If you are new to music generally and are apprehensive about the theory, it's wo rth pointing out

that the subject of intervals is where your attention should be focussed from the outset. A note is a note. and the possibilities of getting any music out of it are limit ed if you have just the one to play with. Now you might think that your favourite guitar solo is simply a flowing line of notes, some hammered, some pulled, some muted and some bent, but there is more t o it than that. Take a solo in the key of C, giving us a root/tonic (same thing) of C. The scale of C major has seven notes C D E F G A B. But some of these notes carry more mu sical weight than others, and a guitarist will "lean" on the more important ones a lot. By this I mean these notes will be highlighted, by the frequency they ar e used and possibly the volume at which they are played. So which are the more important notes? The ones which are used to build chords! For a major chord we use the root, the third and the fifth of the scale. For a s eventh chord we use those plus the seventh of the scale flatted by a semitone (d own one fret). These notes are called chord tones, and it's quite astonishing how much more oft en chord tones are used compared to other notes in the scale. You can guarantee that whoever is playing your favourite guitar solo is leaning on chord tones in a carefully thought out way. Now here is the essence of what this is all about: Half step and whole step movement.

If you are on a note and move up or down one fret to the next note, then you hav e executed a movement of a half step. A whole step movement either way, unsurpri singly, takes in two frets. Generally, pro guitarists like to play in a way that leaves them with a half ste p or whole step movement when moving from one chord to the next, simply because they are smooth transitions and sound cool. Much more cool than using random not es for the transition! If you are about to leave a G major chord (notes G B D) and go to a C major chor d (notes C E G), an analysis shows that: The B of the G chord moves up a half step to the C of the C chord The D of the G chord moves up a whole step to the E of the C chord G of G major and G of C major is a common tone If we change the G major chord for a G7 chord, we simply add an F note (flatted seventh) to it. In the change from G7 to C, the F of the G chord moves down a ha

lf step to the E of the C chord. This means we have two half step movements in the change from G7 to C major - th e B of the G7 to C, and F of the G7 to E. It is for these reasons that the music sounds good! Although your raging favourite solo might lead you to think the sound is the res ult of the player's wild, rebellious character......er, probably not :). The player will be figuring stuff so that he or she gets a cool half or whole st ep movement from one chord to the next. By leaning on chord tones they do someth ing what is known as "outlining the harmony" - they are forming a close relation ship between the melody (notes) and the underlying harmony (chords). Results? Hit singles, big bucks, pink Caddy, beach house..............

What has this to do with intervals? The E in a C major chord is a major third interval from the root. The G is a per fect fifth interval from the root. Between the E and the G is an interval of a m inor third. In all major chords, then, we have a minor third interval stacked on top of a ma jor third interval. Reverse the stacking in terms of the intervals, minor on the bottom and major on top, and we produce a minor chord. That's what it's all about. I've covered most of what you need to know :)! (The step movements to which I've referred are more commonly known as "resolutio ns". I used the word "movement" because it better describes what is happening ph ysically. For further study, use 'musical resolution' in a web search engine)