Intervals

Intervals: Are the incremental building blocks from which melodies are constructed.An interval is also the distance between two notes. The smallest interval in Western music is the half step (the distance from one fret to another on guitar). All intervals can be measured by the amount of half steps they contain, but the most common way to identify intervals is to refer to them by their proper names. The names of intervals are bases on the scale steps of the major scale. 

**Here is an example of the intervals of the C Major Scale:

 

Written on the staff are two octaves of the C major scale, with the scale steps written above. The brackets below the staff measure the distance between the tonic and the other notes of the scale. Intervals within the first octave of the scale are called simple intervals. Notice that the name of these intervals directly correspond to the scale steps. For instance, the distance between the tonic and the second scale step is called a major 2nd; the distance between the tonic and the third step is called a major 3rd ect. Once the octave is reached, higher number take over. These "beyond the octave" intervals are called compound intervals. In all cases, the number (2nd, 5th, 7th, ect.) describes the interval quantity (number of scale steps); and the adjective (major, minor, perfect, ect.) describes the interval quality (number of half steps).

Slayer Does Not Need Music Theory To Sound Cool!!

The more I read interviews and articles by some of my favorite musicians the more I noticed how many of them were never classically trained, had lessons from a guitar guru or even bothered picking up a scale book. Take Kerry King from the band Slayer for example.This guy can practically break the sound barrier with his face-melting guitar solos and can write brutal riffs that would whip any audience into a frenzy. But he doesn't know shit about music theory!! He just knows what he likes and what he thinks his fans will like. Slayer has been around for almost 30 years so they must have found a "formula" that works. The article below goes a bit more in depth as to Kerry King's thoughts on music theory and also has some advice on economical fingering techniques. 

**CLICK ON ARTICLE TO ENLARGE**

SPRING BREAK!!

The end of the first portion of the quarter has arrived. I will now be taking the next 10 days off to spend time outside and in the sun. See you for part two of my project very soon!

The Internet Is The Coolest Thing EVER!!!

The more I listen to music and play the guitar the more I have noticed that ear training is a skill I want to get better at. When  I hear a particular piece of music I always seem to be curious about what key the song is in or what chords are being used and in what tuning. I know that listening is useful tool when it comes to learning music. Sometimes you have to stop making your own sound and listen to the sounds coming from the outside world. 

While looking around on the internet I found two really cool tools that I will be able to use for a long time. I found a virtual guitar and a virtual bass. They are completely interactive. By using these websites I can learn each individual note on both the guitar and the bass by sound alone. The sites also have the fretboard marked so I can learn to associate what sound goes with which note and where to find that note on the fretboard. This is probably one of the most useful things I have found during the course of this project. I have provided the links below. Very Cool!

**CLICK HERE FOR VIRTUAL GUITAR**

**CLICK HERE FOR VIRTUAL BASS**

Sharps, Flats, Accidentals Lesson

The black keys on a piano are named after their nearest white-key neighbor with a corresponding sharp or flat. For example, the black key between C and D is either C-sharp or D-flat. As a general rule the black keys are sharp if the music is ascending (moving up), such as from C to C-sharp. If it is descending (moving down), we call the black key a flat, such as moving down from D to D-flat.

Half Step: Moving from one pitch to the next pitch (up or down) is a half-step.

Think of the chromatic scale as a ladder. (The Latin origin of “scale” means “ladder.”) When you climb a ladder, you usually go one step at a time. It makes sense, then, to think that when you move from one pitch to the next up or down the chromatic scale, you are moving by step, which is true, but there’s a quirk:

Each step up or down the chromatic scale is a a half-step. 

On the piano, it doesn’t matter whether the key is white or black; moving from one key to the next is a half-step. For example, when you move from C to C-sharp you are moving up a half-step; C-sharp to D is up a half-step. D to D-flat is down a half-step, and so on. There are no black keys between B and C, and E and F. Because they are next to each other, B to C is a half-step, and E to F is a half-step. This diagram shows some examples of half-steps:

 

Whole Step: Two half-steps equal one whole-step.

