
Ask HN: How to Learn Music Theory? - plibither8
Heyo. A little background: I&#x27;ve always been intrigued by music. My mother made me join cheap piano classes to pass my time in middle school, where I barely learnt any <i>real</i> music: it was basically memorising the keys and playing it without any understanding of how it &quot;works&quot;.<p>Fast-forward to now, I really want to learn how music &quot;works&quot;, which I understand to be Music Theory. There are a few problems: I don&#x27;t have the money nor time to learn an instrument. Can I learn music theory without instruments? If so, how?<p>Thanks!
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metaloha
Absolutely! Aside from the plethora (never used that word before!) of videos
on YouTube and courses on sites like EdX, you can pick up the theory books
from Gloria St. Germain, grab a pencil, and go through them :) I use them in
my classes with several students with good success, and my wife has been using
them for years and years and years to teach theory as well. Those books will
actually get you up to the level of being able to challenge (and pass) the
Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) theory exams if you want to go that far.

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plibither8
Thanks so much for your answer! :)

How and what exactly should I search on YT or EdX? Just "music theory" will
do? Also, it'd be amazing if you could point to me which book would be most
appropriate to start with: [https://www.amazon.com/Glory-
St.-Germain/e/B00J4ZOF6W](https://www.amazon.com/Glory-
St.-Germain/e/B00J4ZOF6W) :D

~~~
metaloha
The yellow->blue->brown series of books is a slower paced way to learn theory.
It's more thorough and is meant for people with essentially zero musical
knowledge. You'll spend a big chunk of time on each thing.

The white book is a compressed version of the previous three and is much
faster paced. It's meant for people with some musical experience and exposure
to theory. That said, it also doesn't spend a huge amount of time on any one
thing, so while it has all the same basic information as the other 3 books, it
spends less time exploring each concept.

The green and purple books are more for when you want to get your theory
certification from some authority (like RCM) and are more advanced :)

[https://ultimatemusictheory.com/](https://ultimatemusictheory.com/) also has
some online courses and info available.

