Has there been any famous musicians who never very little about music theory?

Panopticon

Any famous people that you were surprised to hear knew very little about music theory? Any names at all of people who didn't know much about theory

NoQuarter

theres probably gonna be a few names thrown around in this thread but to be honest, all the greats know what they are playing...they know their scales etc like the back of their hand even if they didnt know them in a "sitting down with a book studying" type way!

like you said, they all know some and some of them knew just enough of what was needed to be that good

Dord

Knowing theory and reading music are different things but go hand in hand. A lot of famous musicians can't read music (B.B. King is an example) but most will have theory knowledge even though they might not know the terms.

It's happened to me that when I started actually learning theory I had a few lightbulb moments where I said "Oh, so that's what I've been doing!!"

slipss

Noel Gallagher, I think, once said something along the lines of "no I don't have a clue about any of that, I just mess around and if it sounds good thats fine by me" I'm paraphrasing there and I know people have a go at noels solos but I always liked em. Also Marty Freidman was completely self thought and while he does know some music theory, I've heard him in an instructional video on youtube describe a scale he was playing as "it probably has a name, like, pentatonic major or whatever". Like king-stew says though all the greats (Slash Stevie Vai, Satriani ect) know music theory inside and out. Its like I have a couple of mates who can replace an engine, service a car, swap a diesel engine to a petrol, but ask them to tell you how abs works and they'll stare at you like you're speaking japanese. But having said that, it really isn't that hard to learn theory, if like anything, you just start at the absolute basics and work your way up. Try finding out whatever music theory book is on the leaving certificate these days, and just read through it starting at page one. Thats how I learned music theory and I only showed up for that music class in school about once a month.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Jimi Hendrix perhaps?

Although I've heard so many rumours about his music theory that I don't know what to believe.

-=al=-

im sure theres lots, most people like that just trust their ears and prob care less about how and why something its sounding like the way it is

feylya

James Hetfield "I don't even know the notes on the guitar!"

Voodu Child

Sean_K wrote: »

Jimi Hendrix perhaps?

Although I've heard so many rumours about his music theory that I don't know what to believe.

Hendrix didn't have much (or any) musical theory. Ive never heard any rumours to the contrary tbh.

Musical theory is all about people having put down written guidelines for things they had noticed about the way notes sound and interact.

Guys like Hendrix, well, they had noticed and understood these things already, intuitively and from years of playing, so he certainly didn't need 'theory' to play/write harmonically correct (and complex) stuff.

Johnny Storm

Jimmy Page used to pretend to be able to read music when he was a session musician but apparently he can't read a note.

Latchy

Paul McCartney couldent and as far as i know still ' cant ' read sheet music / notes .

mardybumbum

Im pretty sure angus young only knew a few power chords and his pentatonic scales. Still kicked ass though!:pac:

nyarlothothep

the really cool thing about angus young is that he milked those lucky chords for all they were worth and wrote great songs out of them. That was fairly ingenious. Imo, music theory can help but a lot of great musicians probably write intuitively in addition to thinking about what to include and leave out Thats how Brian May describes his writing process for example. I'd also say they know the scales/chords/arrangements and combinations that work from learning them for years but probably don't know the fundamentals of whats going on, rather this + this sounds good normally, or this matches with what I'm doing here so I'll put this in. Or they may just be playing a chord sequence and then they started jamming over it and then suddenly you have a winning combination.

Johnny Storm

I'd agree with the above but would add that the key rockin' thing about ACDC is the telepathic metronomic lock between Angus and Malcolm. They're like one guy playing two guitars. (IMHO)

nyarlothothep

totally, they are incredibly tight

paul_allen

Have you heard Blink 182's first album?
Not much theory there.

DeVore

I'm learning piano at the moment and my abilty to pick out songs and play tunes and even compose a few little pieces myself is so far beyond my reading ability its not right

But depending on what you want, and why you ask, I would agree with the others that learning the basics and having a solid foundation in the theory is a good idea. Any natural talent will still be there afterwards (and in fact, augmented I would say).

I'm certain there are a ton of musicians who dont know G from C, most of the deep south blues guys could hardly read writing let along a musical score I'd say and they produced some of the best music ever

If you want to skip it because its hard, dont. They might have been brilliant, you might be brilliant too, but I'd still do my scales if I were you.

DeV.

brendansmith

paul_allen wrote: »

Have you heard Blink 182's first album?
Not much theory there.

????? or any of them for that matter!!

I dont think EVH had a great knowledge, i could be wrong!

BostonB

brendansmith wrote: »

????? or any of them for that matter!!

I dont think EVH had a great knowledge, i could be wrong!

He took piano lessons as a kid, and his father was a sax and clarinet musician. But I think he played the guitar by ear most of the time. But in some interviews it obvious he knows some theory especially at later on anyway, when he started to take song writing more seriously.

joenailface

bb king is the best example i can think of, "By his own admission, he cannot play chords very well and always relies on improvisation." some quote from somewhere...kurt cobain is probably another good example, i could be wrong in this case, he might have picked it up from reading books or something but i know he had no formal lessons, id say he just picked up snippets from learning songs and writting stuff and arranged it into his own sort of theory, though id say the same could be said for countless musicians

BleedTheF!FtH

Green Day,
Nivana,
Fall out boy,

Etc.

SysEx

If you need to know, you'll learn it. Otherwise, music is an intuitive art form, one of the most intuitive. If you like a sound and can formalise it into an extended pattern, you have created music.

Yes there are snobs, more in music than any other artform it seems to me, who will tell you the importance of knowing the complete range of scales, and they're not completely in error, but please don't be led into confusing importance with necessity.