The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Arranging Concepts: A Guide to Writing Arrangements for Stage Band
Ensembles
(1972) and David Baker’s 
Arranging & Composing for the Small Ensemble
(1970). Both of these books are still in print today, and still as valuable as they
were back then. I recommend you check them out.
Now, if you look at the titles of those books, you’ll see that they really don’t
have anything to do with basic music theory. There’s theory in the books, of
course, but you really have to read between the lines (so to speak) to pull it out.
I would have given my right arm back then for a book that focused on beginning-
level theory, written at a level that I could comprehend.
Well, 30 years later, I wrote that book.
It’s interesting. I was a fairly serious musician throughout my junior high and
high school years, and went on to attend the prestigious Indiana University
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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory, Second Edition
School of Music, in its even more prestigious jazz studies program. But some-
thing shifted along the way, and I ended up graduating IU with a business degree,
and found myself some years later working in the book publishing industry.
After serving my time in the corporate world, I became a full-time writer, writ-
ing books about all manner of topics, from computers to business management
to home theater systems.
Then, in 2000, I wrote a music book—
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Drums
(available at a bookstore near you). Things had finally come full circle, and I
was writing about the music that I loved, and lived, so many years ago.
That book led to my writing other music books, chief of which is the one you
hold in your hands—
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory
. The first edition
of this book, published in 2002, became an overnight success—one of the best-
selling music theory books of all time. I’m still amazed at how well this book
has been received, and am grateful to the tens of thousands of readers who
helped to make it so successful. I’m glad to have had the opportunity to intro-
duce a new audience to the joys of music—in, I hope, a manner that is easy to
follow, reasonably comprehensive, and somewhat practical. And I’m pleased to
present this updated second edition of the book, made even more useful by the
inclusion of 
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory, Second Edition, Ear
Training Course
on the accompanying CD.
As to the book itself, 
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory, Second Edition,
is
designed to be a self-teaching tool for anyone wishing to learn music theory. The
book starts with basic notes and rhythms; advances through scales, melodies,
chords, and harmony; and ends with valuable information about accompanying,
arranging, and conducting your music. In short, it presents pretty much every-
thing you’ll need to know about music theory—for musicians of any level.
Of course, I always recommend studying with a good teacher. Even if you’re
reading this book, you can learn even more by supplementing the material in
these pages with the hands-on instruction you can get from a real human being.
To me, that’s really the best of both worlds; self-paced study accompanied by
interaction with a good music theory instructor.
What You’ll Find in This Book
However you decide to learn, I hope you find the information in this book use-
ful. I’ve arranged the material in such a way that even if you know nothing
about music or music theory, you can start on page one and progress through
the book, moving from the basics to more advanced concepts. If you do know
some
theory, you can skip those chapters that you already know and go right to
the new material you want to learn. And, once you’ve learned what you need 
to know, you can still use this book as a reference, to look up those scales or
chords that you never can seem to remember.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory, Second Edition,
is composed of 20
chapters, each of which presents a different aspect of music theory. The chap-
ters are organized into six general parts, as follows:
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Introduction