Excellent guide for beginning musicians. I look forward to seeing how it evolves over time. There is a lot of useful information here, though somewhat tedious to read through. I have been a long-time player and teaching for coming up on 13 years now and find this information to be up to par for a surface overview of a large majority of the more important concepts.
RE: The Theory/No Theory Arguement
Typically, authors are literate. Generally, their most learned work is their best technical work. Their content suffers from exhaustion of time and not because they're more well studied. Once you've written the "natural" stories in your head, you need tools to move forward. Uninspired writing (in any art) is a product of a lack of inspiration, not a bi-product of education. Understanding the sound around you makes you a more proficient musician, however your potential is capped by two things: Natural Talent AND Understanding. If you know everything there is to know about music, but you've got no soul... then you're not going to sound good. Likewise, if you know nothing of how sound works, but you've got tons of talent... that's great. You'll probably get good once you learn the ropes. Think of it this way: Van Gogh painted/drew over 100,000 images in his lifetime. The more he learned about the different styles of painting and studying with the artists of the time (e.g. Monet, Gaugin, etc.), he learned more about HOW to paint. He adopted parts he liked to his style and did his own thing, learning from the trial and error of all the painters before him to move forward. It wasn't until he learned how to paint like normal people that he discovered how to paint like Van Gogh. Sometimes, it can be hard to see the forest through the trees, but sleep easy with the idea that knowing more about making sound will NOT make you worse at doing it. Guess and check is irrelevent when you already know what it's going to sound like. Yes, all that matters is how it sounds in the end, but the process is where the art happens, not on your CD.
The Golden Rule: None of the rules really matter if it sounds good to you. Just remember your art may only have an audience of one. Art for art's sake, so to speak.
Great guide, keep it up.
