Lesson 1: Intervals 101 on Guitar
10Check out Bas Rutten's Liver Shot on MMA Surge: http://bit.ly/MMASurgeEp1
Lesson 1: Intervals
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This may be a reminder for those of you who took Mahalo's Beginner Guitar Course, or this may all be new to you. Either way, this lesson is absolutely vital for the continuing education of any guitarist. Ben will guide you through the basics of musical intervals and show you why they are so important. Enjoy!
Interval Breakdown
---------------------------------------------------------------------
An interval is the measured distance between two notes. This distance is measured by scale degrees, semitones, or half steps and whole steps.1. Half steps and whole steps:
* 1
half step (smallest unit of measurement between two notes) = 1 semitone = a minor second scale degree = 1 fret* 1
whole step = 2 half steps = 1 wholetone = a major second scale degree = 2 frets
2. Semitones:
* A semitone is the same exact unit of measurement as a half step (1 fret)
3. Scale degrees:
* Scale degrees are notes that are numbered depending on which key you are in. For instance, a whole step up from C would be D, or the major 2nd scale degree in the key of C major since D is the 2nd note in the C major scale. We will get more involved with scale degrees in the second half of this course.
Whole Steps and Half Steps
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Half Steps: The guitar neck is separated by frets into 12 semitones or half steps that repeat. Each fret is one half step. This is why the 12 fret of any string is the same notes as that open string, an octave higher. Every 12 consecutive frets starts the semitone cycle all over again an octave higher.Whole Steps: Whole steps are equal to two half steps, or two frets. Another way of saying it would be two semitones make up a whole tone or whole step. A good way to visualize this on the guitar neck is to play a note on any fret, then skip a fret and play the next one up for the whole step.
Read more by visiting our page at:
http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-play-half-step-and-whole-step-intervals-on-guitar/