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The Professional Guitar Masterclass

Lesson 1.5 - Music Theory 101 - Intervals

Simply put, an interval is the distance between any two notes.

We have 12 notes in western music and the distance between any two of these notes

has a specific sound and a corresponding name. The notes are named after the letters

in the alphabet A through G. When you reach the 12th note, the next note higher is

the first note again.

Now obviously, G is only the seventh note in our alphabet. So what about the other

five notes? Well, in between some of the notes are other notes called accidentals.

These are known as sharps and flats. Sharps go up in harmonic value while flats go

down.

For example: The note between A and B is either A Sharp or B flat. Don't worry about

why... just understand that they are the same note and that sharps go up and flats go

down. Sharps are notated by # and flats are notated by b.

There are only two places in our 12 notes where there are no accidentals and that is

between B and C and E and F.

Therefore, the 12 notes we have at our disposal are:

A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab

The Intervals

Tonic or octave - two of the same notes. ie: C and C - written as 1

Minor second - one fret or note above the tonic. ie: C and C# - written as b2

Major second - two frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and D - written as 2

Minor third - three frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and Eb - written as b3

Major third - four frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and E - written as 3

Copyright 2013 - Michael D. Palmisano

7/25/2019 1 5 Music Theory 101 Intervals

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The Professional Guitar Masterclass

Perfect fourth - five frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and F - written as 4

Augmented fourth or diminished fifth - six frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and

F# / Gb - written as #4 or b5

Perfect fifth - seven frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and G - written as 5

Minor sixth - eight frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and Ab - written as b6

Major sixth - nine frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and A - written as 6

Minor seventh - ten frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and Bb - written as b7

Major seventh - eleven frets or notes above the tonic. ie: C and B - written as 7

You must also realize that you can start on any tonic and make any interval.

For example: the distance between C and G is a perfect fifth... and so is the distance

between A and E... or D and A. Right?

The names of the notes arent (by themselves) contextually important.

Get used to finding each of these intervals on your fretboard and pay attention to the

sound of each of them! We will use these intervals to make all of our sounds in the

future and we will call them by their specific names.

So memorize them!

Copyright 2013 - Michael D. Palmisano