It takes two pitches to equal a whole step. To move up or down a whole-step on the piano, you have to skip a key. Again, it doesn’t matter whether the key is black or white. Let’s say you’re starting on B and you want to move up a whole step. You skip the C and go to the next key, C-sharp.

 

Accidentals: Sharps and flats in music notation are called accidentals. They indicate that the notated pitch should be raised or lowered a half-step.

 Here are some things to know about accidentals:

• The accidental always goes before the note that it’s changing
• The accidental always goes on the same line or space of the note that it is changing.
• The accidental only affects the note at the octave where it is indicated. For example, the D-sharp above raises D4 a half-step. If there were a D5 in that same measure (before the vertical line through the staff), the D5 would not be a D-sharp.
• The accidental lasts for the entire measure (until the vertical line through the staff). If there were more than one D4 in the example after the accidental, they would all be D-sharps.
• An accidental may be canceled at any time with the natural symbol (see table below).

Sharps and flats aren’t the only accidentals. The table below shows the most common accidentals used in music notation:

Notes: Music Element #2: A Lesson by Victor Wooten

"When most teachers talk about music theory, which element are they usually talking about?"

I thought for a few seconds, "Well, 'notes,' I guess."

"Good. What else?"

I tried but I couldn't think of anything else.

"Notes," I repeated.

"That's right," he laughed. "Notes, pitches, and that's it!" All the fuss about learning music theory, and now we see that most teachers only teach you how to use one tenth of the elements in music. Their music theory only teaches you to use notes, and it's only a theory! That's it! Nothing else! It doesn't teach you about dynamics, feel, tone, or anything else on the list, only notes. It should be called note theory, not music theory, because it doesn't teach you Music."

"You can't speak Music with notes alone, but you can speak Music without notes at all! I can program a computer to play notes, and it won't sound like Music! You need these other elements to make it complete! Without them, notes are lifeless!! Music theory is shallow! Incomplete! It does not deserve all the attention it gets! But at the same time, notes are important!"

"Most musicians think that Music is made up of notes. They forget that notes are just a part of Music, and a small part at that. If you stopped playing them, Music would still exist. Think about that! The reason many musicians get frustrated when they start to play, especially when they start to solo, is that they rely mostly on notes to express themselves. There are only twelve notes. Imagine trying to speak a whole language using only twelve words."

"Many musicians are afraid of those two notes. If they hit the 'wrong' one, they get scared and quickly leave that notes in search of the 'right' one. That's what you were doing when you trying to find the key. If you make friends with whichever note you happened to land on, it will give you directions to where you are trying to go."

"There are how many notes in Western Music?"

"Twelve," I answered.

"How many notes are there in most of the key signatures we play in?"

"Seven," I replied.

"Correct. In any key, there are seven so-called 'right' notes which leave only five so-called 'wrong' notes. What this means is even if we don't know what key we are in and guess which note to play, we will be 'right' more than half the time!"

"You are never more than half-step away from a 'right' note. Never! So, what are you so afraid of? You can't be lost. If you land on a 'wrong' note, just step off of it in either direction, and you are 'right' again. 'I once was lost, but now am found.' The real beauty is this: If you use your ears to listen to that accidental note, you may find that it actually sounds better than the 'right' note you intended to play."

LESSON: If You Stopped Playing Notes, Music Would Still Exist!

The Pain Of Progress

It seems the more I get excited about playing guitar the faster I fatigue and cramp up. I want to play faster but I want to also have control and consistency. Having hurt my wrist earlier in this project I have injured it further from playing guitar. So, today I looked around on the internet to see if there was anything I could do to reduce the pain from playing guitar or avoid it all together. I found some very helpful video tutorials that have great advice for guitarists.

Here is an old Guitar World article by the guitarist of Metallica that had some useful advice when it came to taking care of your hands. **CLICK ON THE ARTICLE PICTURE TO ENLARGE**

**While looking for information I found this video first. It is done by a guitarist named John Petrucci who is a professional guitarist for a band called Dream Theater. The video had some very practical information that I will try to incorporate into my routine.**

**This video also proved to be very helpful. I will definitely use some of these techniques from now on!!

**This is a video from a classical guitar instructor. With a wider neck on his guitar, the need for him to be able to stretch his fingers across as many frets as possible is essential.