I’m in the process of adding lessons to this site. In the meantime, you can find me posting regular lessons on Instagram and Pinterest, and I have a YouTube channel where you can get video lessons.

If you like my approach and would like to study with me, my premium video courses and eBooks are available in my online store, and I offer Zoom guitar lessons worldwide.

What is guitar theory?

Guitar theory is essentially the application of music theory for guitarists.

Music theory as an area of study is the same for all musicians.  That’s one of the key benefits of studying music theory - it allows you to communicate in a common language with other musicians, whatever instrument they play.

Music theory is a study of the different elements of music to understand how and why music works.  This includes pitch and melody (through a study of scales and intervals), rhythm, harmony (chords and keys), and the visual representation of it on the musical staff (music notation). 

Guitar theory is taking that study of music theory and seeing how those ideas map out across the guitar fretboard.

Even a little guitar theory is a great way to break through those plateaus and ruts that you feel as you progress from a beginner to an intermediate player.

I know what a huge difference it has made in my own playing and that of my students.

Ry’s 6 Pillars of Guitar Theory Mastery

1. Memorize the guitar fretboard

2. Master major scale theory

3. Triads, Triads, Triads!

4. Internalize Intervals

5. Get organized with CAGED

6. Learn by listening

Memorize the guitar fretboard

This is so valuable, yet so often overlooked. 

So much of what you learn on guitar relies on some anchoring on the fretboard, a starting point from which everything else branches out.  We call this starting note a Root.  Literally, it’s like the roots of a tree from which the other guitar theory concepts grow.

But how do you root a chord, arpeggio, or scale shape on the fretboard from, for example, a C note if you don’t know where all the C notes are?

You can muddle your way there or rely on some complex geometry to find what you need, but knowing the notes of the guitar fretboard should be instinctive. 

You should know your instrument like any other musician does.  Knowing the notes of the fretboard is a skill that every guitarist should have.  That’s why ‘Fretboard Mastery’ will always be free to anyone that’s prepared to put in the effort.

In my PDF guide, I’ll share with you everything you need to know, including the practice room exercises to have the notes memorized in a few short days.  

Master Major Scale Theory

The major scale is like the ruler of music.  It’s the basis upon which we identify intervals (see below). It’s how we analyze chords and scales, and it is the starting point for a study of harmony and chords that fall within a key.

If you’re just going to dip your feet a little into guitar music theory, this is where you need to study.

Major scale theory and all the other fundamental topics of music theory for guitarists can be studied in my video course Guitar Rut Busters: Essential Theory.

Triads, Triads, Triads

Open chords quickly become a little bland, and barre chord shapes are just too many notes (especially when playing in a band).  Triads are where it’s at!

Triads are chords in their ‘purest’ form of three notes (hence tri-).  Mastering triad shapes gives you the ability to play your chords anywhere all over the neck (without standing on the bassist’s toes!). Plus they can make pretty standard chord progressions sound truly beautiful.   

You’ll also learn that triads can be used as substitutions for more complex chords from the way that chords are built from stacked thirds.

Triad shapes also form a key visualization for the study of arpeggio patterns in your lead playing. For more on that you should check out my Arpeggios: Building Blocks ebook.

I give you the full rundown on triads and their application in TRIADS: Inside Out.

I have a FREE triads PDF with all the close voicing triads on the guitar fretboard available to download.

Internalize Intervals

The study of intervals, namely the distance between two notes, is such a powerful tool for guitarists.  It has huge benefits for lead playing in terms of your arpeggios, scale shapes, and note choice for soloing and improvisation.  

It will also deepen your understanding of chords so you can quickly identify the relationship of each note within a chord grip to the chord’s Root. 

A little interval recognition goes a long way and I map out everything you need in my Inside Intervals study guide.

Get organized with CAGED

All this guitar theory needs some sort of effective filing system. That’s exactly what a study of the CAGED system for guitar will give you.

Other fretboard visualization methods such as 3 note-per-string are also beneficial (the more, the more, right?) but as a way to combine all elements of rhythm and lead guitar, I don’t think CAGED can be beaten.

You can learn the benefits of the CAGED system with my ebook ‘CAGED Clarity’ and it forms the basis of my ‘Guitar Blueprint’ method.

Learn by Listening

I firmly believe that you should listen to as much music as possible to develop your own musicianship. How can you ever know what kind of guitarist you want to be if you haven’t listened to any?

You’ll hear it said by the guitar greats that back in the day if you wanted to learn anything you had to do it from the records.  They didn’t have the benefit of YouTube!

Whilst the internet is a rich resource for guitar lessons, there’s nothing quite like learning from the music that inspires you.

With some ear training, you’ll be able to work out and learn melodies, licks, chord voicings, progressions, even different techniques from your favourite songs. Learning by ear is a real skill that you should develop as soon as possible. 

The next stage is to be able to transcribe what you hear into sheet music or tab so you can refer back to it whenever you need it again.

Transcribing has become one of the main sources of my own musical development in recent years and I provide a custom guitar tab service to help you out until you’re able to work stuff out by yourself!

rynaylorguitar.com

My aim is for this site to become a rich resource for all guitarists on their guitar music theory journey.

The website content is currently under construction but I have been sharing my approach to guitar music theory for several years now on my YouTube channel (‘Ry Naylor Guitar’) and Instagram page (@rynaylorguitar).

Additional bonus resources for all my content are available on my Patreon page (patreon.com/rynaylorguitar) where you can help financially support my lessons.