Music Intervals | Music Theory for Guitarists

I want to do a quick introduction to some useful music theory in this beginner guitar lesson. Basically, a music interval refers to the distance between 2 notes. Many students have asked me why they should study music intervals.

My answer is simple: Because music intervals are the building blocks of harmony. Without some basic prior knowledge of music intervals, you would find guitar scales, guitar chords, music progressions and etc… very difficult to comprehend.

Some additional stuff: There are 2 types of music intervals namely harmonic and melodic. Melodic intervals refer to playing the 2 notes of the interval separately. On the other hand, harmonic intervals refer to playing the 2 notes at the same time.

In order to name intervals, the lower note is always taken as the reference and counting the distance to the higher note (in terms of semi tones). Let’s say we are given 2 notes, C & D, the lower note ( C ) is always taken as reference.

I have summarized all the music intervals into a table using C as the lower note.

Number of semitones apart	Music interval	Notes
1	Minor 2nd	C - C#
2	Major 2nd	C - D
3	Minor 3rd	C - D#
4	Major 3rd	C - E
5	Perfect 4th	C - F
6	Augmented 4th / Diminished 5th	C - F#
7	Perfect 5th	C - G
8	Minor 6th	C - G#
9	Major 6th	C - A
10	Minor 7th	C - A#
11	Major 7th	C - B
12	Octave	C - C

To keep things simple, let’s use the C major scale to help reinforce some concepts.

Music Intervals music theory beginner guitar lesson

On the guitar, C-D are 2 semi tones apart ( 2 frets apart ). Hence, the interval between C-D is a major 2nd.

On the guitar, C-G are 7 semitones apart ( 7 frets apart ). Hence, the interval between C-G is a perfect 5th.

Key pointers

A major interval lowered by half a semitone – Minor interval

A major interval raised by half a semitone – Augmented interval

A minor interval lowered by half a semitone – Diminished interval

A minor interval raised by half a semitone – Major interval

A perfect interval lowered by half a semitone – Diminished interval

A perfect interval raised by half a semitone – Augmented interval

Most beginners have some trouble with naming intervals due to enharmonic nomenclatures. This is because the same note pitch can be named differently.

For example, a Major 3rd interval can also be represented by a Diminished 4th interval (even though both refer to the same pitch!) depending on the context of the song and key signatures. You don’t have to worry too much about these music jargons as a beginner. To recap this beginner guitar lesson, I had shown you how the most common intervals that are named. If you can understand the table on naming intervals, then you would be fine.

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Music Intervals - Theory for Guitarists