Practical Guitar Theory (Udemy.com)
Learn how to apply music theory practically in your everyday playing.
Created by: Darryl Syms
Last updated September 2018
What you will learn
- Construct and recall Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished Triads and Inversions in all keys across the neck.
- Use Triads in both Rhythm & Lead playing, helping you to expand your musical vocabulary.
- Construct Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished Triad arpeggios in all keys, as well as understand how to build your own arpeggio sequences.
- Blend the Pentatonic shapes into one memorable palette of notes across the entire neck.
- Be confident at playing the Modes of the Major Scale across the entire neck in any key.
- Be able to improvise comfortably across the whole neck in both Major & Minor, whilst understanding how to convey different feelings & emotions in your playing.
- Gain Interval Awareness and understand the relation between notes in chords and scales.
- Visualise your whole Guitar neck at ease with a mixture of different approaches.
- APPLY all of this knowledge in real-world scenarios.
How it compares
Against the other 183 rated Udemy courses in Guitar on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.3 out of 5higher than 6% of them
- Reviews305#61 of 184 by number of reviews
- Length3.4 hourslonger than 51% of them
- Last updatedSeptember 2018earlier than 74% of them
Course Description
What is "Practical Guitar Theory"?
"Practical Guitar Theory" gives a comprehensive foundation to music theory on Guitar. This course contains the most useful and essential theory knowledge for guitar enthusiasts, and will demonstrate how to APPLY the knowledge in your daily playing. This course is tailored for people who have little to intermediate theory understanding. Perhaps you already have some basics but you find yourself lost, or you really want some structure and goals in your learning process. Whether you have zero theory knowledge, or you feel like there are many gaps in your current understanding, this course has you covered!
Why should you listen to me?
I have 11 years of experience which is really hard for me to condense into a single paragraph, but allow me highlight some key points...
- I have over 1 million combined views on my social media platforms, of which the majority come from my YouTube channel.
- Music is my full time job, therefore I dedicate 100% of my energy and knowledge into projects like this course because it's my most passionate interest.
- I have personally taken lessons from (and performed with) some of the best guitar players and teachers IN THE WORLD such as Christophe Godin, Guthrie Govan, Tom Quayle, Andy Timmons, Paul Gilbert, Mika Tyyska, and Nick Johnston. These players, among many others, have shaped my playing and ability into what it is today.
- I have been an active session musician and performer since my mid teens.
So how will these key points benefit me?
I realise that not everyone has the opportunity or money to watch the musicians I have mentioned above play live - let alone take lessons with them! I am also aware that there is no obvious and easy route to guitar mastery. With these points in mind, I have taken my knowledge and experience, and crafted it into guided, easy to follow video lessons. This course is genuinely something I wish I discovered in my earlier days of playing the guitar.
What makes this course any better than free YouTube lessons?
It can take so much effort and time searching through the web to find the relevant and correct information that you need to improve your guitar playing. YouTube is an incredibly useful tool, but it's very easy to become overwhelmed and lost.
This course will make your learning process much more structured and engaging, and it's exclusively tailored towards guitar theory! With my years of experience and array of positive testimonials and comments from my students, and on my youtube videos, you can be certain that I know what I'm talking about. Don't waste time sifting through lessons that may not be teaching you the right or relevant things - "Practical Guitar Theory" is what you've been looking for.
Ok I'm interested, but what exactly does this course entail?
A lot! Let me give you an overview of the sections...
- Section 1 of this course covers the absolute basics of musical understanding and how to read. This knowledge is recommended as prerequisite knowledge, but just in case you're an absolute newbie then this section will ease you in.
- Section 2 of this course focuses on Scale knowledge, which is the foundation of all music theory. In this section you will gain great confidence finding notes across the neck from scales such as: Minor Pentatonic, Major Pentatonic, and the 7 Modes of the Major scale. Not only will you be able to recall the notes from these scales quickly, but I will also teach you how to use the shapes with real-world examples, and I will also give you a greater understanding of how the notes work together using Interval awareness. By the end of this section you will be able to use these scales to aid your improvisation and melodic freedom.
- Section 3 of this course focuses on Chord knowledge. We can use the previously learned Scale knowledge to help us construct Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented Chord shapes across the entire neck. Not only will you learn how to build these chords yourself, but you will also be able to understand their structure and how to play these chords in many different ways across of the neck. Towards the end of this section we will be able to combine all of the knowledge that we have learned so far into one visualisation method, helping you to navigate across the neck without your brain exploding!
