Guitar Theory Made Useful

[Bob630]

The first 4 lessons in Guitar Theory were easy to understand, then I ran into lesson 5, intervals. So far it is about as clear as mud. I have already listened to it twice and in a few minutes will try for the third time. I hope sooner or later the material starts to make sense.

 

[Paleo]

Don't get too hung up on it. As Griff says at the beginning of the lesson "For a guitar player....it's not that useful".

And you will almost never hear Griff refer to intervals outside of this lesson.



For any 2 notes there are a certain number of notes in between them.

An interval is just this "distance" between the 2 notes, usually expressed in half-steps, rather than the number of notes in between.

Just like any other basic unit of measure, half-steps can be combined into larger units, as expressed in the chart on page 24.


I think they are easier to understand if you look at notes on a staff.

If you look back to any of the Exercises in Lesson 2 on "Reading Notes" there is an interval between each successive note.

An interval is a measure of how much you went up or down between each 2 notes.

Or the difference in pitch between any 2 notes you might wish to focus on.


Or think of the "distance" between any 2 keys on a piano.

That's the "basic" idea.

 

[Bob630]

Don't get too hung up on it. As Griff says at the beginning of the lesson "For a guitar player....it's not that useful".

And you will almost never hear Griff refer to intervals outside of this lesson.



For any 2 notes there are a certain number of notes in between them.

An interval is just this "distance" between the 2 notes, usually expressed in half-steps, rather than the number of notes in between.

Just like any other basic unit of measure, half-steps can be combined into larger units, as expressed in the chart on page 24.


I think they are easier to understand if you look at notes on a staff.

If you look back to any of the Exercises in Lesson 2 on "Reading Notes" there is an interval between each successive note.

An interval is a measure of how much you went up or down between each 2 notes.

Or the difference in pitch between any 2 notes you might wish to focus on.


Or think of the "distance" between any 2 keys on a piano.

That's the "basic" idea.

It’s not the formula part, that’s easy to understand but rather the interval part such as perfect, third, diminished etc that’s a real pain. But like you said and what Griff said, guitar players don’t use them much if at all.

 

[BoogieMan]

Intervals are useful for understanding how chords are built and other aspects of music theory. On a more practical level when actually playing, they can help you find the next note to play.