I'm still here....
Keeping my promise (it is still the weekend, right?)
MUCHO stuff on Intervals.
good luck, and maybe now is the time to start a "Guitar Theory Questions" thread...
(credit for this one comes from a friend...I'll type my thoughts in the next post)
INTERVALS....
When you play one note it rings out and then fades away eventually...it doesn't leave much of an impression.
When you play two notes though, they interact with one another...they create an effect....they create a sound that you can 'put your finger on', a sound you can identify and reproduce.
That sound you get from the pair of notes depends on how far apart they are - how distant they are from one another (in terms of whole and half steps)....this distance is called an "interval".
Note that often people will use the word "interval" to mean the actual pair of notes themselves. That's fine, just don't get mixed up. Gather the meaning from context.
If the notes are played together (such as in a chord) sometimes they're called a "harmonic interval". If the notes are played one after the other (as in a melody), they're referred to as a "melodic interval".
Again, the word "interval" sometimes means the distance between 2 notes, and sometimes it just means the actual pair of notes themselves (for example to 'play an interval' on your guitar would mean to simply hit a pair of notes, either together or one after the other....that's all.)
When you play a pair of notes the effect might be a pleasant and harmonious sound (consonance). Or, you might get an unpleasant sound (dissonance) - a sound your ears just don't want to accept...a sound that is just dying to resolve into a more pleasant sound....
play C with E (or E with C)....that's pleasant enough....consonant
But play C with Gb....oooooh.....ugly dissonance....ugly, ugly.......throw some hooves and horns on this interval and you'd swear it was my mother-in-law.
oh c'mon, it's just a joke......
What we need to do is classify all the possible intervals (there's not that many really), get used to their sounds, and get so you can locate them quickly on your fretboard.....
intervals.....
..our chords are made from intervals
...the characteristic sound that a given chord yields is determined by its constituent intervals
...the sound and flow of melodies are determined by intervals
...and...as a very practical point (not that learning how to build chords is somehow impractical)...
....we often, in practice, actually play intervals (or intervals along with a bass note) on the guitar - especially in the blues, whether electric or acoustic...and most certainly in fingerstyle music....ok, ANY form of guitar music....any time you hear pairs of notes sliding about....doesn't matter if it's Hendrix' "Voodoo" cranked to 11, Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle, Zeppelin's Since I've Been Loving You, Van Morrisons Brown Eyed Girl, the Beatles' Blackbird, a fingerstyle arrangement of something like Silent Night, or Chet Atkins' Waiting for Susie B .....constantly hear intervals in guitar music.....
The notion of intervals is going to be tied to major scales here....make sure you know how to make a major scale...go back to earlier posts if you don't...ask if you've got questions.....
....I'll try to keep this informal...we'll sort of do this out by example...it works the same exact way with each major scale...
Consider the C major scale...
C D E F G A B C
We would say that...
C to D forms an interval of a major 2nd
C to E blah blah blah major 3rd
C - F blah blah blah perfect 4th
C - G perfect 5th
C - A major 6th
C - B major 7th
C with itself is called a unison
C with the next highest C (the first C along with the last C of that C major scale) forms an interval known as an octave....
Now, a couple of things...people use, misuse, and abuse the language in all sorts of ways (I do, too...remember I'm self-taught...If someone catches me saying something that's not quite accurate, please correct me....)
People might say things like...
C to D is a major 2nd
C and D are a major2nd apart
C with D is a major 2nd
D is the major 2nd of C
etc....
also, just like with chords, the word "major" is often dropped...for example we usually say "G chord" instead of " G major chord"... same thing with intervals...we would say "D is the 2nd of C".... of course this should give you a hint that there are such things as minor intervals....
...also the word "perfect" is often dropped...
..."F is the 4th of C" and "G is the 5th of C"would be a common way of describing those intervals.....
It is very important to understand that intervals are measured in terms of the number of whole and half steps that separate the two given notes...tying intervals to major scales gives us a way of organizing this stuff in a useful way....but it's the distance between the two notes that creates the sound...don't lose that idea....
...by the way, a half step is often called a "semitone" or "semitone step", whereas whole steps are often called just "steps", or "tones" or "tone steps" or "whole-tones" or "whole-tone steps"...again, different people say different things...so much so that I'm not even sure if any particular language here is more 'correct' than any other...just gain the meaning from context..
