Music Theory For Dummies If you're trying to learn how to play
music, read music, or brush up on improvising and performing
with other musicians, music theory is important. However, you
don't need to know every last tidbit that the many theorists
around the world have written down. You just need to become
familiar with some of the basics. You need to know the names of
the notes, and you must understand time signatures, intervals,
and chord progressions. Note Names in the U.S. and U.K. In the
world of music, you may encounter different names for the many
notes used. The U.S. and U.K. standard terms differ, but the
U.S. names — which were originally translated from the German
names for the notes because so many German composers immigrated
to the United States in the 19th century — are more universally
standard. The U.K. names are also used in medieval music and in
some classical circles. The following table shows the common
notes and their U.S. and U.K. names. |U.S. Note Name||Note||U.K.
Note Name| Extending No