The primary reason I started LVL UP GTR was seeing how much confusion there was out there regarding modal analysis. As I was teaching college music theory, I was faced with the task of giving guitar modes lessons and complex music theory lessons to students who had little or no interest in jazz or fusion.

A Different Way of Learning Guitar Music Theory

What my guitar teacher did was he taught me jazz regardless of my indifference toward it. I fought through my apathy toward the genre because I had such a strong passion for guitar. This greatly helped me through my journey of properly learning music theory as it directly applied to guitar.

It was at this juncture where I noticed a lot of students give up on music theory. They claimed that the complex concepts were not prevalent in the styles of music that they specifically listen to. When in actuality, these complex music theory concepts are everywhere! I began shifting my teaching style to ONLY use contemporary examples. As a result of this teaching method shift, I had students become wildly successful over the course of learning this effective guitar music theory learning method.

A More Effective Way to Learn Guitar Music Theory

Instead of teaching “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” for secondary dominants, I now used “Santeria” by Sublime to teach this aspect. I would use Led Zepplin for modal interchange. Furthermore, and more recently, I have started using Billie Eliish for harmonic minor chords when teaching music theory to my guitar students.

As a music teacher it is important to find styles of music that resonate with the student. If you are ready to get serious about learning to play guitar, or are ready to take your guitar playing to the next level, sign up for our online guitar lessons or  contact us at LVL UP GTR today to learn more.