Guitar Intervals

General · 1 reply · 475 views · 3 followers

Jacob A Krell Jr

about 5 years ago

I have a question about guitar intervals, is there a video explaining it more thoroughly? I'm not sure if I accidentally skipped it, but in Music Theory 1, Tomo mentions a little bit of it but thats all I've seen so far. Later on in the series he uses the guitar intervals and I don't really understand it when he explains some things on the guitar.

Thanks!

Steph VDH

about 5 years ago

Interval is the distance in pitch between 2 notes.

So you have your 12 chromatic notes:
C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B-C

I find it easier to look at it from the view of a piano. All the black notes are # (or flat) and the white notes are not.
If we look at the distance between two notes:
so C to C# is a semitone apart.
But so is B to C.
C to D is a tone apart.

We also name the intervals, so have you heard when Tomo talks about Do-Mi-Sol in triads, this is Root, Major Third and Perfect Fith.
So from C to E:
C-C#-D-D#-E = this gives us 4 semitones or 2 tones apart.

There is some really great content on youtube explaining basic music theory.

Hope this helps a little.

Jacob A Krell Jr

about 5 years ago

Hey thanks for the response, I don't think I called what I'm referring to right lol, but sometimes when Tomo explains a chord, he'll say Major 2nd, Maj 9, and 13. I guess what I'm wondering is where do you get the 9 and 13 from.

Steph VDH

about 5 years ago

Hi Jacob,

to get the 9th, 13th, etc, you keep counting past the octave. So lets take the C major scale:
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F.... So past the first octave of C, you have the D note which is the 2nd but as we are continuing, it is also the 9th. It is the 9th letter up the musical alphabet.
So we use these notes to construct a chord.
It takes time to get your head around these things, so dont worry if you dont get it right away. Check out on youtube some music theory videos, they are very helpful!

When we talk about major 2nd or a minor 2nd or major thirds, perfect fiths, we are talking about the distance between 2 notes, the space between them.
So if you look at a piano, start with the C note that is almost in the middle of the piano and has 2 black keys near it.
If you go from that first note (C), direcly to the next white note next to it, you go to D (RE) which is the major 2nd. but there is a black key in between. If you go from C to the C# (black key) you will hear the minor second sound. That is a half step to get to it. To go to the 2nd major took 2 half steps.

Hope I am not going over the top.

If you want more help, can you tell us which lesson it is that you had questions on?

1 Like