the circle of 4ths, each time you change keys, the new “4” is the newest note that wasn’t there in the previous key. And its your 4. Move to the next 4th (down the circle again) and this new key’s 4th just so happens to be a new note (which also happens to be your new flat, combined with the last flat). Every time you change the key, your newest flat note is the 4th and you just collect them on the way down. There’s a similar but much less intuitive pattern on the circle of 5ths, with the new sharps being 7ths and therefore way less relevant than the 4th. 7ths are useful, of course, but for a new music theorist, the 4th is way better…

I think the main reason why music teachers go towards the 5ths and not the 4ths is because they think it will be easier to understand if there are fewer tonic notes in flat (meaning that the 1 chord will be a black key), but I find this to be the opposite of the reality. For anyone learning music and theory out there, start with the circle of 4ths and ignore everything else…you’ll know why in a few weeks.

So this blog is going to document a lot of my education for music theory as I develop on the keyboard, but it will also be a repository for my new music and my thoughts on theory, business, life, and family. All of it is interchangeable and basically the same, much like different instruments all playing the same song and dancing the same dance. Life is one long song with lots of changes, tension, release, and harmony. The trick is knowing what you’re looking at and listening to!

So that’s really all of the intro I want to give for now. I actually need to get going and get to work in my studio. When running a painting company and having a family, you have to squeeze the lemon for all it will give you…

Anyway, one thing you’ll be seeing here is my development of Album 2, which is based on the circle of 4ths and will be a new song in every key. So far I’ve made my way down to B (I did skip F#/Gb though, but I do have a few ideas for that one…) I’m currently working on B and naturally, it’s my favorite song ever just like every other new song that gets made. As weeks go on, I’ll be posting all the tracks I’ve made so far and discussing some of the interesting language in the theory, how the songs came about and other tidbits that I think are worth writing about. There really is so much that goes into any piece of music. The inspiration for the music, the theory behind the music, the tension and release, the orchestration, the production…if the music has words that opens a new dynamic completely. Crafting music feels like cooking, but you’re crafting the raw ingredients out of nothing first…just like everything in life, the prep is what you pay for!

OK, I could definitely go on forever, but these songs won’t write themselves….would be nice if they did though….