Intervals & Chords For The Beginner

1. Course Introduction: Hi, everyone, and welcome to my course entitled Intervals and Cords for the beginner. Now, the title does say for beginners, but I would suspect that many intermediate players will also benefit from this course. Now most guitarists start by learning how to play what are fondly known as cowboy chords, like the C, the D, and the G chord. But they don't actually know how the cords are created and why the cords appear as they do. Now, working through this course will change all of that far. By the end of the course, you will have an understanding of how intervals work and why they are so important in the function of playing the guitar. Now, I'm sure many of you are asking, What is an interval? Well, an interval in music is the distance between two notes. It's like measuring the space between two rungs on a ladder. But instead of physical distance, we're measuring the difference in pitch. Intervals are measured by counting the number of scale steps between two nuts. For example, the distance between C and D is known as a second because there is one scale step between them. The distance between the C and E is a third. Intervals can be classified by the quality, which describes how wide or narrow they are. The most common qualities are the perfect, which is the unison, the fourth, the fifth, and the octave. For the major, we have the major second, major third, major six and major seventh. And for the minus, minus second, minus third, minus six and minus seventh. In this diagram, I have identified all of the intervals on one string. Each one of these intervals are measured from the root node, which is the F, which if you didn't already know, is the first ne on the E string. The notes can also be presented like this. The flat notes are typically the minor intervals, and the triangle symbol represents the major intervals. On the guitar, we can play the intervals on one string, but in practice, we play the larger intervals across two or even three strings. So let's look at the most common intervals that you will encounter on the fretboard and the various ways we can play them. 2. The Perfect 5th Interval: First, we are going to look at the perfect fifth. Now, for purposes of this course, we are going to be looking at a root naught of G, which is the third frat on the Law Ering. Now we're also going to be talking in the scale of G. Now, I'm not going to get into a lot of theory here at this point, but the scale of G is G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, and back to the G. And we can number them one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So if we look at the fifth note from the G, we have G, A, B, C, D, Now, of course, if we was going to play from the G to the D string, that is one heck of a step. To play on one string. So, as I've said, we will play this across two strings. I play the G, which is the root note. And instead of finding the D here, which was on the tenth fret, we are going to play the D on the A string, which if you don't already know notes on the fret board, we have got A, B, C, and D, which is on the fifth fret. So the interval is from the G to the D. Now, I'm sure many of you are looking at that. If I got my two fingers there looking at the position, you're probably saying, That's a power cord. And you're right? It is. Also known as a fifth chord. So if we play the two notes together, the first and the fifth, we end up with a power cord or a five chord. But it also shows us an interval of a perfect fifth between root and five. Now, let's have a look what that interval looks like on the other strings. Always remember that an interval is always constant, which means it's always the same distance. It doesn't change. So if we're talking about a perfect fifth, if we pick a note on the A string, and in this case, I'm just going to move one string down. We're going to be on the third frac, which is the C the interval that we are going to be playing is exactly the same. So it's one string down and two frets forward. And in this case, it's this nut, which is a G nut. If we think of the scale of C, we got C, D, E, F, G A B C. Count up, C, D, E, F, G. There is our perfect fifth. There is the example there. If we move down to the D and the G string, look for the perfect fifth from the D string, I can move up here. I'm going to move up to the fifth fret, which the fifth fret and the D string is a Gaut. And we already know that the interval between the G a perfect fifth is a D. So if I put my finger on that fifth fret, Gute and I play the perfect fifth interval across the two strings, if you didn't already know that fret position there on the seven fret is a G. And we've got A, B, C, D. So we have got across to that position there. So the perfect fifth identical. Now we're going to look at a perfect fifth across the G and the B string. Now, the G and the B string are tuned different to all the other strings in the sense of that when we're tuning normally in standard tuning, we are doing perfect. We are doing a fourth. So we're doing fifth fret, fifth fret, fifth fret. But when we go to the G to the B, we go to the fourth fret. So something's changed there. So we are going to take the note of C on the G string. So we've got G, A, B, C. So we are going to be here on the five frat. We already knew that it goes to a G cause we've already played that interval down here. We did C to G. So we've got to find the G on the B string. If we work up, we've