JOHN FRUSCIANTE'S LETTER FROM AMERICA

Our July 2006 issue featured none other than John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the cover, with a line of text promising discussion of meditation, drugs, Hendrix and some chat about the band’s then-latest album, Stadium Arcadium.

- John Frusciante

As the interview went on, John waxed lyrical about his thoughts on learning music theory. Turns out he had more to say on the subject post-interview. So he wrote TG a letter. And, rather than abridge it for you, here it is in full. Thanks again for your wise words, John!

THE LETTER

“Do as thou wilt shall be whole of the law.” I am sitting here listening to The Beatles and I want to say a couple of things regarding my comments on the question of whether or not to learn theory.

If you don’t know theory, and yet when a chord progression is played low on the neck you can play a melody in keeping with the chords halfway up the neck without being lost, you are doing well. In this case, there is no pressing need to learn theory because you can make music with another person, understanding as you do the numerical relationships of music. Though you may think of them as shapes, the relationship is a numerical one as numbers are a human’s way of measuring distance. So theory shows a person how to be far away in terms of frequency (how high or low the notes are) but close in terms of feeling and connectivity.