Confirm the following from what you know about building major scales (Root, then WWHWWWH)....
a major 2nd represents a whole step (we could most simply say "one step")
a major 3rd represents 2 whole steps (or 2 tones, or just simply 2 steps)
a perfect 4th represents 2 1/2 steps (2 1/2 tones)
a perfect 5th represents 3 1/2 steps
a major 6th represents 4 1/2 steps
a major 7th represents 5 1/2 steps
an octave represents 6 steps...again, that means 6 whole-steps
I'll get back to this....
What about the other notes that aren't in the C major scale?
Again, remember that the C major scale is
C D E F G A B C
C and Db would form an interval called a minor 2nd (remember C to D was a major 2nd) - note that a major 2nd represents a distance of a whole step and a minor 2nd just represents a distance of a half step
C and Eb = a minor 3rd (C and E were a major 3rd)...play C with E, then play C with Eb...hear the difference.....a major 3rd is two whole steps... whereas a minor 3rd is just one and a half steps.....
C and Gb would be called a diminished 5th (or lowered 5th, or flatted 5th, or flat 5 - Do Not say a minor 5th)......get your guitar in tune and play C with G....it's called a "perfect" 5th because you really shouldn't hear any dissonance at all (use a perfectly tuned piano to even better hear the perfect 5th)....The diminished 5th is extremely dissonant...
C to A was a major 6th... C to Ab will be called a minor 6th
(note that Ab is the same note as G#.....Since C and G make a 5th, there will be times when we want to say C and G# form an interval of a "raised 5th", or "augmented 5th" or "sharp 5th" or "sharp 5", etc...
C to B was called a major 7th...C to Bb is called a minor 7th (or lowered 7th, or flat 7, or flattened 7th - Do Not use the term diminished 7th here, that will mean something else.)
I think we've covered all the notes.....
Now, we could do this for any major scale, regardless of the root......remember that all major scales are built the same exact way...everything always works out the same no matter which major scale we are using.....
Consider the G major scale...
G A B C D E F# G
G to A = major 2nd and
G to Ab = minor 2nd
G to B = major 3rd and
G to Bb = minor 3rd
G to C = perfect 4th (or just say 4th)
G to D = perfect 5th (or just say 5th)
G to Db = diminished 5th
G to E = major 6th
G to Eb = minor 6th
G to F# = major 7th
G to F = minor 7th or flattened 7th
G up to next G = octave
Before a quiz,,,, some more info....
we don't stop at the octave....we can keep going...
Consider the C major scale again, but don't stop at the ocave this time.....
C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C
The first D formed an interval of a major 2nd with C. The next highest note D in the scale would be called the "9th" of C (count it out)
Likewise, the first E is the major 3rd of C, the next E would be called the 10th
we can keep going ... 11ths, 12ths, 13ths, 14ths...you'll see , however, in due time, that we won't use the words "10ths, 12ths, and 14ths" in the naming of chords....in fact we never say "12ths" or "14ths" at all really ...it doesn't happen....we will though use the words "9ths, 11ths, and 13ths".....you will see things like a C9 chord, a G11 chord , an A13 chord, or a G7#5b9 chord.....but you will never see something like a B12 chord...only on your vitamins...
...we'll first learn how to make basic triads (three-note chords) and then worry about adding in 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths,
...let me just say though that we do very often play intervals of a 10th on the guitar (think Blackbird)...we'll get there...
just be aware of the fact that when you see those "funny" jazzy chords with 5's, 9's, 11's, and 13's in their names, what might look to you like awfully complicated names just results from counting through the notes of the major scale....counting is easy....
still need a quiz on the basic intervals....
A couple of quizzes, then we'll turn to playing intervals (you should be able to play through major scales with 3rds, 6ths, and 10ths as easily as you play a C chord), and finally get on to how you construct chords from a major scale.....
I'll use the guitar friendly keys here...
Remember...
C major = C D E F G A B C
G major = G A B C D E F# G
D major = D E F# G A B C# D
A major = A B C# D E F# G# A
E major = E F# G# A B C# D# E
...also remember that a major 3rd represents two whole steps and a minor 3rd just represents 1 1/2 steps...
Interval Quiz 1
What is the:
1. major 3rd of E?
2. minor 3rd of E?
3. major 3rd of D?
4. minor 3rd of D?
5. 3rd of A?
6. minor 3rd of A?
7. 3rd of G?
8. lowered 3rd (minor 3rd) of G?
9. major 3rd of C?
10. minor 3rd of C?
