Intervals:TheDNAofMusic Hello! Thanksforreadingthis! BeforewestartoffoneveryVERYimportantnote: MusicTheoryisjustatoolusedtounderstandandappreciatemusicandtohelpyouplaybetter.They're notabsoluterulesorguidelines(therearenorulesinart).Neverusemusictheoryasanexcusetonot experimentandneverrestrictyourselftoit.Theartofexpressingwhatyoufeelthroughmusicalways comesfirst.Thetheoryisjusttohelpyouexpressthoseartisticaspectsbetterifyouwishtodoso. andnow..INTERVALS! Musicisanawesomecombinationofmelody,harmony,rhythm,feelandallthatstuff.MusicTheoryis simplyawayormethodtounderstandhowthisallworksandwhymusicisthewayitis.Tounderstand itthoroughlywemuststripitdowncompletelyandstartfromthebeginning. Scales,chords,arpeggios,modesareallmadefromnotes.Anoteisnothingbutasoundinaparticular frequency.Thisisthefundamentalbuildingblock.Butitsjustalonenote.Whatmattersisthe relationshipbetweenvariousnoteswhichmakesitmusical.

al.Thisrelationshipbetweentwonotesis calledtheINTERVAL. Intervalsarealwaysrelativei.e.itsalwaystakenwithreferencetosomething.InourcaseitstheUnison orROOTNOTEasitsmorecommonlyknown. Soasweallknowwehavetwelvenotesinmusic(startingfromC): CDbDEbEFGbGAbABbB anditsenharmonic(realfancynamespplcomeupwitho_O)equivalentis: CC#DD#EFF#GG#AA#B I'massumingyouguysknowwhatflatsandsharpsareandwhattonesandsemitonesaresoi'mnot gonnainsultyourintelligenceandwastespaceexplainingthat(unless,ofcourse,you'readrummer.. thenyou'reonthewrongpage..butdocomeback..extracheeseandpepperoninexttime:D). Theintervalisnothingbuthowthese12notesrelatetothereferencerootnote. Soweshouldhave12intervalstoestablishthat.Those12intervalsare: 1Unison,ortheroot(thereferencenote) b2Minorsecond

2Majorsecond b3Minorthird 3Majorthird 4Perfectfourth b5DiminishedfifthorAugmentedFouthorTritone(3wholetonesapart) 5PerfectFifth b6Minorsixth 6Majorsixth b7MinorSeventh 7MajorSeventh 8Octave(sameastherootbutonepitchhigher) Remembertheorderoftheintervals. Aftertheoctavewehavetheb9(whichistheb2playedanoctavehigher),9,b10,10,11,b12,12andso on..Wehardlyusethe10thsorthe12thsintervals.Justknowthe9th,11th&13th(2nd,4thand6th oneoctaveup,respectively) NowletstakeCastherootorreferencenfigureouttheintervals 1C b2Db 2D b3Eb 3E 4F b5Gb 5G b6Ab 6A b7Bb 7B 8C sowehavethevariousintervalswithCbeingthereferencenote. aflatthirdorminorthirdwithreferencetoCisaEb. aperfectfifthwithreferencetoCisaGandsoon.yougetthepicture. Thiscanbeappliedforanyreferencenote.Here'sanexampleusingEbasreference. 1Eb b2E

2F b3Gb 3G 4Ab b5A 5Bb b6B 6C b7Db 7D 8Eb Pieceofcake.LikeIsaidjustremembertheintervalandthenoteorderandyou'redone! CHARACTERISTICSOFINTERVALS: Ok..Now,letstakeitonestepfurtherand.Eachoftheseintervalshaveacertainqualityandtheusage ofthesenoteimpactthemusicalpieceasawhole. Wecanratetheintervalsfromdissonant(veryunstableandnotpleasingtothetheear),imperfect consonance(notthatstablebutyoudon'thaveanythingagainstiteither...thinkofitasafriendof friendofafriendwithaweirdhabitwho'smadetositnexttoyouduringabigdinnerparty)andperfect consonant(verystableandpleasingtotheear). TryplayingtheeachintervalwiththerootandactuallyLISTENtothetonalcharacteristics.Ifyouhave humanearsyou'llendupassigningtheseattributestoeachinterval. 1RootConsonance(obviously) b2Dissonance 2Dissonance b3ImperfectConsonance

