the todd harrison rock archive music theory i can't think of anything that irritates me more than a songwriter who says "i don't really know anything about music theory -- i just play what sounds good." so many musicians cringe at the thought of learning music theory, since they associate it with stuffy old white-haired men drinking sherry and lamenting the joys of beethoven. truth be told, music theory is a very useful tool. and the people who dismiss it outright are victim to a fundamental misunderstanding: music theory was created to explain musical phenomena -- not the other way around. so, if you claim to not know anything about key signatures and you just play what sounds right…guess what? you know something about key signatures. something sounds right because it's in key. keys are just bunches of notes that people grouped together hundreds of years ago because they sounded good. what really gets to songwriters like me, however, are those musicians who simply have a natural gift for composition. these people don't even need theory -- they just have a natural musical ear. john lennon had it. so did kurt cobain. danny monette (the unseen guest) has it in a big way. but to dismiss knowledge of any kind just seems wrong and stupid. music theory is a language. it helps people to speak on a common front. it's communication -- and no one can deny that this is a beautiful thing. top :: home