Note that it is 2 steps (2 whole steps) from C to E. It is 1 1/2 steps from C to Eb.
How many steps is it from:
11. D to F#?
12. D to F?
13. E to G?
14. E to G#?
15. A to C?
16. A to C#?
17. G to B?
18. G to Bb?
Major and minor 3rds are very important....
....you'll see we build chords out of thirds
....and again.....
we play 3rds, 6ths, and 10ths in guitar music a lot....
...10ths are essentially just 3rds spread out
...and you'll see that 6ths are just 3rds 'flipped' or 'inverted' (example: C to E is a major 3rd , but E to C is a minor 6th...likewise... E to G is a minor 3rd, but G to E is a major 6th).
Consider the C major scale ....
C D E F G A B C
C to D is a major 2nd and D to C is a minor 7th
C to E is a major 3rd and E to C is a minor 6th
C to F is a perfect 4th and F to C is a perfect 5th
C to G is a perfect 5th and G to C is a perfect 4th
C to A is a major 6th and A to C is a minor 3rd
C to B is a major 7th and B to C is a minor 2nd
Note how the numbers always add up to 9, notice the inverting of 'major' and 'minor', notice how a perfect interval remains perfect when inverted.....
we need a couple more quizzes on intervals...
Another interval quiz...
Interval Quiz 2
What is the:
1. fifth (perfect fifth) of A?
2. fifth of D?
3. fifth of E?
4. maj 7th of D?
5. min7th (lowered 7th, flat 7th) of D?
6. maj 7th of A?
7. min 7th of A?
8. maj 7th of E?
9. lowered 7th of E?
10. 9th of C?
11. 10th of C?
12. 9th of G?
13. 10th of G?
14. 9th of D?
15. 10th of D?
16. 9th of A?
17. 10th of A?
18. 9th of E?
19. 10th of E?
PLAYING INTERVALS
We often play 3rd's, 6ths, and 10ths on the guitar....you've got to get this stuff down cold....
We're going to learn how to 'play through a scale' with intervals...we'll do 3rds first..
Consider the C major scale again...I'm going to write out 10 notes of it here instead of just stopping at the octave...you'll see why....
C D E F G A B C D E
If you were to play this (just from C to C) on the 2nd string (remember, always count from the thinnest string when numbering the strings....) you would play the following frets...
1 3 5 6 8 10 12 13 - again that's the C major scale from C to C...now we will 'harmonize'it with 3rds....
BEWARE...a huge point of confusion can arise here....I'm going to use language that seems to connect with most folks...it's actually a bit of an abuse of language....ASK if you've got questions!
There's no confusion doing this out on the guitar in person I might add.....
...and remember....a major 3rd represents a distance of two whole steps....a minor 3rd represents a distance of just 1 1/2 steps...
WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE, the 3rd of C is E (just count 1 2 3 starting on C)...it HAPPENS to be a MAJOR 3rd
WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE, the 3rd of D is F (just count 1 2 3 through the C major scale starting on D) - it HAPPENS to be a MINOR 3rd - STOP RIGHT HERE and make sure you understand that...I'll say it again....within the C major scale we find the note D and its MINOR 3rd, the note F........keep in mind that D to F# would be a major 3rd because D and F# are separated by two whole steps...you could also reason out that D and F# represent the root and 3rd note of the D major scale to convince yourself that D and F# make the interval of a major 3rd....
...but we don't find the note F# in a C major scale...WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE we have D and its MINOR 3rd, the note F....
WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE, the 3rd of E is G (again, within the C major scale, count 1 2 3 starting on E) - it HAPPENS to be a MINOR 3rd - does that make sense? You know that G# represents the major 3rd of E, but we don't have a G# in a C major scale.....we have E and its minor 3rd, the note G, instead.
WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE, the 3rd of F is A - it HAPPENS to be a MAJOR 3rd
WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE, the 3rd of G is B - it HAPPENS to be a MAJOR 3rd
WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE, the 3rd of A is C - it HAPPENS to be a MINOR 3rd
WITHIN THE C MAJOR SCALE, the 3rd of B is D - it HAPPENS to be a MINOR 3rd
Now we're up to the octave (C again), and things just start repeating....the 3rd of this C is E also.....a major 3rd
To 'harmonize' the C major scale in 3rds just means to play each note of the scale along with it's 3rd from the scale (whether it's major or minor) - we play the scale as a sequence of pairs of notes
C with E (C and it's 3rd)
D with F
E with G
F with A
G with B
A with C
B with D
and finally C with E again......
