Reddit mentions of Edly's Music Theory for Practical People

Basics? Edly's. https://www.amazon.com/Edlys-Music-Theory-Practical-People/dp/0966161661

edly's music theory theory for practical people

Do you just want to read alto, bass and tenor clefs or do you want to learn basic chord construction, cadences, voice leading, jazz chord scales, stuff like that?

The theory books by Wyatt/Schroeder and Edly's are good starts: https://www.amazon.com/Edlys-Music-Theory-Practical-People/dp/0966161661

I really enjoy the book "Edly's Music Theory For Practical People"

it's nice and straight forward, goes deep but not too deep that it's over your head, and has ..um.. fun little drawings throughout.

edit: sorry it's not "online," but it's a really good book and I bet you could find a .pdf online.

Scott's bass lessons on youtube are great, too, and eventually lead me to join his online bass community.

It can be a little bit twee at times but Edly's Music Theory for Practical People is quite good.

Music Theory for Practical People was a textbook for my high school intro to music theory class. Very casual, doesn't "feel" like a textbook at all, and with lots of cheesy illustrations (for better or for worse)

>G above the first measure shows that the song is in the key of G.

I don't mean to make things more confusing or distract from the original question, but that's not quite right; the F# just before the 4/4 time signature is what shows that the song is in the key of G. (The 4/4 time signature tells you that there a 4 quarter notes to each bar, giving you that common 1-2-3-4 count.)

As others have said, the 'G' indicates the chord that accompanies that measure - it's informational, not something you're supposed to somehow simultaneously play along with the melody. Think of it this way: Say you get together with a guitar player who knows how to play chords, but doesn't know the melody for "Go Tell Aunt Rhody." They can still play along with you by counting along and following those chord changes indicated above the music. Likewise, if you get together with other musicians and they have something like the Fiddler's Fakebook, you can play along with them even if you don't know the song; you'd just follow the chord changes and play banjo chords to back up the melody.

Regarding key signatures/music theory in general check out Edly's Music Theory for Practical People, which is a good introductory guide. Some people will tell you that you don't need to bother with music theory for banjo/folk music, but it really helps in terms of understanding why you play certain chords to accompany certain keys, etc; it can make the difference between learning by rote memorization, and learning by developing an intuitive understanding for how notes, scales, and chords fit together.

I like Edly's Music Theory for Practical People and Guitar Theory for Dummies

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0966161661/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118646770/sr=1-1/qid=1488093877/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1488093877&sr=1-1

Scrape together $15 and buy this book: Edly's Music Theory for Practical People. It's inexpensive, very simply laid out, and has exercises you can work through to learn the fundamentals of music theory and then logically build to more advanced theory. I sit down with this book for about an hour every day and start from whatever chapter I feel 100% comfortable with and work through to whatever section I struggle with. At first, I could only get through 10 or so pages before I was overwhelmed. Now, I can work through to page 75 or so before I get a little lost. And I still have about 100 pages to go. The book isn't instrument specific, but it's helped my ability to improvise on bass within a given key immensely.

Otherwise, prioritize saving money for applied instrument lessons. It can actually be done. You just might have to give up your coffee or fast food/restaurant indulgences for awhile.

I've been working through this book: http://www.amazon.com/Edlys-Music-Theory-Practical-People/dp/0966161661/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256044776&sr=8-1

I sort of love it, though take that with a grain of salt, as I haven't finished it. It's not your typical music theory book -- it doesn't come across as dense, pompous, or tedious. I have taken a rudimentary music theory course before, but already I feel as if I understand a few of the concepts much better, thanks to the explanations in this book. Read the other Amazon reviews, too. (Also, it can be had for a bit cheaper from small bookstores via Barnes & Noble's website.)

If you do get this book, actually go through with the exercises that appear throughout. I've found them helpful in reinforcing the concepts presented. (Who would have thought that the exercises would actually fulfill their intended purpose? ;-)

I use Edly's Music Theory for Practical People with some of my students, and I find it super useful for exactly the kind of thing you're talking about.

Yeah, it starts out really simple, and yeah, it's full of dumb jokes and goofy cartoons. But it gets to the good stuff (higher tertian chords and how to voice them) really quick, and makes good sense of it. A lot of theory books are more like notation analysis manuals than theory books - this one doesn't ignore or avoid notation but isn't about it, it's about using theory in your playing and composition more than post facto analysis.

This book is very good.

Hands down, no question: Edly's Music Theory for Practical People. It's approachable, humorous, and very effective. It also has a lot of exercises that would be great in a classroom.