got B, C, D, E, F, G. But that's no longer watering down two frats. It's watering down three frats up. So between the G and the B string, we have got a wider stretch, but it's still the same two notes that we are playing are the same distance between the two notes. It's just we've got to remember that when we are doing a perfect fifth interval, between the G and the B string, we have got a wider stretch. Let's go on to the final string. Let's just finish this off. If we take the note, the C on the B string, which is the first frat, we know we're looking for a G. Well, the G is on the third fret and the high E. We're back to our usual one string down two frets forward. So what we've got there is the fifth interval on the guitar across the strings, and, of course, that one that changes slightly on the G and the B. Now, we have talked about this being the root note to the fifth. But a perfect fifth interval can be any note. We don't have to take it from the root note. We can look at a perfect fifth from any note in the scale. So we've got the C scale, and we're going one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, CD EFGABC. I can take another one of these notes, and I can count up five from it. So if I went to the F and we count up five notes from there, we end up on the C because we got F, G A B C. So the interval isn't always from the root. It's the distance between two notes. Not always tied to the root nut. We tend to see it from the root nut, but it can be anywhere in the scale is the distance of five naughts gives us a perfect fifth interval. 3. The Major 3rd Interval: Now we are going to look at the major third interval. Now, let's keep to our G scale, GA, BCDE F sharp, G. We are looking at the major third. So if you've got a G, we've got the A and then to the B. So the distance there, not a bigger stretch, but still a big stretch. G to the B. So that is a major third interval on one string. And it stopped four frets between the note we're playing and the target note, the major third. That isn't always practical for us to play because there's such a big stretch. So what are we going to do? Instead of playing the B here, let's look for it on another string. Well, the first available B to us is on the A string, and it's here on the second fret. So we can play a major third by one string down, one thread back. Can do that? Or? If we look at it again on the A string, we got to play a C. So the nut we're looking for C D E, Well, I can play it on the one string or I can play the E here on the D string. There's our major third interval again. If I play the F F, G A, or I. So we've got the same rules applying here that it's constant as long as we've got standard tuning on the EAD strings. Now, we're back to our usual problem string. The G to the B. Let's take that same note of the Cn. We're here going to be on the C. Now, we have got a C, and we knew it was the E. We can see that here. So if we're on the C here, if we count up our major third interval, there's our E. That's usual. That never changes if it's a one string. There's always a constant. But when we go down looking for the E naught on that B string, it's directly underneath it. And that's because of that tuning. With the fret moving down, we are now playing that. So the major third interval between the G and the B string, It's straight down. It's directly beneath it. Now, if we go to, let's have a look. Let's take the C. This brings in another element here. I am played the C here. A major fd to the E. Well, it's open string. That's our nearest. But we don't always see that major food. We don't notice because it's an open string. Who cares about open strings, 'cause we don't have to play an open string with our fingers, we just play through it, so it's easy. But if we think we're going one string down and one fret by, that's giving us the open string. So the major fd interval between the B string and the E string is exactly the same as a major fd interval on the E A and D string. Hit the G string straight down. Back to normal. So we can have intervals that are being incorporated into an open string. 4. The Minor 3rd Interval: Let us look at the mita thirds. Now, if we go back to our diagram, we shot all the notes. The minor third is one note back. The distance between the root note to start with and the minor third is only three frets. And if we take our G, one, two, three, there's our B flat because we're talking now a scale that is part of a G minor, the G minor scale. Now, I'm not going to gain, like I said, get into the fury side of things too much on this. But we are looking at one note less or one half step back. The major, the minor, like that, a minor third, three frets. Also, if we played this now on the G to the A string, our major third was, Well, the minor third, we're gonna lose a fred going that direction. There's the B flat. So the minor for interval when we crossovers like that. We can also because the distance isn't that bad. If we was playing this and our peggiated sequels, we're playing one after the other, we might decide to do that. If we're playing it as a chord, playing simultaneous notes at the same time, we can't play that. We have to have a method where we can go. Play the notes simultaneously. So a minor fd one string down, one fret back. Now, it is the same, exactly the same for the E, the A, and the D string. But let's just quickly look at the troublesome string, the G to the B. If it was a major fd, it would have been straight down. And if we go back to our example here, we've got the C. But we know it's got to be one step less, one fret back. So the minor fd takes on that motion or that movement. So the minor fd between G and B is the same shape or same appearance as the major fd. You do remember that amount of students that get caught on that when we start looking at the movement. The minor third across the G and the beam looks identical to a major herd. When we go back to our E string, it goes back to our usual we've got wring down two frets back. So now we have looked at the perfect fifth. We've looked at the major third, and we have looked at the minor third. 