- Section 4 of this course focuses on building Arpeggios. This section is almost like a blend of the previous two sections where we will learn how to build Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented arpeggios in different areas of the neck. Not only will I give you templates to work with but I will also teach you how to expand on this and create your own arpeggios. You can use this knowledge to highlight specific chord tones in your playing, which will compliment the chord you are trying to highlight.
- Section 5 of this course entails some bonus inspirational content that is relevant to the things that we've previously spoken about.
Still not sure?
If you buy the course and it turns out that you already knew this stuff, or you believe that it's way beyond your understanding at this moment in time, then take advantage of the 30 day money back guarantee. I do believe that this course is very thorough and easy to follow, but if you find yourself struggling at all then don't hesitate to get in touch! I am VERY responsive. If you have a question, would like me to expand on a lecture, or have any feedback for improvements, then I really encourage you to let me know. As I already mentioned earlier, music is my full time job and most passionate interest, so I give my students my full support and help where possible.
Instructor Details
- 4.3 Rating
305 Reviews
Darryl Syms
I began playing guitar at the age of 13 after being inspired by my former high school guitar teacher. My first Guitar was given to me on my 13th Christmas, it was a budget Stratocaster style copy. Whilst most of my friends were occupied with the latest trends, girls, nights out in the park, and gaming, I spent every hour possible practicing guitar accompanied with regular lessons until about the age of 17.
As high school was approaching an end, I needed to make some impending career decisions. I was always very passionate about playing guitar so I became committed at this point to begin turning my hobby into my career. My first “job” was in a Pit Band performing disco tunes for the musical “Grease”, which was quite challenging at the time since it involved a lot of sight reading which I was very new to. I then became involved in 3 different bands, which was great fun at the time but I couldn’t foresee a future with any of them. High school had ended and I needed to find a paid job asap to pay my rent. I created a website and advertised guitar lessons in my city. It was a slow start, so I had to get a job in retail whilst I was building my clientele. I couldn’t afford to drive at this point so I would often cycle between students across the city.
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Reviews
By Bryan Albert on 7/22/2025
No blank notation sheet to practice notations, disappointing
By Meghan Tuey on 4/11/2021
More than anything I think it’s nice to be watching a series of videos that i know will cover the basics without having to dig around on youtube. Over the years so many friends have tried to walk me through these basic concepts - but in face to face exchanges i become so anxious i might not understand something & frustrate the other person that i can’t seem to focus on anything other than that fear. So this format also removes that element. I’m only 10% of the way into this course and already feel major strides in understanding. Grateful!!
By Julian Uzielli on 3/22/2021
Very thorough and I definitely learned a lot. However I felt there was a sudden leap in complexity and assumed knowledge about halfway through the course (before I had had time to integrate everything up to that point). Also some of the videos are out of order - they contain references to "previous lessons" that haven't happened yet.
By Enrique Lamb on 9/2/2020
Have been so confused by notes on the neck up until now. Didn't understand how different could strings could yield the same not so far apart on the neck. Easy and simple explanations for a beginner about one month into guitar.
By Michael Parker on 3/29/2020
This course is going a little more in depth into theory than I thought it would! I am learning a lot. I have to rewind sometimes to grasp the ideas. I have been playing guitar by ear for 30 yrs. I am 42 yrs old. This is challenging me quite a bit. It is long overdue though. Thank you.
By Carl Billington on 3/25/2019
Really thrilled with this course. Exactly the theory foundations I was hoping to cover - well explained and demonstrated, easily understood and logical progression. Thanks!!
By Michael J Meseck on 12/12/2018
No instruction on how much or how often to practice this (how do I know when I can move on?). Maybe a little more info on how we will use it in the future would be helpful too. I’m an accomplished guitarist that just doesn’t know theory so I’m maybe reading in to this too much. Overall I really like this course.
By Alex B on 8/26/2018
Amazing course that starts from the foundation of music. Beginning from scales gives you strong and solid theoretical basis that will be useful at every level, even for (false) beginner - that's where I was. I understood how to build chords, how to find notes on the guitar and I even love more my favourite songs. Thank you Darryl for sharing your knowledge in such an easy way!
By Andrew May on 2/10/2018
As noted in the course description, this course is an introduction to practical guitar theory and will offer any beginner or intermediate guitarist a solid foundation in music theory as applied to the guitar. The instructor also has an informative YouTube channel which led me to his Udemy.com course.
By Tom Harvey on 5/22/2017
A great course! I bought this course as more of a 'fill in the gap' course and it has delivered! Darryl is an excellent guitar player who explains clearly and effectively topics in the lessons that range from beginner to more advanced theory. The course also included a variety of tablature and sheets that aided practice incessantly.
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 86 / 100






