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Well, if you want to have a conversation you will probably need a vocabulary. The greater your vocabulary, the more in-depth conversations you will be able to have. Know 100 words and you can talk to preschoolers, know 100,000 words and you can talk to astrophysicists. Music is the same way. If you only want to hang out with 3 chord players in one key, your needs are simple. If you want to jam with Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, or do session work you probably want to know all your chords and scales. How much you need depends on how far you wanna go. It really isn't all that difficult. There are only 12 notes and they are all in the key of C... It's just that the devil is in the details.

I jammed with friends this weekend and the other guitarist who actually has a pretty good ear says "I only know how to solo in A." Really? Just in A??

If you want to read for musical theatre, broadway, ships ext. in the pits you have to get your sight-reading A1, this is a skill in itself. I prefer to not relate to theory, I see music as 3 components: Technical ability, reading ability and theoretical ability. You understand or are strong in all 3 areas then you are probably wanted for most jobs out there. Theirs the 4th (unmusical component) 'unimusical'... is that a word? I don't care... which is selling yourself, probably just as hard as the other 3 in these modern times.

Depends on the quality of the service you're receiving. I'm sure my father in law would tell you that his doctor and mechanic are practicing in theory.
That reminds me of another thing about the music biz. I've noticed that every level of the biz has embraced the term "kick drum". To me, it's always been a bass drum. Now you see manufacturers, music journalists, product reviewers, and others joining the musicians who adopted this term. Where else would you find a discipline that embraces street slang like this? Wouldn't it be like having the chef at the Ritz Carlton come out of the kitchen to tell you he's prepared some lovely "skwimps" for you?

In recording circles, it's just referred to as the 'kick'. Snare, tom, crash, ride .... The bass guitar is just 'bass'. Shorter, easier ...

In recording circles, it's just referred to as the 'kick'. Snare, tom, crash, ride .... The bass guitar is just 'bass'. Shorter, easier ...

I've never been in "recording circles", just home recording. I'm talking about my experience in school band, which feeds up into college band and up to (believe it or not) symphony orchestra stuff. There is a side of the music world that looks at you sideways for saying "kick" drum, and that's where I was coming from. Once again, I'm not bragging. I've never achieved Jack squat. Sorry to get off topic.

the term "kick drum" or just "kick" isn't only used in recording circles. gigging musicians probably use "kick" just as often as "bass drum".
when the band's setting up and getting sound dialed in, i'm gonna say it's more likely you'll hear the person at the board ask the drummer to play his "kick".....or the drummer will say "give me a little more volume on the kick"

the one i find silly (and quite dated) is when the hi-hat is referred to as a "sock cymbal".

knowing theory is hugely helpful in so many areas. w it you can communicate clearly w others who speak the same language when explaining a set of chord changes, how a single note line might be a 1 b3 7 5 pattern, or how a song modualtes thru different keys, etc.

"uh, where's the big hit that we all accent?" 'it's on the AND of three'. how helpful is it being able to understand THAT??? (hugely)


it's also helpful when sitting in w others even if they don't have the language and/or theory together.

i sat in w some new folks last night.....a western swing band and they did "Take The A Train" in the key of "G" instead of the usual key of "C".

it was no trouble transposing as i know the song's chord pattern is I IIM IIm V7 I. And i know the shape of the tune is AABA. they told me 'we do it in "G" ' and off we went.....now, w/o understanding the "theory" behind the song i would have had to sit down and go thru the song chord by chord to learn it in "G" even tho i've played it numerous times in it's original key.

Ordering a pair of sock cymbals from Musician's Friend, now.

I do electronic music, music production and synths etc. However, I agree that a rudimentary knowledge of theory is required. How can you do something if you don't know why you're doing it? Furthermore, if you know about chord structure and major/minor difference, then you can affect your audience emotionally and psychologically by careful use of chords. However, I agree wkth a previous post and think that "theory" is the incorrect term. We know how music works we know the different scales etc. So it should be termed more as music knowledge or method than theory. A theory is something used in science to try to understand something, try to explaine something or for testing hypothesis.