Rating: 
Summary: Review in Feb./March 1995 "Jazz Player" magazine, in toto
Review: "Chaz Bufe has designed a book that does exactly what the title claims it does. This is an excellent way for any musician to tie together any loose ends he or she might have regarding music theory. The language is very easy to understand and the text covers most of the important points about the subject.Musicians who may have had difficulty in a traditional music theory class will be relieved to find that theory doesn't have to be so threatening. The theory covered and the manner in which it is covered are most appropriate for jazz/pop/rock musicians. Much space is given to chord structure, chord progressions, and chord/scale relationships as they relate to comping, arranging, and improvisation. The book even covers transpositions and ranges for most instruments. Terms like pointilism, hocketing, and canon may be a bit difficult to grasp in a traditional music history like _Grout_. In this book they become quite accessible, especially when the examples listed include pieces by composers like Charles Mingus and Paul Butterfield! _An Understandable Guide to Music Theory_ is an excellent resource for any and all musicians who are insecure about their theory chops. It's extremely user-friendly without being condescending to the reader. I highly recommend it. --Paul Evaskevich, "Jazz Player," Feb./March 1995, p. 78
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Summary: Review in January 1995 "Guitar Player" magazine, in toto
Review: "Geared for rock, pop, and jazz musicians who want to zero in on the theoretical topics most relevant to their chosen styles rather than tackling formal classical theory head-on, the $9.95 _Guide_ crams a remarkable amount of information into 74 pages. Presuming little reader knowledge beyond the ability to identify the notes of the staff, Bufe plumbs the melodic and harmonic underpinnings of Western music, explains common compositional and improvisational techniques, and even offers an orchestration primer. While he sometimes turns to rough aesthetic generalizations in pursuit of brevity, Bufe's explanations are rarely dumbed down: you won't have to unlearn them should you dig deeper at a later date. Not the most comprehensive approach to the topic, but a very expedient one." --Joe Gore, Senior Editor, "Guitar Player," January 1995, p. 138
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Summary: The Preface
Review: "Music theory is a broad field. It covers many topics--melody, rhythm, form, harmony, orchestration, and counterpoint--on which thousands of works have been written; and it can appear very intimidating. But it needn't be, and in fact it can be a great help to musicians playing almost any type of music. "An Understandable Guide to Music Theory is a 'user's manual' which concentrates on those aspects of theory that are of the most practical use to people playing and writing music, be it rock, jazz, blues, reggae, or salsa. To help make this information easy to understand, I've included over 100 musical examples, and I've avoided the use of technical language where possible. In the few places where I couldn't avoid using technical terms, I've thoroughly explained them. So, any musician who can read music should easily comprehend the material contained in this book. "Some may ask, 'why study theory?' The answer is that music theory is a valuable set of tools, and it's self-defeating to attempt to build anything--be it a house, a song, or a symphony--unless you're thoroughly familiar with the tools you're using to construct it. And an understanding of music theory will give you the tools you need to expand your musical horizons; it'll give you the tools you need to make the kind of music that you want."
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Summary: Table of Contents
Review: Chapter 1: Scales -- Intervals; Major Scales; Minor Scales; Modal Scales; Synthetic Scales (Asymmetric & Symmetric); Rows. Chapter 2: Chords -- Formation from Scales; Inversions; Overtone Series; Chords in 4ths; Clusters; Chord Symbols; Chords/Scales for Solos. Chapter 3: Chord Progressions -- Major and Minor Progressions; Voice Leading; Spacing; Substitutions; Modulation; Cadences; Cycle of 5ths; Parallelism; Harmonizing Rows. Chapter 4: Melody -- Melody Construction; Melody Types; Melodic Variation. Chapter 5: Form -- Blues; Turnarounds; Bar Form; ABAC; Binary; Ternary; Classical Forms. Chapter 6: Useful Techniques -- Ostinato; Pedal Tone; Hocket; Pointillism; Tone Color Melody; Mirrors; Doubling; Tradeoffs; Canon; Rhythmic Variation. Chapter 7: Instrumentation -- Ranges; Transpositions; Characteristics (Woodwinds/Brass/Strings/Nonorchestral Instruments). Bibliography
Rating: 
Summary: not recommended
Review: Hmm....The most useful aspects of theory for blues musicians include pointillism and hocket and tone color melody? I doubt it. (This is understatement.) If the author has tried to avoid technical language except where absolutely necessary, why does he pepper his chapter headings with such expressions as "ternary form" (known to pop musicians as "ABA form"), and "ostinato" (known to jazz and rock musicians as "riffing)? I don't much care for the premise--if you really want to learn theory it seems to me, you should study theory--but this book is not very true to its premise. It prefers to try to impress us by throwing around irrelevant terms (many of which have only to do with twelve-tone music, a kind of music universally detested by audiences and universally ignored by pop musicians of all stripes). Well, at least a few useful aspects of theory for rock, jazz, and blues musicians are to be found here; other useful aspects of theory for rock, jazz, and blues musicians are to be found in Jeff Burns's PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST. Recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent little book -- bizarre reviews
Review: I picked this up on a lark at the local bookstore. Its perfect if you want to make music yourself and need to learn the really useful parts of music theory. The author discusses examples from many styles (Bartok, Allman Bros., Devo, etc.) and he does not waste your time with anything unimportant or pedantic. I really appreciated his efforts to guide the reader away from overworked musical ideas, and his clear presentation. As to the spelling of quartal/cuartal, what could possibly matter less?
Rating: 
Summary: thumbs down
Review: I've docked this book a star for its awkward, unprofessional prose and another star for its frequent mangling of musical matter. For that matter, it doesn't seem to know who or what it's for. Its tone is patronizing. It contains no original thought or substance. If you are content with abbreviated, non-contextual (and therefore, in my opinion, virtually meaningless) explanations, you'll be happier with a pocket music dictionary Prefer music books written--with the television set off--by practicing musicians. (By the way, it appears that this book has not been edited. Among its typographical errors appears this curiosity: "quartal" is misspelled as "cuartal" throughout. Hmm...well, "cuartel"--with an "e"--is Spanish for "quarter"....)
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Summary: A waste of time.
Review: Poorly written and not edited. It will confuse you more that help you.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent guide
Review: The reviews from "Jazz Player" and "Guitar Player" are correct. This book delivers exactly what it promises: a lot of very useful information for the performing (or would-be-performing) musician in an easily understandable format. This is an excellent short guide.
Rating:
Summary: 5 stars without reservation
Review: This book removes a lot of mystery. It does require some note reading and/but is not instrument specific. It is by far the must understandable generic theory book I have ever read. (www.NorthernMusician.com)
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