Reddit reviews Harmonic Experience: Tonal Harmony from Its Natural Origins to Its Modern Expression

I pretty much agree with everything you've mentioned. I'll take it a step further though, too. Synthesis taught me an approach to music that's outside of the "standard, western canon" and in particular really opened my eyes to music just being "sound" instead of those notes we write down in black and white. This helped me appreciate music from other cultures more and helped me to appreciate that even harmony itself is just a fancy form of timbre. There's a lot of historical perspective to this which I was sort of unable to appreciate prior to really spending a lot of time thinking about timbre alone.

If this also sounds like you I'd recommend reading Harmonic Experience by W. A. Mathieu.

[Mathieu - Harmonic Experience] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harmonic-Experience-Harmony-Natural-Expression/dp/0892815604/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1536655213&sr=1-1)

"The rules of music--including counterpoint and harmony--were not formed in our brains but in the resonance chambers of our bodies"

NB: I've not read it, although I keep meaning to. The five reviews on Amazon may be revealing: four 5-star, one 1-star. Love it or hate it, no half measures....

I'd suggest looking at Harmonic Experience by W. A. Mathieu. Although it could be considered a little pseudoscientific in places, it presents a theory of music across many cultures and time periods that I think is well worth a read. It starts from the very basics of the harmonic series, which I think you will appreciate. That being said, it's somewhat non-standard, and I'd recommend contrasting it with more standard western music theory — e.g. via Michael New's excellent video series.

Bigger picture: once you have a good foundational understanding — through reading, listening, and a whole lot of deliberative practise and experimentation — analyse some songs you like. Figure out what it is that you like about them, then imitate and improvise around those ideas to work them into your repertoire.

This isn't guitar specific, but maybe something like this would be of interest to you: https://www.amazon.com/Harmonic-Experience-Harmony-Natural-Expression/dp/0892815604 (Though it does cover just intonation extensively, and while that's something I find very interesting, it's not really directly applicable to guitar, except as a way of understanding equal temperament.)

The music book that I wish someone would write is to take the general idea and structure of this amazing book: https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199, and apply it to music instead of architecture.

The book Harmonic Experience answers this question thoroughly and deeply. If you love music it is a must-read.

as the sign in my car repair shop reads:

you can have it done: fast, cheap, right... choose 2

with that said

http://www.amazon.com/Harmonic-Experience-Harmony-Natural-Expression/dp/0892815604

compared to the multi-hundreds of dollars price point of so many college "text books" this one provides a massive "bang for the buck"

i already gave you a book to read. check it out.
https://www.amazon.com/Harmonic-Experience-Harmony-Natural-Expression/dp/0892815604

the short answer is that in five-limit harmony, every interval is a combination of fifths and major thirds, over tonal and reciprocal. major seventh? a fifth and a third up. minor third? fifth up, third down. like that.

whole steps and half steps come after the fact. that's not what a major scale is built out of.

i know what you think you're saying, but you're way off here.

If anyone is interested in this topic I highly recommend the book Harmonic Experience. The author is an American pianist/composer who has practised Hindustani music for over 25 years.