Trouble understanding why some people are reluctant to learn music theory.

[chemical coffee]

Genuine question — why do some hobbyists or music producers avoid learning music theory?

I’ve seen people spend time and money hiring freelancers for chord work or buying MIDI chord packs, just to work around it. But with so many free resources online, theory seems more accessible than ever. Is it intimidation? Or does it seem too time consuming?

No judgment at all — just curious to hear your thoughts.

[Uncle E]

Yes, intimidating and time consuming, plus we've been fed a steady diet of KISS since the birth of rock 'n roll. Many people believe we lose our innate feel/soul when we get too deep into theory and they might be right.

[_leras]

It's a large topic and much of it, like sight reading or just reading notation takes quite a lot of practice and usually is learnt while learning an instrument.

Without that connection from the sound of notes to what's written then notation is definitely a very tense topic.

However... I don't think the actual music theories themselves are generally too complicated. It's pretty easy to get to grips with scales types. Scales are easily shifted up and down.

Chords that can be made from notes in a scale are fairly easy to explain etc.

I feel the traditional ways to describe a lot of things, though valid, can very often overcomplicate things.

But it's always worth remembering that probably most of the complex chords sequences composed we're not created by looking at a sheet of musical paper, but by playing an instrument or melody a careful experimenting note by note to find interesting chords. So even for those folks the playing and theory was surpassed by experimenting and trying things.

[eLawnMust]

Theory only takes one so far as a theory is something perceived to be correct but not proven so... Playing electric & upright bass in high school sure there was theory but what the BEST was & still is the training of the EAR! Jamming to music trains the EAR... Many bands I was in if you did not have an EAR you were cast out... Nobody nowadays jams to their fav tunes to learn them they just want an APP that will figger it out for them... Quite lazy if you ask me...

Powerful machines & 'fat sounds' haven't helped at all & many just string together soundFX in some rhythmic fashion & call it 'music' oHHHhh because there's a new 'genre' that embodies that plus we got fancy titles like 'melodic techno' where I never hear any melodies, perhaps 'slightly riffish' techno...

This is why I dig up old tracker music from 20-30 years ago as machines were weak & so were FX so you STILL had to know music to get the tune thru you could not hide a lack of ability by laying on a mass of mindless FX for your simple one-finger lullaby... Much better music & some really quite good masterpieces just lacking FX but I can fill in the blanks with my mind, nobody likes doing that either...

But YEAH, the weird thing is there are so many great theory channels you can learn on YT & others for FREE... Back in my day it was buying expensive books & trying to find good ones...

[enCiphered]

Clearly the problem is that music theory doesn’t come bundled with a sidechain compressor, a reverb preset called Instant Vibe, and a macro knob labeled Make it emotional. If it did, half the producers would be fluent in modal interchange by now and arguing whether Lydian is too mainstream.
Let’s be honest here. If notation looked more like Serum’s interface and less like ancient monk scribbles, every bedroom producer would have a PhD in music theory.

[vurt]

why do some people not learn to cook?

[Uncle E]

I cook by feel (seriously, it's why I'm a terrible baker).

[donkey tugger]

I've always 'played by ear' and when on occasion I have tried to get to grips with a bit of the theory, I have a bit of a mental block, same as with maths when it gets to the stage of having more letters than numbers.

As has been pointed out, just because I don't know the names and terminology, it doesn't mean I haven't actually absorbed it through practical application.

[jancivil]

Genuine question — why do some hobbyists or music producers avoid learning music theory?

learning music theory means many things. If you've done a 12 bar blues in more than one key, and you've sorted that E7 to A7 works the same as G7 to C7 you've done music theory

relectant to learn is reluctant to learn. ask a psychologist about it, I have no idea really

[jancivil]

I've always 'played by ear' and when on occasion I have tried to get to grips with a bit of the theory, I have a bit of a mental block, same as with maths when it gets to the stage of having more letters than numbers.

As has been pointed out, just because I don't know the names and terminology, it doesn't mean I haven't actually absorbed it through practical application.

Said it too many times, the best jazz musician I knew personally in my home town didn't know the names, he knew what it was to his ear.

[seangm]

I know some really good musicians who don't know shit for music theory but have a great ear and natural talent. If you don't need it then why spend the time when there are so many other things to learn with the music making process. But if you don't have a natural talent or ear then it might be worth investing the time. Personally I would love to skip learning how to mix because I find it hard as hell but since I have no natural talent with it I decided I need to force myself to put in the time to learn as much as possible. It all depends on your natural ability whether you want to invest the time in something IMHO.

[mjolnir]

I had some high school music theory training on piano, and then later on in college some intermediate music theory (in general) which also involved music dictation. After college, I tried to study some music theory on my own via books and internet videos and articles.

While I did and do find if helpful, I also tend to be turned off by some of the sometimes included elitism and eurocentrism which shows up from time to time. The actual pop music industry (of the record-buying public) has never truly been fully dependent upon theory. A lot of people just play by ear and/or just edit or program or overdub or two turntables and a microphone or whatever else.

And of course, other non-english speaking cultures have their own music theory.
I found a great book about Indian raga rhythm in college, for example.

What they taught us in college was antique music theory for composing like Bach. Even jazz chords weren't taught. It sucked and even the teacher acknowledged the shortcomings.

What I'm trying to say is, it was kind fun, music theory that is, but I feel better ignoring most of it when I try to compose like my favorites. LOL
Maybe I'm slightly irrational this way, but surely I can't be alone.

[pekbro]

I can do everything by ear as well, my brain automatically knows theory, even if I don’t.

Not opposed to learning it tho, just lazy…

[lunardigs]

In terms of learning music theory, I think the major obstacle--at least to me--is that it's represented and taught through glyphs, numbers and literal notation. Which is traditional and logical.
For those who have an affinity for numbers and literal representations of music--or anything really--they have a leg up here.
Dare I say this is also the prevalent music.
That said, I tend to believe there's probably a better way to contemplate music theory and teach it. I'm just not sure what it would be. Although, I'm willing to bet some interesting new and perhaps better systems will come along with machine learning and the like.

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

Cause it takes effort....