Given To Wail 2.0 - The Mike McCready Page

Part 2: Intervals

If you are unfamiliar with how to read music, please go back and read part 1 before continuing.

Introduction

Now that we know what notes are and we know a little bit about reading and writing music, we are ready to talk about intervals. Intervals are actually a rather simple topic: an interval is simply the distance between any two notes.

With the guitar we have a really easy way of talking about the distance between two notes - we can use the number of frets. So, for instance, the notes E and F are one fret apart (ie, open 6th string and 6th string/1st fret), and the notes F and G are two frets apart (ie, 1st fret and 3rd fret of the 6th string). However, this doesn't work if we want to communicate with musicians who play other instruments - you can't tell a saxophone player to play a note 4 frets higher than the note you're playing...he'll have no idea what you're talking about! Plus, it's insufficient if we want to learn how chords work. So we need to think in a more general sense, and learn the terms that all musicians should be familiar with.

I will devote a section to each of the 12 most common intervals, with two examples of each interval to help you get a feeling of what they look like on the guitar. As you go along, it is important to look at the tablature and see what the intervals actually look like on a guitar neck, so later on when we analyze and build chords it will be much easier to recognize certain intervals. And most important of all...play along and notice how the intervals sound to your ears. First play the notes separately, and then together in one strum (if I've written two notes to be played on the same string, try transposing one of the notes to another string so you can play both of them at once).

The Semitone, aka the Minor 2nd

The first interval that we'll discuss is the shortest possible interval between two notes (one note apart), called a semitone. This interval is also called a minor 2nd, or a half step. On the guitar, a semitone refers to two notes that are one fret apart, such as E and F, or C# and D. Here's an example on a staff, with tablature:

The first two notes are G and G#, and they are a semitone, or minor 2nd, apart. Both notes are on the 2nd line of the staff, but the second note has a sharp symbol in front of it, indicating that it is raised by a semitone (one fret). In this case they are played on the 5th and 6th frets of the 4th string. The second two notes, E and F, are also a semitone, or minor 2nd, apart. However, this time the two notes are on separate places of the staff - the E is on the lowest line, and the F is in the lowest space of the staff. They are still only a minor 2nd (semitone) apart.

The Whole Tone, aka the Major 2nd

The next interval has several names. It is most commonly called a whole tone, or a major 2nd, but can also be called a full tone, or just a tone. They all refer to the same thing - two notes that have only one note between them, i.e., they are two notes apart. On the guitar this translates to two notes that are two frets apart, such as A and B, or F# and G#. Two more examples:

The first two notes above are F and G. They are a whole tone, or major 2nd, apart because there is one note in between them - F# (or, if you prefer, Gb). Here the F is played on the 3rd fret of the 4th string, and the G is played on the open 3rd string. The second example has the notes B and C# - the note in between the two is a C. The notes are played on the 5th string at the 2nd and 4th frets, respectively.

The Minor 3rd

The Minor 3rd interval refers to two notes that are one whole tone plus one semitone apart, or in other words, 3 notes apart. On the guitar this means notes that are 3 frets apart:

In the first example, we have the two notes C and Eb, which are a minor 3rd apart (one whole tone plus one semitone). If we go one whole tone higher than C, we arrive at D, and a semitone higher than D is D#/Eb (on the staff above there is an Eb...it could just as easily have been a D# - they are the same note). The C is played on the 3rd fret of the 5th string, and the Eb is played on the 1st fret of the 4th string. In the next example are the notes Eb and F#, which we can see are 3 frets apart from the tab, where they are played on the 4th and 7th frets of the 2nd string. Try counting up a whole tone plus a semitone from Eb, and see if you arrive at F#.

The Major 3rd

The Major 3rd is a very important interval, as you will soon see in the next few parts of this guide. It is equivalent to a distance of two whole tones. On the guitar this translates to two notes that are four frets apart on the same string; however, it is usually much more common to see the two notes played on separate strings because there is less finger stretching involved. Here are two examples of major 3rd intervals:

In the first example we have an E and a G#, played at the 2nd fret of the 4th string and the 1st fret of the 3rd string, respectively. If we count up one whole tone from E we arrive at F#, and one whole tone above F# is G#, and so the two notes are a major 3rd apart. In the second example, we have the notes Bb and D, played at the 3rd fret of the 3rd string and 2nd string, respectively. Again, try counting up two whole tones from Bb and see if you arrive at D.

The Perfect 4th

The Perfect 4th interval refers to two notes that are two whole tones plus one semitone apart. On the guitar, this is very easy to picture because standard tuning is mostly based on perfect 4th intervals - the 5th string (A) is tuned a perfect 4th higher than the 6th string (E). The 4th string (D) is tuned a perfect 4th higher than the 5th string (A). The same goes for the 3rd and 4th strings, and the 1st and 2nd strings. The only exception is the 2nd and 3rd string pair. The 2nd string (B) is tuned only a major 3rd higher than the 3rd string (G). For any pair of strings other than the 2nd and 3rd strings, two notes that are a perfect 4th apart are played at the same fret on adjacent strings. Let's look at some examples:

In the first example we have an A and a D. We see they are a perfect 4th apart because they are both played at the 5th fret, but on the 6th string and 5th string respectively. But let's doublecheck - a perfect 4th is two whole tones plus one semitone...one whole tone higher than A is B, one whole tone higher than B is C#, and one semitone higher than C# is D. If we look back we see that we have traveled up two whole tones and one semitone from our original note, A, to get to the second note, D, and so they are a perfect 4th apart. The second example demonstrates the exception mentioned above - because of the way the guitar is tuned, the notes G and C, which are a perfect 4th apart, are not played at the same fret of adjacent strings. We must compensate for the smaller interval between the 2nd and 3rd strings and play the C at the first fret of the 2nd string, while the G is played on the open 3rd string. (It might be a good idea now to go back and look at the section just above on the major 3rd interval. Notice how in the second example, the two notes that are a major 3rd apart are played at the same fret on the 2nd and 3rd strings, because those two strings are tuned a major 3rd apart.)

