Quote:
Originally Posted by CGTP13
So for a minor scale or chord all you do is flat the 3rd?
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The minor scale is different, it's more than just the 3rd, but pretty much the only difference between a major chord triad and a minor chord triad is the 3rd, so for chords you'd be absolutely correct. Nice observation.
There's actually other names for intervals. They can be called "major", "minor", "perfect", "augmented", and "diminished". I should teach this right now because it totally ties into chords.
Basically, you start with a root note. Depending on how far certain notes are from the root note, you give each of those notes certain "interval names" in relation to the root you start with.
All the interval names are based off the major scale, which is great for us because we can once again work with C.
If we start with the root note of a major scale, which here happens to be C, we can give each note after C an interval name that tells us how far it is from C.
So without changing any of the notes (making them sharp or flat), here's what the first set of names are.
C to D is called a major 2nd (the 2nd note in relation to the root).
C to E is called a major 3rd (the 3rd note in relation to the root).
C to F is called a perfect 4th (the 4th note in relation to the root).
C to G is called a perfect 5th (the 5th note in relation to the root).
C to A is called a major 6th (the 6th note in relation to the root).
C to B is called a major 7th. (the 7th note in relation to the root).
C to the C is called an octave (you probably knew this).
So basically, the 2nd note in the major scale (before altering anything) will
always be a major 2nd away from the root note. Same for the 3rd note, and so on. Pretty easy.
This means that the number of notes away from the initial note will determine the "interval number", meaning 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.
So two (alphabetic) notes away from the first note is always called a 2nd, three (alphabetic) notes away from the first note is called a 3rd, and so on.
It's all about how far the number of musical "letters" are away from each other to determine the number.
So how do we know if the interval is always major, minor, etc?
There are two schools of thought. Intervals can be defined in another equivalent way.
As usual there are patterns we start to see.
Notice how E to two whole steps up from C:
(C) - (D) - (E)
I said early that C to E is a major 3rd. For all intervals, for example a major 3rd, are
always fixed, meaning they're always the same distance. So another way to think of major 3rd is you start with ANY note, then add the next alphabetic note two whole steps about it.
If we picked F for example, you'd see that two whole steps up from it is A. A would be a major third away from F due to the rule I just said.
So now you're wondering how do you get minor/diminished/augmented intervals?
I will explain that as soon as I get back from lunch
if I got any questions between now and then feel free to ask.