Hi LF.
I like to call music theory 'Music Fact' ... there's nothing theoretical about the laws of music. I don't know why it's known as theory.
Yes, 'Intervals' is certainly a good place to start. Music, if nothing else, is a structure which uses intervals as its most basic units. Strange, when you think about it, because intervals are just distances, they're not even notes.
Intervals generate the major scale, which when thought of as a circle, give rise to the modes. Those scale/modes then give rise to CHORDS. Chords, to me, are the best thing to study, for they crystalize the moment. Music needs time to exist, and each moment follows the rules of the chord that occupies that moment. The key sets the rules for the tune, or at least chunks of the tune, and determines the chordal possibilities, but it is 'the chord of the moment' that is really the entity to be totally aware of. To fully understand chords, you must of course know about scales and modes, so I'm not saying you shouldn't study them. I'm hesitant to say 'play and practice them', however. I think it's better to play and practice music and experiment with chords ... which means breaking them back down into notes ... bits of scales. Your knowledge of scales will be greatly enhanced if you attack the subject from the chord out, if you know what I mean.
Triads are the most basic, smallest, form of chord, so they are a great place to start. 'Bigger' chords, like 7ths, 9ths, sus4s etc., are just decorated triads. You could rightfully say that a piece of music, a tune, at its most basic is a triad which moves through time ... not the same triad ... it keeps morphing in pitch and flavor ... but a triad at its core, traveling in time.
It's endlessy fascinating.
Notation: I wish I was better at notation. I've always had great difficulty translating those little dots into music and vice versa. My brain never locked into it; I wish it had. If you can learn notation, you'll be better off. If you neglect it, but play often, you won't be a lesser player. You just won't be able to notate what you play. You'll have to hire someone else to do it.
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