....so on the 2nd and first string you would play the following frets ( of course you could find these notes on any pair of strings) ...get the order of the strings correct!
1 and open (1st fret on 2nd string, open on first...that's the notes C and E...
3 and 1 that's D on the 2nd string and F on the first string...
5 and 3 that's E and G
6 and 5
8 and 7
10 and 8
12 and 10
and finally 13 and 12
I'll get back to this....everything is so easily done in a minute in person...looks like a mess in print...there are no complicated ideas here......
As another example, let's harmonize the G major scale in 3rds...
If you play the G major scale, you play the notes
G A B C D E F# G...now just write it out to 10 notes...
G A B C D E F# G A B...
playing this scale harmonized in 3rds we would play the following pairs of notes...
G WITH B THEN
A WITH C THEN
B WITH D THEN
C WITH E THEN
D WITH F# THEN
E WITH G THEN
F# WITH A THEN
finally G WITH B again (an octave up from the first G with B).....
you could find these pairs of notes on any 2 strings...let's do it out on the 3rd and 2nd strings I'll list the fret numbers for the 3rd and 2nd strings....get the order of strings correct...
open on 3rd , open on 2nd (that's G and B)
2 and 1 (remember, these are fret numbers on the 3rd and 2nd strings)
4 and 3
5 and 5
7 and 7
9 and 8
11 and 10
12 and 12
Let's go back to the C major scale and again harmonize it with 3rds, but on some other pairs of strings this time (we did it on strings 2 and 1 above)...
Let's do it with the C major scale up the 5th string and the harmony (the 3rds) on the 4th string
Again, I'll give fret postions, this time for the 5th and 4th strings.
3 and 2...that's the notes C and E
5 and 3...that's the notes D and F
7 and 5 E and G
8 and 7 F and A
10 and 9 G and B
12 and 10 A and C
14 and 12 B and D
15 and 14 C and E again
For Interval Quiz 3, harmonize the C major Scale in 3rds up the 4th and 3rd strings...
I think we'll move on to harmonizing with 10ths and then 6ths.....then a big quiz in lots of different keys.....
on to intervals of a 6th and 10th...
Intervals of a 6th can be thought of as the result of flipping - or inverting - intervals of a third.....
heres thirds up the first two strings in the key of C...then we'll flip them to make sixths...
C major = C D E F G A B C or just write
C major = C D E F G A B....simplifies our counting through the scale..
C and E xxxx10 ...actually let's flip this interval of a third first so you can see what is happening here...take the 3rd of C, which is the note E found on the open first string here....and drop that E by an octave...that would give us this:
xx2x1x note that E is now our low note (we're now going to think of this as E with C as opposed to C with E)
also note that we don't have a third anymore...the interval has become 'wider'...
we had C(1) D(2) E(3) a third...and now we've got E with C which is
E(1) F(2) G(3) A(4) B(5) C(6) a 6th...
Does that make sense?
To count from C to E in the C major scale, we only count up to 3 (and we say C and E form an interval of a3rd)
But to count from E up to C in the C major scale, we have to count up to 6 (and we say E to C is a 6th)
the only thing left to do is decide if E up to C represents a major 6th or a minor 6th...
to do that, we refer back to the E major scale which is
E major = E F# G# A B C# D# E you really need to develop the ability to QUICKLY produce any given major scale (in your head, on paper, and most importantly on the fretboard)...go back to the theory posts about the major scale...
anways, the 6th note of the E major scale is C#
E to C# forms a major 6th and
E to C will be called a minor 6th...
play E with C# xx2x2x and compare to
E with C xx2x1x you should hear the minor (sad, dark) quality...
General rule.....when you flip a major interval....it becomes a minor interval...and note the number 9 as being key...
C to E is a major 3rd
and
E to C is a minor 6th
the tough part... 3+6=9
I'll finish...