3ImperfectConsonance 4PerfectConsonance b5Dissonance 5PerfectConsonance b6ImperfectConsonance 6ImperfectConsonance b7Dissonance 7Dissonance 8OctavePerfectConsonance So,thenexttimeyouhearamelodyorasimplesong,youshouldbeabletofigureoutwhichinterval influencesitandgivesitflavor. Aperfectexampleis"BlackSabbath"byBlackSabbath.Thestrongdisturbingnatureofthe diminishedfifth(b5)intervalimpartsaverydarkqualitywhichcomplimentsthelyrics,themoodand Ozzy'shauntingvocals. Initially,it'snotnecessarytobepitchperfectbutyouneedtohaveagoodideaaboutrelativepitches. There'sasimplewaytogetusedtothesoundofvariousintervals.Byusingsongs!! 1Root b2Rememberthetypical2chordspanishguitarbullfightingstuff:P 2HappyBirthday!theunderlinedpartisamajor2ndinterval b3Ialwaysthinkofthefirstbarof"Californication"byRHCP.Thefirstguitarlickendsonab3 3thesecond"na"inHeyJude. 4ThathowlingintooftheGood,theBad&theUglytheme b5BlackSabbathbyBlackSabbath 5ThesecondnoteoftheStarWarsTheme b6"Takeabow"byMuse. 6Thetypicalrocknrollriffingwhereyouplaythepowerchordandthrowinthe6thalternatively.

b7HelterSkelter..t thefirsthasa achordprominentflatsev venthinterval(keyofthes songinrefere ence) 7Sup permanThem me 8My ySharonnah!:D FINDINGY YOURINTERV VALS: Whatyou ureadabovei isthegeneralmusictheor ry.Bestparto ofitis,itcanb beappliedto oanydamn instrumen nt.Sohowdo oyouapplyittoyoubassa andlocatethe eseintervals? ? wthenoteso onthefretbo oard.Ithinkyo ou'llfindthiscraponlineo onanyguitar First,Youneedtoknow etscience)onyourown.W Worksbetter rthat tutorialsitebutbeabitsmarterandlearnthem(itsnotrocke ond,beforew wegetintodia agrams,figure esnshitliket that,letmeb briefyouontheimportanc ceof way.Seco patterns.Ican'tstressenoughonth heimportanc ceoflearning variouspatte ernsespeciallyfortheguit tars andbassa asitsaverys symmetricins strument.Onstage,Idon't tthinkanyof fuswillbeaa abletothinknote bynotew whileplaying.Itsmentallyi impossible.Patternshelpu ustorememberwherethenicefriendl ly notes.Plu usthesymme etryofthefre etboardhelps sustoutilize onesinglepa atterninman nyways.so remembe ertolearnand dworkonyourpatterns.ITSALLABOU UTPATTERNSPEOPLE!!! Thepatte ernbelowsho owsyouwher retheintervalsarelocated dwithin2or3 3frets.Soma akesureyou memorize ethispattern.Thiswillbereallyreallyu usefulwheny you'relearnin ngchords.

