Music Theory in 30 Days: The Beginner's Guide to How Music Works - With Online Companion Course (Practical Musical Theory) Paperback – November 28, 2021

I purchased both books, "How to Read Music in 30 Days" and "Music Theory in 30 Days" and was not disappointed. As someone who began her musical journey later in life, I had initially found the subject matter complicated and at times daunting. These two books broke down the subject matter in such a way making everything seem less complicated. The information is arranged and explained in an organized manner with questions and answers throughout the text. The free online companion courses, which are designed to support the written course material, complemented the learning by providing the audio examples cited in the books. I would highly recommend both books for anyone interested in learning music.

I’m 72, and working on playing the piano, but I find most lessons to be solely "applied," without any attempt to help me understand what I’m doing. I learn a lot better when I "get" what I’m doing from a theoretical perspective. This book gives me that. The lessons are refreshingly written (despite a few typos here and there), and clearly based upon a great understanding of Western music theory. The writer is a naturally-gifted teacher.This is the second of two companion books on music by this author. After reading a few reviews of both books on Amazon, I decided to try "skipping a grade" and starting with this one. So far, so good. Having a little background may have helped me some, but I think the author's approach allows this book to stand on its own. The author claims that it’s OK to skip the first book as long as you can keep up, and I’m making good progress and learning a lot. It’s actually fun to take this "course" in music theory! I like the lesson review and test/exercises offered after each lesson. It lets me know whether I have really understood and absorbed the material before moving on to the next lesson.

Starts with basics and builds up well with online content of sound etc.

I'm a musician myself but my son is just starting to learn violin. We got him this book so he could learn the concepts behind the pieces he was playing in his school orchestra. The book covers the topics he needed to know, with clear explanations and good exercises. He's feeling more confident in class now, and his private teacher has noticed improvement, as well.

Very difficult for a beginner! Will be useful more as I practice the basics.

This basic book on Music Theory is exactly what I was hoping to find. I played the flute in school band (50 years ago!) and learned how to read music, count beats, etc. but never advanced to a more formal understanding of major and minor scales, modes, intervals, etc. I have recently begun teaching myself to play alto and soprano recorders and want to better ground my music appreciation in the theory that holds it all together. Matthew Ellul's book is clear, moves at a perfect pace, and provides exercises to check your understanding. He also provides a free online companion course with audio examples and additional info, answer keys, etc. Most generous! and his love of both music and teaching shine through.

As the Beginner's Guide to How Music Works, Music Theory in 30 Days is among the most useful and logically clear textbooks. Quick Summary as well as Exercises for every 30 Lessons/Days of the book reinforce the learning process. Providing online companion course is really nice and smart bonus for readers. I recommend this book to anyone who is just beginning to study music theory, or who wants to revise easily what had been studied in the past.

I’m on day 7. I feel totally lost. I played classical piano as a youngster and thought it might make a little sense to me. But there is so much jargon & so much information in some of the lessons that I think I’m going to have to read and re-read and read it again for it to sink in. I feel kinda dumb right now (even tho I know I’m not)