I should add that when you flip a minor interval it becomes major..
onward...
we'll do thirds and then flip them to 6ths...
we did C and E flipping to E and C above
D and F xxxx31 (minor 3rd) inverts to
F and D xx3x3x (major 6th)
E and G xxxx53 (minor 3rd) inverts to
G and E xx5x5x (major 6th)
stop right there for a second
people often refer to playing with 6ths as "sliding 6ths"
note that a G chord is the notes G B D (and that a G7 is the notes G B D F)
note that a C chord is the notes C E G
strum a G chord for a couple beats and
play
xx5x5x...(part of a G chord)...then slide down to
xx3x3x...(still part of a G chord)...then slide down to
xx2x1x (part of a C chord) and then plop onto the C bass to 'finish' the C chord......
you're just using intervals to 'spread out' the chords....you hear this stuff constantly in guitar music...listen to Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle.....better yet get the TAB and try to figure out what's going on musically in the tune...the way the two guitars complement each other never gets old....
F and A xxxx65 inverts to
A and F xx7x6x
G and B xxxx87 inverts to
B and G xx9x8x
finish for a quiz
as far as 'remembering all of this'...how does anyone in any discipline acquire all their facts, knowledge, and associated stuff?....a little bit (a VERY little bit...a tiny bite...a nibble....at a time over a long period of time....
once something is in your long term memory, you don't have to try to remember it anymore...just need to periodically utilize it....
important to note the following (I think)
I've noticed that a lot of folks when trying to learn and remember their way about the fretboard (and I almost don't wan't to use the word 'remember'...it doesn't go deep enough) will practice and practice and practice (at least they think they are practicing) like crazy until the cows come home ....the cows arrive....and they're all wearing sandwich signs that say "hey doofus, yeah you, that's right, the one with the opposable thumbs instead of hooves, Mister Oh So Smart Advanced Mammal...you've been sitting there for an hour and you've yet to give your brain something to remember."
What I'm getting at is this...
Let's say you're just getting started with trying to play intervals....you'd like to get so you can play like the background electric guitar (doesn't have to be an electric) of Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl ... the guitarist just goes on an on the whole song playing little fills by sliding 6ths and playing out of triad shapes mostly...all over the neck...on and on and on...to do that type of stuff well you have got to flat out know your stuff (well).. (duh)
so anyways, you're at the beginning of your Intervallic Experience...starting in the key of C major (no sharps or flats) where it's a bit easier to think...trying to learn how to play 6ths up the neck on the 4th and 2nd strings cause some guy on the internet said you should...
you're trying to learn some intervals...you get a little spooked looking up the fretboard too far...so you wisely say to yourself...ok, I'll concentrate on 'these' (that's good)...
'these' being
E and C xx2x1x
F and D xx3x3x and
G and E xx5x5x
and then the trouble starts...
intentions are good.....but...oh my my...serious silliness is about to happen
...picture someone trying to learn how to be an auto mechanic....knows nothing about the workings of an engine - nothing at all...the person has a friend or more advanced mechanic take an engine completely apart and scatter the various (and numerous!) parts about the lawn...heck, throw all the tools about the lawn, too......
...then you watch the guy stumble and bumble around the lawn randomly picking up a part here and there...occasionally clangs and bangs two of the parts together rather unpurposefully (sp? no, wait...word?) with a stumped look on his face....starts mumbling in a David Letterman imitating a hick from the sticks voice..."Gee whiz, sure are a lotta parts here."
Now....Q? what the heck is going on here...and the answer of course is nothing....
nothing whatsoever....
certainly no progress towards being a mechanic....
...how can we change the situation...
Ever made a snowman?...you start with a little snowball and start rolling it around...it grows bigger and bigger....we want something like that when we're trying to learn the fretboard....actually we'd like something like this:
snowball at the top of hill....it starts to roll down....with every turn of the ball it itself grows larger but it also webs out and gives rise to another ball or two....they all start multiplying and growing.....voof........etc...coming down the mountain....ain't no stopping it.....someone tell all those yuppies in their SUV's up here for a ski weekend to watch out....just kidding.....gives the locals some sort of employment I guess...
anyways....let's say you want to 'know' the following intervals well enough to use (to get them engrained (sp?)...to really have them be a part of your playing...to have them effortlessly and instantly recalled...)
just writing them out again (intervals of a 6th in the key of C up the 4th and 2nd string...
E and C xx2x1x
F and D xx3x3x
G and E xx5x5x
A and F xx7x6x
B and G xx9x8x
C and A xx 10 x 10 x
D and B xx 12 x 12 x
and back to
E and C xx 14 x 13 x
Let's suppose you don't know (don't have it available for INSTANT recall) the name of a single note on your guitar...that's fine..