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TherootisontheEstringinthisdiagrambutitsreallyversatileandcanbeappliedanywhereonthefret boardusinganyreferencenoteonanystring.Somakeuseofthesymmetryoftheinstrument. Ok...Here'ssomefunstuffcalled, INVERSIONOFINTERVALS: Anintervalisinvertedifwechangeit'ssequence.SoaCtoDisinvertedtoDtoC. DisaMajor2ndofC.InverselyCisMinorseventhofD. 2+7=9 Theintervalsaddupto9. Thisappliesforallintervals.Theinversionandtheoriginalintervalsalladdupto9! Sohere'showinversionworks. 1.minorintervalsbecomemajornwiseverse(minor3rd>major6th,major2nd>minor7th) 2.Thediminishedbecomesaugmented(diminished5th>augmented4th...whichisprettymuchthe samething) 3.Theperfectintervalsremainperfect(perfect4>perfect5) Alrightythen! NowyouhaveadecentbasicideaofIntervalsandwheretofindtheseintervalsonthefretboard! Buti'mnotdoneyet.. Whilereadingthisblogdidanyofyouactuallybothertoquestionthe ORIGINOFINTERVALS?!! Soanotherlesson:Rememberthatthehistoryofamusicalconceptisasimportantastheconceptitself. Theywerebornouttanecessityandnotrandomly.Understandingthehistorywillhelpusunderstand theapplicationoftheconcept.So,plztakethatextraefforttoreadalittleabouttheoriginofmusical

ideas.It'llhelpyouunderstanditbetter. So,howdidthewholeideaofintervalscomeabout? Aslegendgoes,thegreatGreekmathematicianandphilosopherPythagoras(yeahthatsames.o.bwho didtherightangledtriangletheoremstuff)waswalkingbyablacksmithsshopwhenhenoticedthat certainsoundsofthehammersontheanvilssoundedmoreconsonant(morestableormorepleasingto theear)thanothers.Uponinvestigation,hediscoveredthatthenicersoundscamefromhammers whoseweightswereinsimpleproportionslike2:1,3:2and4:3. Butourpaldidn'tkeepquiet.Heandhishomiesconductedfurthermusicalexperimentswiththe Monochord,whichiswoodenblockwithonestringandamovablewedge.Oneendofthestringwas fixedwhiletheotherwashungwithaweighttomaintainsometension(likeaguitar). Whathediscoveredwaswhenhemovedthewedgehegotvarioussoundsforvariousratios. Fora2:1(or2/1)ratiohegotanoctaveinterval(thewedgewasplacedinsuchawaythatthelonger sideisexactly2timesthelengthoftheshorterside).Thenhefoundtheperfect4th&perfect5th intervalsfor4:3anda3:2ratio,respectively.Thesewerethemostconsonantsounds.Theother intervalswerefoundusingthesamemethodusingdifferentratios 11:1 b216:15 29:8 b36:5 35:4 44:3 b57:5 53:2 b68:5 65:3 b79:5 715:8 82:1

Interestinglyenoughifyoumultiplytheratiosofinversentheoriginalityoualwaysget2 ex:7(major7th)anditsharmonicinverseb2(minor2nd) (15/18)*(16/15)=2 orb6(minorsixthanditsharmonicinverse3(major3) (8/5)*(5/4)=2 cooleh? ThePythagoreanclanbecameconvincedthatbasicmusicalharmonycouldbeexpressedthroughsimple ratiosofwholenumbers.Theirgeneralbeliefwasthat,lowerthenumbersintheratio,thebetterthe notessoundedtogether.Thus,thenaturalbuildingblocksofmathematics(smallwholenumbers)we realignedwiththenaturalintervalrelationshipsusedtocreateharmoniousmusic! Thiswasagesago.TodaywefollowsomethingcalledtheEqualTemperamentsystemofdetermining intervalstotuneourinstrumentsinwhicheverypairofadjacentnoteshasanidenticalfrequencyratio. OurreferenceistheAnoteat440HzcalledA440. So.... Ihopeyoufoundthisalittleusefulatleast. Anddopracticeandworkonintervals.Itsoneoftheoverlookedandignoredtopicsinstandardmusic courses.Makesureyouunderstandthebasicsbeforeyoustartworkingonthemasterpiece. Peaceandbreadsticks,