Re: Another little exercise and a chart to go with it.
WerkSpace wrote:
Could you explain this further?
Substitute "spatial" for "visual." Even if you aren't
looking at the fretboard, there is still a spatial relationship between the notes. Whether you "see" the spatial relationship is irrelevant. You're aware of it.
As you explain, inversions are alternate voicings of a chord. What I'm trying to get to is being able to construct any of the three voicings for any triad without having to think about it. Knowing that if I want to play a triad with a root on a particular note, that I can place the other two notes on the next two
lower strings, the next two
higher strings, or one on the string
above my "root" note, and the other on the string
below the root note. Those are the inversion choices I have to voice that triad. So if I'm doing a simple I-IV-V progression (e.g. C, F & G) I can finger all three chords in root position, but it will sound much smoother if I do Ca (root position) Fc (F/C 2nd inversion) and Gb (G/B 1st inversion).
This exercise helps develop that skill.
Note that music theory is useful for analysis of existing works so that we can understand how a particular composition "works." But that knowledge isn't at all necessary to compose or play music. Ears work just fine. Just ask Lennon & McCartney!
Where music theory
is indispensable though is in allowing one musician to communicate with another via some medium (like verbally in an online forum) other than actually playing or demonstrating what you're trying to communicate.
And contrary to popular belief, music theory is ridiculously easy to learn. Especially if you're already a reasonably accomplished musician. It's just describing what your ears have already learned. It's a very deep subject but you only need to get ankle-deep in it to find it useful. But getting deeper is really easy too as every new thing builds on the foundation you've already built. Before you know it you're neck-deep and everything makes sense.
And no-one thinks about theory when they're playing.