Get out that trusty metronome....
set it around 50 or 60 beats per minute...
play xx2x1x (the E and the C.... simultaneously...fingerstyle) and let it ring for 4 beats...
play xx3x3x (the F and the D the same way)
back and forth between those intervals....4 beats on each...over and over...4 beats and switch, 4 beats and switch...do it for 2 or 3 minutes....surely if really want to play the guitar well you've got 2 or 3 minutes..don't ask why...don't be stubborn...just do it.... no risk....get that head bobbing....Mick Jagger early 80's chicken dance sort of thing....do it with feeling....
first...10ths in the key of C up the 4th and 1st string...
then we'll get back to how people learn... I was thinking 'a child's first experience with a sandbox' type of thing....
check your note names (and fret numbers) and try to see why we might call these 10ths instead of thirds...ask
E and G xx2xx3 that's a 10th
E F G A B C D E F G
E and G xx20xx would be a third
E F G
the rest of the 10ths in the key of C....(could do this on other pairs of strings...)
F and A xx3xx5
note that
F and A like this xx32xx would be a 3rd
G and B xx5xx7
A and C xx7xx8
B and D xx 9 xx 10
C and E xx 10 xx 12
D and F xx 12 xx 13 or
Dand F xx0xx1
start with just those intervals ..
E with C xx2x1x
F with D xx3x3x
to 'experience' them....just play 4 beats on each over and over and over and over back and forth......make sure you consistently finger them, use a particular fingering for E with C, use a paricular fingering for F with D....don't rush this.......
give it a few minutes...
keep the same rhythm
I'd start saying "e" when playing the first interval, start saying "f" when playing the 2nd interval...
remember, you're just playing whole notes (4 beats) at this point....let's move to half-notes (2 beats)
hold the first interval, but don't play them as a pair...play E and let it ring 2 beats, pluck the C (and let E keep ringing) for beats 3 and 4, then do the same up on the F and the D
I'd say out loud "E with C" say the E when you play it...say the C when you play it...throw in the 'with' a half-beat before the C....everything with rhythm....
I found students would very quickly stop saying things like "here", "there", and would stop doing things like pointing around the fretboard......they'd start speaking musically, they'd refer to the note names,
they'd stop saying things like "this", and would start saying something more specific such as "this interval" or "this 6th"
one thing at a time...give your brain a fair chance and it will do fine..
now maybe go back to those intervals as whole notes, but practice switching them a half beat early....very very very different feel....
too much on the beat is too much like Bert....
loosen up....be a little more like Grover and Cookie Monster.....
now what do we know (what have we learned), what can we do, and where can we go....
gimmme cookie.....
you work on the what's...ask if you can't come up with anything.....
let's keep working at these intervals....
melody, harmony, and rhythm.....melody, harmony, and rhythm...there isn't anything else....even if you're working on something technique-oriented, you're just tyring to better bring out the melody, harmony, and rhythm of the music...anyways...
we get good at doing something simple...make it effortless - such as playing those intervals as described above (I'm using a swing as opposed to a straight rhythm)....
....make things one simple step more complicated (trivially easy to do if you master things as you move along)
go back to playing 4 beats on each interval....swing rhythm...and switching a half-beat early (that means you're counting
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
and you're making you're switches on the & of 4.
make it one step more complicated by just doing something simple like a percussive muted slap on the strings on the count of 4 (still make the switch on the & of 4....slowly, slowly, slowly....use the metronome....remember...loose like Grover.....elbows all over the place and throw that head back.......by the way - one of the what's that should be happening is that at the very least you should start knowing where E and F are on the 4th string of you're guitar....don't think "so what"...there are only 12 notes to keep track of... those 2 notes represents a good-sized chunk...trust me....
do the slap thing for a minute or two.....then just go back to no slap for a minute or so,
now go back to doing the switches on the beat.....are you learning the notes on the 2nd string too, yet? Are you learning them without really trying?
we're only a couple minutes into this...ok? Not a massive investment of time....
now we've got a choice....are we going to start expanding our rhythmic horizons next....or are we perhaps going to start moving up the fretboard (new melody and harmony awaits up there)....
I don't think it matters...in a lesson we'd bop back and forth....that brings up an important point...we'll get to it...bopping about is fine as long as you are mastering and then making connections to what is already understood....
Stay with rhythm for a moment....
play so you are playing on beats 1 and 4 and making the switches on the beat of 1...you're still just 4 beats on each...I guess this is why people start using musical notation instead of written language....anyways...
now change up the rhythm to something one step more complicated...