5. Intervals In Chords: Now what are we going to do? As I mentioned at the beginning of the cord, we are going to look at standard cords that you've been playing, and we are going to start identifying the intervals through these cords. Cord is made up of three nodes, which is known as a triad. If we're doing a major chord, we have the root node. We have a major third, and we have a perfect fifth. We can include the octave because it's the same as the root note. So it can have four notes, and a lot of the basic chords have them four notes, not all of them, but they have them because we have got six strings on the guitar. So if we're strumming through the guitar, there is a tendency that we're going to be hitting all of the strings. So if we can use more strings, we don't have to worry about missing certain strings as we're playing them. So we can have multiples of the same interval. We can have, as we've seen, we can have two root knots. We can have the root and the octave, it's the same knot. We can have two major fds in the case of minor cord, we can have a minor fd. And we can also have two perfect fifths. We can have three of them. We can end up on some cords. We can hand three root nuts spread across octaves. So we're going to first of all, look at the C code, which is derived from the C scale. So again, we've got, as you can see on the live here, CD EFGABC. And we've already identified that from the C, the major third is the E. And if we look on our sheets again, we also can see that positive the perfect positive, the perfect fifth is the D. So they are the three notes that are going to be played when we play a chord. So let's just look at our C chord. Play our standard by clawed hip, our Secord. First note that we are playing is we move down because anybody who's been playing the guitar for a while now will know when we play a C chord, we do not touch the low Est ring. We start with the C. Next note we do when we play down, we are playing the E. Now what I want you to do is look at these two notes. C to the E. Look at that interval that we are playing. We are playing a major third interval. Now we're going to play the next note, which is the perfect fifth interval, we are going to play the open G string. But what I want you to see here is I am playing that E nut, which is the major third. The interval between that note and the G string, one string down two frets back, that is a minor third interval. Now this is quite big. The intervals that we are playing there, we are playing a major fd. Then we're playing a minor fd to get to that perfect fifth. Let's do that again. There's your major fur. And then minor furD. Next note that we are playing is our scene. So we have got the octave included there, and then the last string that we strung through the OpenE string. So we have that what we'd seen earlier. A major fur interval one string down, one fret back. So we are playing all of the notes from that major triad, the one, the major third, and the perfect fifth, but we're also creating some internal intervals at the same time. And the big thing there for us is we're playing a major fd, followed by a minor fd to the perfect fifth. And we've got the major herd from the octave or root to the major herd again. That is very, very important that you can see intervals inside cords to create some of these shapes that we are playing. Let's go and have other look at. Let's go and have the G Code. The G Code scout G ABCDEF G. Now, let's put our fingers on the G C. Stand G C. There's the Go. There's the B. We then got open D. Open G. We have got a B, and we've got a G. As you can see there, we already have an example where we have got three root notes, and we've got two octaves span across them G, G, G. So when we're playing this, let's have a look at these intervals at how they are working. First up, look at that. D to the B. Major fd. Let's have a look at that B to the D. Oring down two for B. We have got the a minor fd, so we've got major fd, minor fd. And that is also taking us to that perfect fifth. Like that, which is the D. Open strings do allow us to take a perfect fifth interval across the open strings. Soon as we start to move into bar chords, we lose that ability. But we have got major minor third. Now we've got the G string. G going to the B. Straight beneath two open strings, G to the B. Because remember, we are talking that we are looking for a major furd interval. Well, the major furd between the G and B is directly underneath. Now we've got an open string. So it means that the string directly underneath that, the nut directly underneath is the major fd interval. Still an open string, but it's still giving us that interval that we are looking for. And then finally, well, we've just got the other octave. We don't always have to have it going one, three, five, one, three, five, as long as