Check out this message I just recieved on youtube, and weep:

i saw your bass tapping intro and wanted to point out that you tell your viewers to play an F# (9th fret A string) along with a G (12th fret G string). note that an F# and G are only a half step away from each other and do not fit musically. (if you play them together on a piano you’ll see what i mean if you cant hear it already.) anyways just thought you might want to correct this before new musicians get the wrong idea and are out there playing the wrong notes. remember music comes first before motor skills.

very respectfully,
BM

Urggg.  See, this is what gives theory a bad name.  Theory can be a useful tool, if used in the right ways, and used as a “theory”, rather than being used as something that potrays music as a black and white world of rules and regulations.

“This can’t work with this.  This won’t work with that.”

Ignore it.  Or at least learn it, and then remind yourselves why you should try and ignore most of it.

The riff he’s speaking of sounds absolutely fine.  There is no harmonic conflict there at all.  Infact….it sounds pretty damn good.  Ok, in theory it “shouldn’t” work.  But it does.  Here it is:

Paul Mcarteny and John Lennon did tons of things that theoretically shouldn’t have worked.  This is what gave them their edge, and their different sound.  They experiemented.  They ignored the black and white rules of regulation, and saw music as a colourful world of potential creation.

As I mention above, theory CAN be useful, and is obviously a must when identifying specific notes with other people.  But don’t let it dominate your creativity.

And that is my main message:  Don’t let theory dominate your creativity.

Use and train your ear.  Learn to hear music.  I mean really hear it.  If it sounds good to you, then it sounds good to you.  If you like how it sounds, then it is your right to call it a song/riff/line, whatever.  Because music is freedom, expression.  What you have written may sound crap to the rest of the world, but if you like it, and it comes from your heart then it is as relevent and as important as any other famous piece of music.

Trust me.

Theory is just a theory to make communication within music easier.  It is not a “How to” of everything creative…

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