4 beats on each still, but play on beats 1 and 4 and make the switches on the & of 4....
anyways, we've snuck in the feel of whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and 8th notes at this point....and you should without a doubt see E and C and F with D 'lighting up' on the fretboard....
let's just change ONE thing...we'll be 100% sure we ONLY use some of the rhythms we've used above and we'll start to incorporate sliding up to
xx5x5x a beat or half beat before sliding down to
our old lovable furry blue friend Grover...I mean our old friend F with D
xx3x3x
we shouldn't have any problems with the rhythm....we've already mastered that..
we shouldn't have any problems with learing the names of the notes in the new interval
xx5x5x
(it really should be trivial)
SO LONG AS WE HAVE TRULY COMMITTED THE NAMES OF THE NOTES IN THE OTHER INTERVALS TO MEMORY.....now if you haven't....you're head's gonna start getting overloaded...so don't do it...who gives a duck's duff if it takes another day to learn the first two intervals...who the heck cares....plowing along when you're not ready to won't work, so don't do it....make this easy...go back, stay with the same notes, and funk up the rhythm (more with 8ths and introduce triplets) if you aren't getting the note names learned....that's fine....that's wonderful....give a Grover yell...arms out....don't worry about the aging mid-section....Grover needs to do some crunches....
you should only be a few minutes into this process...the typing takes forever...but honestly, focused and specific practice should really not take tons of time (unless you're doing tons of relevant stuff, of course)
where were we...
getting back to this learning, knowing, memorizing, engraining, whatever...
metronome ticking slowly...again...around 60?
you're just 4 beats on E with C, then 4 beats on F with D, over and over, oao, oao, oao, oao..........changing up the rhythm (just a bit) here and there.....
hopefully, if your patient, and you're not overwhelming yourself you're flat out learning
- 1 a few of the note names...well enough that you don't have to try to remember them anymore...do you have to try to remember your wife's name if you see her standing with 11 other women? Would it severely limit your ability to interact with her if you were saying things like....ummm Victoria, wait, no, you're umm...ummma...let me see, wait, really, I know this,... you're Leeann,...wait no, that's not it,,,,wait, just give me a second...wait wait wait........ummmm Alexandra?
Slap.
Ouch.
Of course...people do that on the fretboard....wait....that's C with E, no that's E with C, that's F and B? No? F with D? D with F? A 6th? Really?...major 6th...no...wait, minor 6th?...something like that....
give your brain one thing to remember...it will easily absorb it - no doubt...it will want to connect it to something it already knows - no doubt....it will get hungry for more - no doubt
play just those intervals over and over...once your brain knows where the E and F are on the 4th string....it WANTS to know where the G is on the 4th string...it's not overload.....you learned your ABC's a long time ago....your brain doesn't want E and F in isolation....it wants to connect them with G....but not if it's struggling to remember where the heck E and F are...
- take the time to let your head absorb a couple note names...
- take the time to let your head absorb the fingerings
- take the time to let your head absorb the rhythm
- take your time to let your head absorb the sound of something non-C-major chordish (F with D) resolving to something very C-major chordish (E with C)
- take your time to let your head absorb the name of the type of interval you are playing...
etc....
in a couple minutes your brain should have learned a bunch of new things and you're ready to move on....
This is for Interval Quiz 1...there will be a couple more....
1. G#
2. G
3. F#
4. F
5. C#
6. C
7. B
8. Bb
9. E
10. Eb
11. 2
12. 1 1/2
13. 1 1/2
14. 2
15. 1 1/2
16. 2
17. 2
18. 1 1/2
Interval Quiz 2 Answers...make sure you're looking at the answer key you think you are!......
1. E
2. A
3. B
4. C#
5. C
6. G#
7. G
8. D#
9. D
10. D
11. E
12. A
13. B
14. E
15. F#
16. B
17. C#
18. F#
19. G#
This is the answer key for Interval Quiz 3. You were asked to harmonize the C major scale up the 4th and 3rd strings.....
Remember ....
C major scale =
C D E F G A B C D E etc....
On strings 4 and 3 you should play the following frets:
10 and 9 that's C and E
12 and 10 that's D and F
2 and open that's E and G....and yes we could have done 14 and 12 and kept going up....we'll end up getting out of the practical range, though
3 and 2 that's F and A
5 and 4 that's G and B
7 and 5 that's A and C
9 and 7 that's B and D
and we're back to
10 and 9 that's C and E again....
important stuff....