we've got the elements of a one, three, five inside there, which we do. It's just we've gone for that shape and them notes because they work for us as a cord grip when we're playing. Works perfectly. But we are seeing that we are taking a major fd, and then we are playing another major sorry, a minor fd interval to get us to that perfect fifth. Let's do another one. This one takes a little bit of thinking about. We are looking at our common garden decord. The D scale, we've got D, E, F sharp, G, A, B, C sharp, and back to D. Number them, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. So the nuts we're looking for, we have the D is the root. Co along here and now we've got an F sharp. That is the major fd. Then we have got the A, which is the perfect fifth. They are the nuts that we're looking for. So let's put our fingers on that D coord, and let's see if they're in there. Start off. W's our D. The next note, well, that's the A. Didn't go major fur that we would have expected because it can't. We can't play the same note. Can't play that F sharp on the same string. But what we do have is a perfect fifth interval between the D to the A. Even though it's an open string, because it's going one string down two fs forward. It's like me putting my finger here on the nut, and I'm getting that perfect fifth or power cucher. Like that. Okay, let's continue down, so we've identified that one, and that's perfect fifth. Let's have a look where we are now. Well, we've got the octave. We've got the D. So the final thing we're looking for, we need a major third. We need an F sharp. Well, there's your F sharp, but look at that positioning between the first fret on the B string to the second fret on the high E string, major third interval. So we've got root. Perfect fifth. Root, major third interval. So that is your decode. Now we can see and understand how that cord has come about with the shapes and the positions that we've got. Let's have a look. And the minors. Now, there are two ways you can look at this. You can look at the scale of what the minors are associated with, but that includes a little bit more for to work with. But there's an easy way. That we can do this. We said, that to make a minor chord, we have got to have at least the one, the three, and the five. But what makes it a minor chord is the fact we have got a minor fd interval, root minor fd, perfect fifth, and then back to the octave, if required in the triad, if we can play it. If we think of the D chord, that was the D major chord, we saw that the F sharp was the major FOD. If we wanted to play a minor third instead of the major third, all we have to do is play one fret back because that would give us that interval of a minor third, which is going D E F. So all we got to do for this is that I just have to reposition my fingers. And what we do for a D minor, we put our first finger on the F, which is the first fret on the high yes ring. Our third finger stays on the D, and my second finger continues to play the perfect fifth, which is the A. So we've got that perfect fifth interval there. Got the root to a minor third. If we play that We have a D minor chord. Now let's look at the A minor code. Now without getting too heavily interferor. The A minor code is built up of intervals from the C major scale. So we're only looking at nodes. No sharps or flats. So we're looking at ABCDEFG A, number one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. First note is the A. If we go up one, two, three, you will see that it's got the minor note or the minus symbol there, it is a minor ft. And the note that we're looking at is the C because we got a beat C, but it is a minor fd step between the Anue and that C naught. Think about that. The other remaining note that we're looking for is the perfect fifth. Well, that is the E n. So, we put our hands back on the guitar and let's have a look at these intervals at play. We have got the A. We have got the E. That is your perfect fifth interval. Power chord. Back on the shape again. Next note is the second fret on the G strip, so that's an A. So we've got the octave. So we've got one. Perfect fifth. Octave or root note, if you want to see, is that the A again. Next note we're going to play is the C. Remember A, B, C, minor third. But let's have a look at our position of our fingers. We've got our third finger on the A. We've got our first finger on the C. It looks like a major third position. But remember, we're on the G to the B. So that is a minor third interval. Those are minor third interval at play, because when we're on that G to the B string, one string down one fret byte gives us a minor third and you could hear that? Minor third interval. Next note that we're playing is the E. So we've got another perfect fifth note inside that. So we've got all of them notes are creating A minor chord. Because we've got a root minor third and a perfect fifth in there. Let's spin this round like we did previously on the D to the D minor. If I wanted to play and couldn't figure out how to play an A chord, I take my A minor and think, Well, what have I got to do that's different here? Well, my C n was a minor herd. So if I want to make it a major chord, all I've got to do is raise that note, one fret, and that becomes a major fd. So instead of playing the C, I play a C sharp, and the way everything else will remain the same, we just move that note up. So we've got our A minor. If I now play the C sharp, we've got our standard A major