The Flat 5th

The Flat 5th interval refers to two notes that are 3 whole tones apart. There are several other names for this interval, namely Augmented 4th, Diminished 5th, and the Tritone. They all mean the same thing. This interval is commonly used in many types of metal music, as it is quite dissonant sounding (a good percentage of Metallica's songs employ this interval in their riffs). Here's a couple of examples:

The first two notes are a B (2nd fret, 5th string) and an F (3rd fret, 4th string). Counting 3 whole steps up from B we get C#, D#, and then F, and so the two notes are a flat 5th apart. In the second example we have a C (5th fret, 3rd string) and an F# (7th fret, 2nd string). Count 3 whole tones up from C to verify that the notes are a flat 5th apart.

The Perfect 5th

The Perfect 5th interval is incredibly important for rock and roll, as it is the interval upon which power chords are based - and power chords are probably at the heart of many of our favorite songs. The perfect 5th interval refers to two notes that are 3 whole tones plus one semitone apart. Some examples:

The first example should be familiar for most of you, as it involves the two notes from an E power chord - E (open 6th string), and B (2nd fret, 5th string). The second example has a D (5th fret, 5th string), and an A (2nd fret, 3rd string). If you need to, verify both examples by counting up 3 whole tones and a semitone from the lower note and see if you arrive at the higher note.

The Minor 6th

The Minor 6th interval, also known as the Sharp 5th, or Augmented 5th interval, refers to two notes that are 4 whole tones apart. Some examples:

In the first example we have the notes C (3rd fret, 5th string), and G# (6th fret, 4th string). In the second example are the notes F# (9th fret, 5th string) and D (7th fret, 3rd string). Again, verify both examples by counting up 4 whole tones from the lower note to the higher note.

The Major 6th

The Major 6th interval refers to two notes that are 4 whole tones plus one semitone apart. Here are a couple examples:

First we have the notes C (3rd fret, 5th string) and A (2nd fret, 3rd string). The next example involves a slight stretch of your fingers - the A is played at the 5th fret of the 6th string and the F# at the 9th fret of the 5th string.

The Minor 7th

The Minor 7th interval refers to two notes that are 5 whole tones apart. This is a very important interval in jazz, where chords that include this interval are common. Examples:

In the first example, the two notes are an E (7th fret, 5th string) and a D (7th fret, 3rd string). In the second example the notes are C# (11th fret, 4th string) and B (12th fret, 2nd string). It is a good idea to become familiar with how this interval looks and sounds on guitar - it has a very distinctive sound and it shows up in all kinds of music, from jazz and blues to rock and roll.

The Major 7th

The Major 7th interval refers to two notes that are 5 whole tones plus one semitone apart. The interval is one semitone short of an octave (see the next section just below if you are unfamiliar with octaves), so it sounds very dissonant when the two notes are played together. Some examples:

In the first example, we start with an F (1st fret, 6th string) and go a major 7th above it to an E (2nd fret, 4th string). In the second example, we have an F# (4th fret, 4th string) and an F (6th fret, 2nd string). To figure out what note is a major 7th above a given note, simply count below the given note by a semitone to find its major 7th. What does this mean? Take the first example above. The first note is an F. To find the major 7th, we count down one semitone to an E, which is the name of the note that is a major 7th above F. The same holds for the second example...try it out.

The Octave

The Octave interval is very common in guitar playing, and it refers to two notes that are 6 whole tones apart. However, any two notes that are 6 whole tones apart are the same note! Let's try it out: if we start with the note C and go up one whole tone at a time, we get D, E, F#, G#, A#, and then C again. If we start at the note A, we get B, C#, D#, F, G, and then A again. Here are two more examples:

In the first example we start with the note A on the 12th fret of the 5th string, and play the A that is one octave higher on the 14th fret of the 3rd string. In the next example, we have an E octave - the lower E is played on the 2nd fret of the 4th string, and the higher octave is played on the 5th fret of the 2nd string.

We'll talk about notes that are more than an octave apart when we get to the major scale.

Summary

In this lesson we discussed 12 common intervals - the semitone (minor 2nd), whole tone (major 2nd), minor 3rd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, flat 5th, perfect 5th, minor 6th, major 6th, minor 7th, major 7th, and the octave. Be sure you understand this lesson thoroughly before moving on, as these concepts play a big role in the next few sections of this guide.

Thus ends part 2 of this guide. We're almost ready to start building some chords, but not just yet. If you're ready to move on, click here to go to the next lesson, The Major Scale, and Keys. Click here to return to the top of the page.

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