My first instinct on how to get started on music theory is my first instinct for when I want to learn something new. I googled “How to Learn Music Theory”. After not too long, I came across this awesome website: https://learningmusic.ableton.com. It walks you through the basics of music theory by breaking down music into its smaller components and slowing adding them along the way (notes, chords, baselines, melodies, etc). At each step they give examples of different songs and recreate it to help you understand what each component adds to the song. They also have advanced lessons where they explore these concepts in greater detail after you have grasped the basics.
The best part is that you can also create your own sounds to help you learn. You start with just making beats, and then slowly add the different components that make it into a song. This approach breaks down the daunting task of creating a song to making smaller individual components that work together to make something bigger and complete. As an engineer, that approach sounds familiar and gives me comfort. Here is a first attempt of me trying to make some music. (Warning: This might hurt your head :P)
I have to say I really enjoyed doing this course on Ableton’s website. Now whenever I listen to music I can hear the different parts individually and how everything works together to create the song. I would recommend anyone, wether you want to make music or not, to take this course. I have a newfound appreciation for the music I listen to everyday.