Consider that if you are building a house, you will need a foundation. The higher you want to build, the broader your foundation will need to be. When you are learning guitar, or any musical instrument, music theory is your foundation. It enables you to build your instrumental skills, and without it you will be on some shaky ground.

That doesn’t mean you need to do it right away, but realize you can only get so far without it. If you just want to fool around, make some noise, and have fun with the guitar, you won’t need much in the way of theory.

You can learn some songs, sure. But to get good at the guitar, and make steady progress with your music, it’s wise (and not very difficult) to at least learn the basics of music theory using your guitar.

Fortunately, the guitar is an excellent tool for learning (and teaching) music theory. There’s no question about this. The ability to play notes, scales, chords, rhythms, and even basslines, which are a kind of melody, is right under your fingertips.

The 2-dimensional aspect of the fingerboard allows you to visualize theory concepts graphically, and helps you to quickly understand and assimilate the music you hear and play.

And, the guitar is used in so many different styles of music, so using your theory knowledge from the guitar provides a gateway to understanding how those styles work. Knowing how music is put together lets you grow musically in ways you might not expect, which is fulfilling in and of itself.

Here’s a diagram showing how the guitar fingerboard is often represented:

Here’s a video tutorial from Guitareo with basic beginner music theory concepts to support your guitar playing:

Music theory is a codified means of describing (and notating) music so we can study it. It’s a practice and a method of learning that leads to shared understanding.

For beginners, it involves first learning rudiments which are the building blocks of notation: key signatures, time signatures, rhythmic notation, and then progressing to learning scales, chords, and harmony.

Basic knowledge of music theory helps us understand how music is created and can also provide a new way to understand different styles or historical periods of music-making. Music theory is a specialized way to analyze music, which helps us to understand it in a deeper way.

My first piece advice might sound simplistic, but don’t let the idea of learning music theory frighten you. Many people feel intimidated by learning music theory, perhaps based on how it has been taught in the past.

It may seem like a very traditional subject in school, but with the evolution of modern music the theory has also evolved. For those who know, music theory is beautiful and elegant, and actually a lot of fun. There really is nothing to be afraid of here.

Here’s a lesson from Chris at Marty Music to help you overcome any resistance you have to learning music theory:

Music is a language, the only universal language everyone understands. Very young children often learn theory quite easily, and if they can do it, so can you. This is what I told myself when I was learning music theory as an adult, and others have found it helpful to think this way. (It’s not unusual for people to learn music theory later in life.)

Finally, we already know that the guitar is a fantastic tool for learning music theory, and learning theory will help you to become a better guitarist. The longest journey begins with a single step, so just get started! Keep reading and check the videos here to learn more about how.

A teacher will be your best guide, but if you are doing it on your own, no worries. Get a book, or open up YouTube. Google is your friend. Consult some of the other articles on this site about what you should be learning.

To help you get oriented, here’s a list of basic topics and definitions: (Note that to understand the rhythmic concepts you will need to learn to count music.)

• Note values: whole-note, half-note, quarter-note, eighth-note, sixteenth-note) and rests
• Dotted note values: (the dot after the note or rest increases its value by half)
• Ties: extends note duration over a bar line
• Notation: stems, flags, and beams
• Other rhythm fundamentals: meter, tempo, time signatures, measure (bar), imaginary bar line

• Clefs: treble and bass clefs written on the staff
• Staff: note names written in treble clef (it’s useful to know them in bass clef as well)
• Accidentals: flats, sharps, natural signs
• Key signatures: circle of 5ths, major and minor keys

• Intervals: distance between two notes
• Scales: major and minor pentatonic, blues scale, major scale
• Chords: major, minor, augmented, and diminished triads, sixth & seventh chords, sus chords
• Tensions: 9, 11, 13 (color notes added to chords)

These are most of the basic topics and should form the starting point of your study.

Nate Savage from guitarlessons.com offers a beginner guitar lesson introducing some basic music fundamentals:

When I used the term fingerboard theory, I was being very specific: the neck of the guitar (or more precisely, the fingerboard) is a grid that allows you to visualize music theory in a very special way.

The piano is linear, meaning that each note is in a row (white and black keys) from low to high, or left to right. The guitar fingerboard has two dimensions: vertical and horizontal. Vertical refers to the direction running parallel to the strings, while horizontal is the direction parallel to the frets.

We can move from a lower to higher pitch in two ways, by moving up the neck along a single string (shortening the string by cutting it off at the fret raises the pitch), or by moving across the neck (switching strings from lower to higher pitch).

This diagram shows some of the terms and symbols of fretboard theory:

It’s rewarding and helpful to your playing to know the notes that make up the chords, and the scales that correspond to the chords in a song and where they are on the fingerboard. You’ll also be able to learn new songs more quickly and become better at writing your own. Knowing how to read music is also a valuable skill and worth pursuing.

There’s no shortage of helpful materials you can find in books and online, and there are also excellent teachers out there if you’d rather not learn on your own. There are even guitar classes at most adult education centers and community colleges.

If you love music and playing guitar, using the guitar to study and learn music theory is a terrific idea. You will never regret learning music theory and your time and effort will be well-spent.

Here’s a 45-minute masterclass from celebrity music teacher Rick Beato drilling all the music theory basics and formulas:

This short video explains why music theory for guitar is practical, and how it can be accessible, fun, simple, and easy to understand. It also offers access to several free beginner lessons in music theory for guitar: