Music Theory for Bass Guitar - Intervals Part 1

[0:07]Hi again, Mark here from TalkingBass.net. This lesson I'll be covering one of the most basic parts of music theory and bass playing: the topic of intervals and the major scale. So, what are intervals? Well, an interval is a measurement or unit of musical distance, just as meters, centimeters, miles, feet, yards, and inches are all measures of physical distance. The smallest unit we use in general Western music is the semitone, and that's really easy to see on a bass guitar neck because it's just one fret's worth of distance. So, if we're on a C, third fret on the A string, and we move up one fret to a C-sharp, that's one semitone of distance. So, C to C-sharp is a semitone. If we want to move up a tone, that's two semitones of distance, that'll be two frets of distance, so C to D, that's a tone. We can move up and down these too, so C down to B, a fret, that's a semitone. C down to B flat, that's a tone, and so on. And it doesn't matter where you play these or what note, the principle still applies. So D to a D-sharp is a semitone. D to E is a tone. G-sharp to A is a semitone. G-sharp to A-sharp is a tone and so on. Now, tones and semitones are great for describing and measuring small units of distance. But to describe something much larger, like let's say a G up to a high B flat, would become much, much more difficult in terms of tones and semitones. We'd be looking at 20 or more semitones of distance. And it's much harder to measure and keep track of. You wouldn't use centimeters or inches to measure a large physical distance. You'd be more likely to use miles or kilometers. So we need another set of terms to describe these larger musical distances and that's where the major scale comes in. Major scales are built up from a formula of tones and semitones and that formula is tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. So two tones and a semitone, and then three tones and a semitone. That might sound a little confusing, but it'll make more sense when you see it on the neck. So, if we take a C at the third fret on the A string, and then move up a tone to the D, then up a tone to the E, then up a semitone to the F, that's the first part. Tone, tone, semitone. And then we continue up to the G, up a tone, up another tone to the A, up another tone to the B, and then finally, up a semitone to the C. That's the whole formula, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. So that gives us all these notes, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. And that's the C major scale. Now, it's all well and good knowing the scale on one string, but to be of more use to us, we really need to learn these notes across the strings. So, if we start on the C, third fret on the A string with the second finger, and work across, we end up with the C. Then D, fifth fret on the A string with the fourth finger. E, second fret on the D string with the first finger. F, third fret on the D string with the second finger. G, fifth fret on the D string with the fourth finger. A, second fret on the G string with the first finger. B, fourth fret on the G string with the third finger. And finally, C, fifth fret on the G string with the fourth finger. And that's the major scale pattern.

[3:46]You want to learn it both up and down, and make sure you memorize the pattern really well because this is going to be used over and over and over again while you're playing. Now, the good thing about a bass or a guitar or any fretted instrument is that these fingering patterns that we're learning are actually movable. Now, this is a bit of a shortcut and other instrumentalists might find this a little bit of a cheat, in that you don't have to learn the individual notes for a particular scale. On a piano, for instance, you'd have to learn each scale by its palette of pitch names and its combination of white and black keys or accidentals. So you'd have to know that, uh, there's, for instance, there's an F sharp in a G major scale, etc. On a guitar or a bass, you don't really need to do that. Of course, you're going to need to learn all that stuff eventually anyway. But to begin with, you can just to just to help with the learning process, it's worth learning these patterns. So, if we look at the fingering pattern that we've used for this major scale, and have a look at how we've assigned a certain finger for each fret, we'll find that the first finger is taking the second fret. Second finger is taking the third fret. Third finger is taking the fourth fret, and the fourth finger is taking the fifth fret on each string. Now, if we take that fingering pattern, and we just move it up a tone, so that the second finger is now on the D, and then we move that exact same fingering pattern that we used for the C major of second finger, fourth finger, first finger, second finger, fourth finger, first finger, third finger, fourth finger. That's the D major scale. You can move it wherever you want to start. So let's start on a G. That's the G major scale. Start on an A, that's the A major scale. C-sharp, C-sharp major scale. G-sharp, G-sharp major scale. Wherever you want to play it, that pattern and combination of tones and semitones is a major scale. So, practice that around the neck starting on different notes, and then you'll be ready to move on to the intervals that are within the major scale. So to learn these intervals, first we need to number the notes of the major scale. So, if we use the same C major scale as an example, and we number the notes, we get the following. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and we're back to the octave and can repeat the pattern again. These numbers are actually referred to as scale degrees, so we can use them to describe melodies and baselines with reference to which notes of the scale or key are being used. So, if we go through them again, C is the first degree of the C major scale. It's also called the tonic or root note, because it's the home and starting note that we use to label the scale. D, the second degree, E, third, F is the fourth degree, G is the fifth degree, A is the sixth degree, B is the seventh degree, and C is back to the tonic. So you can see that the major scale is actually classed as a seven note scale, even though when we play it up and down, there seem to be eight notes because we include the octave when we get to the top. So, these scale degrees are the basis for naming and describing musical intervals. And there's a difference between scale degrees and intervals and that'll become more apparent once we've covered the actual interval names. But for now, just go with it. So, the intervals within a major scale use the same numbering system, but we add an extra name to them. Uh, and that can be more simply described as the first, the fourth, and the fifth are all perfect, and all the others are major in a major scale. So, the first is actually referred to as the unison, which sounds a little bit weird as we're only playing one note at a time. Uh, but that just comes from the fact that the study of harmony generally deals with polyphonic music. So, if we play the major scale again with all the interval names, we end up with the following. Perfect unison, major second, major third, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, major sixth, major seventh, and the perfect octave. Now we know the intervals within the major scale, we can start to look at them away from a specific scale or key, and more as a measuring stick for any distance anywhere on the neck at any time. Now, to do this, we need to learn them all as separate individual patterns. And when you do this, you'll start seeing how everything that we play on bass is made up of combinations of these patterns. Uh, this approach to viewing all the music that you play will have a profound effect on the speed at which you learn, and it'll form the basis for pretty much everything that you'll learn from basic baselines to advanced music theory. And I really can't overstate the usefulness and importance of knowing and recognizing these intervals all the time. So, a straightforward exercise that we can use to go about memorizing these intervals is to simply take a certain interval and just play it on every fret from a C up to the 12th fret and back again. So, let's take the major third as an example. If we play a major third pattern on the C, at the third fret on the A string, we have the C and then we've got the E on the second fret on the D string. And you'll be able to see that this pattern's like a little diagonal pattern that moves up a up a string and down a fret. And if we take that pattern up a semitone at a time, to the 12th fret, back down. That's the exercise and we can apply that to all the other intervals. So, if we take major second, perfect fourth, perfect fifth, major sixth, major seventh, etc. As you do this, the individual look of each interval will start to stand out a little more, and you'll begin to get used to how they're both different and similar to each other. Uh, for instance, the major third looks a little bit like a major sixth, because they're both drop down a fret, just on different strings. Uh, the perfect fifth and the octave are similar in that exact same way. Same fret, different string. The major seventh, that stands out because it's a little bit different to all the others, in just moving up a a fret. The perfect fourth, that's got its own look of barring across the two strings. And each interval needs to be seen to have its own characteristic look and sound. You want to listen to the sound of each interval, and I'll be covering this oral recognition of the intervals in another lesson. But for now, just try to accept the sounds you hear from each interval and, uh, try to hear them before you play them. Uh, the major second sounds like the start of a major scale, because it is. Uh, the perfect fifth is used in thousands of baselines and that's probably the most useful interval that you'll that you'll learn, aside from the octave and the unison. And but for now, you just need to concentrate and getting these interval patterns under your fingers and don't worry about doing too much too soon. Uh, just try to recognize that there's a difference to the sound of each of the intervals as you start playing them and just pay attention to it. Now if we get back to the measuring side of intervals, as we did with semitones and tones at the beginning of the lesson, uh, we can start to see how these new interval labels can help in describing larger, uh, distances. So, if we take a G on the E string, the third fret, and we want to measure a perfect fifth from it, we just use the perfect fifth interval that we've learned and we can see that a perfect fifth from G is D. So D is a perfect fifth from G. Okay? And now if we take a D on the A string, and we see some pattern involving a C-sharp above it, we now know from the intervals that we've learned that that's a major seventh pattern and that C-sharp is a major seventh from D. Okay? As you learn these interval patterns by heart, you should start to see these patterns automatically, and it shouldn't be a process of figuring them out at all. Uh, all the melodies and baselines that you'll play will start to appear to you as combinations of these intervals, which in turn can be really helpful in learning and memorizing things. It's much easier to learn something when you know that it's just a succession of building blocks that you've already learned, as opposed to a long string of unrelated notes. That can turn into like a memory feet, just like learning pi to 200 decimal places. Now one last thing before I finish this first discussion on intervals, and that's the difference between a melodic and a harmonic interval. Uh, this is a really simple concept, so don't worry. A melodic interval is an interval played one note at a time, just as we've been doing throughout the lesson. So, a harmonic interval is an interval where both notes are played at the same time, like a chord. When you think of, uh, harmonic, it conjures up images of, you know, harmonics, or overtones of a string. That's not what this means. It's simply the two notes of an interval played together in harmony. So, if we take G to a D there, a perfect fifth, played together, it's a harmonic interval. Played separately, it's a melodic interval. Okay? So that's the intervals within the major scale. Uh, stay tuned for my next video lesson when I'll be covering all the other intervals, uh, we're using music. That's the minor intervals, the augmented and diminished intervals, and I'll be clearing up a few theory terms that might confuse you that relate to this discussion of intervals. Okay, please like this video, and, uh, remember to check out the comments below for a downloadable PDF containing all the information that we've covered in this lesson. Um, also, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Uh, I'll be releasing new video lessons every week and, uh, you'll get updates informing of all the new stuff. Uh, check out, uh, the website, www.talkingbass.net, where you can get all the lessons, downloadable content and my regular blog articles that cover loads more bass related stuff. Okay? See you later.