chord. There's that major fit there. Back at play. And what we've got there just interval wise for you, you've got root to the perfect fifth. Then we've got root to the major fd directly underneath. And then we've got our perfect fifth here. So we've taken one principle when we did the D to the D minor, where we just flatten the major fd to make it a minor herd. And we've done the opposite when we took the minor chord, and we sharpened. We moved it from a minor herd to a major fd, just by changing that one fret. You can do the same thing on the Echord. We play the E major. Notes on the E major that we're going to be playing, we have got E F sharp, G sharp, A, B, C sharp, and then we've got a D sharp and two E. There's our E major scale. Lots of sharps going on in that one, so we have. But we're only interested in the one, the three, and the five. So major cord is going to be the root note, followed by a major third, followed by the perfect fifth. So the nuts we are looking for, we are looking for an E. We're looking for a G sharp, and we're also looking for a B. They are the nuts we are going to be playing. We've got our E cord. Let's play put our things on the Ecord. There we go. We have got E. Next note that we play, as we go down is the B. So there's our perfect fifth. Our power cord. Perfect fifth. Next note underneath that second fret on the D string, it's an E. We look at the next string, the G string. We're playing the first fret, which is a G sharp. That is our major third. We know that because we've got that finger here on the second fret. And we're playing the next note, one string down one fret byte. There's our major third. So next note that we've got from there, we are playing the B. But that is a minor fd, which is right because you're going from that major fd to a minor fd interval to take us to the perfect fib. And that is going one string down, one fret byte, but because it's due to the B, that is giving us a minor third. And that's a sad sound. And then we're back to octave. So we've got three he's there. Now, let's quickly throw that into a minor cord. Well, our G sharp, the first fret. That is the major fd. So if I want to make it a minor, all I got to do is go one step back or one fret back. But easiest way to do that here, I just lift my finger, and that gives us the G natural. And there's our E minor cord. Everything else remained the same because the root to the perfect fifth is that constant. The only thing that's happening, we've taken that root to major fd, moved it back. So it became a minor fd. What also happened then, you've got a minor third between the root and the third not minor third. But the interval from the minor third to the perfect fifth has now become a major fern. If you recall, when we talked about a major chord, it was root major fd, minor fd. On the minor chord, root minor fd, major fd. That is very important to remember when you are seeing these intervals. So we've got different codes now that hopefully you can start to see these various shapes at work. What I would suggest you do is to look at a whole bunch of your basic codes that you've learned and see if you can spot the intervals as you are playing them. 6. Extended Intervals In Arpeggios: What are we going to look at next is we're gonna look at intervals, how we can play them on the fretboard to create simple arpeggiated movements. Now, how many times have you seen a guitarist play a light like this? Of course, they make it longer and bigger. But what I'm doing that I'm playing an extended arpeggio over a major chord triad. Sounds great don't it in that conversation. I am playing a major chord, extended, using a major chord triad. But really, all I'm doing is I'm playing two intervals. I want to start with the A, and I want to play an A major arpeio or an A major triad, which will be the first, the major third, and the fifth. We can also see, as we've learned that I could be playing a major third, followed by a minor third interval, which is what we was just doing there. I start off on the A. There is my Anu. There's my root node. Because I'm playing a major chord, I am now going to play a major third interval. There is my major third, which is the C show. Now I want to play my perfect fifth. Now, I could see like that. Going like that. Or I could also see it as free frets higher. So it's a minor third. So I'm going root major fd, followed by a minor fird interval. All I've got to do now is spot my octave for the A, and then octave on the first two sets of strings, the E and the A strings is two strings down and two frets forward. That's your octave. So all I've got to do is identify that next A, and I can play exactly the same shape across here because I haven't ventured into that land of G to the B string. So I've got my A. That is my major fd. And then I've got my perfect fifth, which is a minor fd or it's identical shape what I just play. And then I move down to my B string. I locate the next A. And on the B string, because the B is the 12th fret, if I go back a whole step from the 12th fret, I have got an A. So if I just play the same shape without actually thinking, I have got that major triad there major food. There's my C sharp, and there's my E. So I'm just taking a pattern where all I need to identify is the root nulls. I get them really nice little lines across the fret pot like that. There is another way of playing that if you don't mind big stretches. Instead of going to the major third down here, I could take the major