Are intervals important for the scale you choose to use?

[matthy]

First of all, thanks for the great support

I youtubed some guitar lessons the other day, and there was a guy speaking about intervals. Intervals are the distance from note to note... I think ( not sure).

You have all kinds of intervalls like Perfect 4th and stuff like that. But how come its a Perfect 4th and not another interval?

I was thinking why some solos doesn't sound good with the major pentatonic scale, but sounds great with the natural minor. It was a metal progression. When i played the same proggression in blues style, the natural minor didn't sound that great, but the major did. How come?:O

And if you know your interval from a specific chord progression. Are there some particular scales which fits that specific interval?

thanks in advance

cheers,

Matthy

[Ogg Vorbis]

Yeah, intervals are the distance (in scale steps) between notes. So a perfect fourth is an interval that is four scale steps away from each other (in the major or minor scale).

Sometimes a major pent. scale won't sound good because the chord progression doesn't support a major scale, but a minor one.

For instance, if you have the chords E-G-A-D and you look at the first chord and say, "Oh! It's an E chord! I guess I'll solo with an E Pent.!" Well, the G chord comes along and it sounds bad because your E Pent scale has a G# in it. G natural and G# don't sound good together.

So you have to look at the whole progression as a unit and not just the first chord. That's particularly true if the chords go by pretty fast. In some cases you'd have to pretend that the chord names are simply note names. So E-G-A-D would work better with a MINOR PENT scale in your solo because it has a G natural in it.

You'll have to rely on your ear until you get some understanding of pop theory under your belt. But if you can, get a teacher to show you the fingerings for all the major and minor scales and all arpeggios in four or five octaves up and down.

That's the fastest way to get chicks because you'll be shredding better sooner.

[matthy]

Thanx for your reply, but I dont understand one thing.

If you have a chord progression like E-G-A-D.. may you talk of an interval between E-G, Is it a major 2nd?

If it is, can you diffirentiate from the fact that it is a major 2nd, that the E Minor Pentatonic sounds good, and the E Majorpentatonic sounds crap..

These are my thoughts, I'm not sure if chords progressions have intervals, if so it seems to me it is nothing but logical...

Thanks in advance,


Matthy

[pedrorf]

Thanx for your reply, but I dont understand one thing.

If you have a chord progression like E-G-A-D.. may you talk of an interval between E-G, Is it a major 2nd?

Nope. It's a minor third. E-G is a three semitones interval, which is usually a minor third. You may wish to read the wikipedia page on music intervals to learn why.

Also, the progression you speak of, E-G-A-D, assuming you're playing major chords all over*, is outside of any major or minor tonality**, and it will sound a bit weird. Didn't you mean perhaps Emin-G-A-D? That would work in D major.




* Which is what an upper case letter usually means.
** But I just woke up, so I may have missed something.

[Ogg Vorbis]

Also, the progression you speak of, E-G-A-D, assuming you're playing major chords all over*, is outside of any major or minor tonality**, and it will sound a bit weird. Didn't you mean perhaps Emin-G-A-D? That would work in D major.

It would be a perfectly good progression in metal. Try it out, it ain't too far from Iron Man, et al.

But yeah, they're major chords. Just curious...how are changes notated where you are with major chords? Do you write Emaj Gmaj Amaj, etc?

[pedrorf]

Also, the progression you speak of, E-G-A-D, assuming you're playing major chords all over*, is outside of any major or minor tonality**, and it will sound a bit weird. Didn't you mean perhaps Emin-G-A-D? That would work in D major.

It would be a perfectly good progression in metal. Try it out, it ain't too far from Iron Man, et al.

I'm not familiar with metal, so I'll take your word for it. I guess most times metal rhythm guitars are playing bare 5ths, anyway, so they don't really differentiate between major and minor chords. But I'm only guessing.

But yeah, they're major chords. Just curious...how are changes notated where you are with major chords? Do you write Emaj Gmaj Amaj, etc?

For major chords you can use just an upper case letter, like you did before. For minors, add "m", or "min". So C = C major, Am = A minor.

[matthy]

It is indeed a metal progression, with powerchords.. That means I have only the root note and the 5th note in my chord, and evenually an octave of the 5th..

Im sorry, I am not good at intervals, but my question is:

Are there cetain interval in which some scales souns the best?

[VicDiesel]

Are there cetain interval in which some scales souns the best?

Yes. The augmented octave.

Seriously. Your question doesn't make any sense.

Victor.

[stringtapper]

Yes. The augmented octave.

Which is not nearly as cool as the diminished unison...

[Melkor]

Are there cetain interval in which some scales souns the best?

Yes. The augmented octave.

Seriously. Your question doesn't make any sense.

Victor.

The augmented octave would give a b9, which i must say is THE coolest interval in western equal temp.

... And the diminished unison would give a M7, which is still a pretty damn cool interval. :p

However, the OP's question about intervals/scales still makes no sense.

[stringtapper]

[
... And the diminished unison would give a M7, which is still a pretty damn cool interval. :p

Hehe, think about that one a little longer. A diminished unison does not equal a M7.

Hint: it's a trick question.

[sjm]

Your post title kinda suggests you may have the wrong end of the stick - intervals define the scale you are using, not vice versa.

e.g. TTSTTTS = major scale

In simplistic terms, it's the intervals between notes in the scale that give the different scales their own flavours.

Metal *tends* to use "chords" that are generally just 5ths.