The Sound and the Theory

I have taught traditional theory — harmony, counterpoint, analysis — for many years, primarily on music from the classical domain: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and twentieth-century art music. I've also studied and played jazz, and performed popular music over many years as a bass player, guitar player, keyboard player, and occasionally even a vocalist. With a solid classical theory background, I understood pop music intuitively: I had played it, listened to it, and practised it for years, so there were many invisible assumptions I took for granted. It was only when I started teaching pop music theory that I realized it wasn't so easy to externalize what one knew internally.

That is where this book begins — in trying to speak of and present the living theory, or as I prefer to call it the living grammar, of this language, this dialect of music.

— Doug Smith

The goal is to be rigorous in the intellectual structure and the truth presented, while recognizing that a classical or even a jazz theory background doesn't really explain the innate qualities of pop music itself. Everything here is meant to be presented in direct, honest, and understandable ways, rather than through obscure rules and endless labels of correctness.

Every chapter has the same bones: an idea stated plainly, real songs that show it, a figure that makes it visible, and a listening list. Boxes along the way do the things textbooks usually leave out — a definition where you need it, an etymology when the word itself is the clue, a historical aside, and the occasional pedant on a pedestal.

The web edition will be complete and free.

• Online, freeUnit I first, then the rest unit by unit, each chapter on this site with its figures.

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