third here on one string. And then all I've got to do is play my minor third interval from this C sharp onto the next son's card plate down here without doing a tap, and that's for further lessons. So all I've got to do is locate that E, which is down there. It's minor third. I don't actually have to think too much about that note at this point. All I've got to do is perform a minor third interval between the two strings. And that's, if we recall, one ring down, two friends back. That's what I've got. Now I can do the same thing on the octave, doing the same. And if I play again on that A here, two different ways of playing that same. Dental notes do different shades because I'm using my intervals eva position to play that. I would suggest when you do runs like that, to stick to one or the other. Get a little bit confusing for you when you first start mixing and matching. So if you're doing that one, stick to it. I would suggest switching the midway through. So that's your major. Let's go and have a quick look at the minor. Now the minor couldn't be any easier. Because we've said that the intervals between major and minor, the difference is that we play a minor third, we play one fret back and one step back. If we're crossing strings, then if we're on the same string, it's one rung of the ladder, it's shorter. So let's look at the A. Same thing. We played the C sharp. You play that major fd. Now, if it's a minor third, we're going to the C. So we're just going That's not a bad one that. The Fifth is always the same. It's always gonna be the same position. We just got to shuffle our fingers. There's the E. If we move up, it's just the same ship. Again, we don't have to think about the nuts, though. We are just before. The same shape across them three strings. If I want to do it, cross the two strings. Bit of a stretch here, but like that. There's my minor furt. There's my major ft. Buy deck. It's a bit of a stretch it's better when you favor up the fret book. But that is minor. That's running the triad, the major or minor triad across the different strings. Does sound nice, and it's a nice little addition to what you can do is when you're playing, if you want to move from one position to another, just run it. Oh, they'll either. I'll impress everybody, Well, though, that's how you would be doing your major to minus using the intervals to work in a more of an arpeggiated sequence. What we're going to do now is quickly look at how this G string affects these different intervals when we're playing this G to the B. When we're playing these major and the minor words, now, this will occur when you're playing from the A string. It's more inclined to happen because we saw when we was playing there we had our root note, which was there, there and back up there. So we didn't really have to worry about the G to the B because we didn't have a root note that was going across to it. But if we started playing from this say we started from the D, then as we move down, we've got a D octave. Two strings down, two frets forward. Octave. We've got one here that's going to put into this land of the B string. So let's have a look what we can do about it and what it appears like. So first of all, we've got our finger on the Deno. The first one simple is the same as what we did. There was the major try. Or major fert minor fer. That's all fine. Now, we got to tear that octave We've got that here. But we can't do that. Same ship because we are then running into what would be a minor third interval. So we've got to do a major fd, so it's straight down. So we've got and then the minor third. And we can't really run down too much more without us going up to here. And we got to play them free notes on one string. So we're a little bit short changed when we move in from the A string, but we do have to remember. And I could finish on that just by going to that D. We use And it will be the same wherever we play that. I said, the intervals are always constant. So if we did it as the D, it'd be exactly the same for playing an E two frats higher. Like that. Minus. Remember, to make it a minor, we are going to play a minor third, so we're only doing a three fret step. So I can play it like this. There's our three. And then across here to the perfect fifth. Oh. Each one's the same. Now, when we are playing across down onto that, those are D. We want to play the min ford. Well, I kind of hinted on it previously. We go. Like that. Yeah, that's a minor fur. But now, we've got to stretch down a little bit. Because there's our perfect fifth there, so we get there. So we've got that major fd though, which is that four fret. Minor fur and then perfect fifth. Like that. So what we've got there is just a good example but when you are crossing that G to the B, you've got to be aware when you're doing these little arpeggiated steps. So hopefully from this course now, you can understand what we're talking about by an interval. You might not know them all yet, but you can understand what an interval is. You can see the shapes of the intervals at work on the fretboard and you can identify them. And also, you can see how our coats are now created from these intervals. That's what we have really tried to get through in this course. All these different cards that you've been playing here, and you just saw them as apes on the fretboard. Well, there is a reason why they have been created, and it is down to the intervals that are required for the various cards that we are playing.