Mastering Intervals for Jazz Guitar
At some point as your guitar skills improve, you get interested in music theory. And one of the most basic pieces of information you can find is intervals on the guitar.
It’s natural to want to dive into the nuts and bolts of how our musical tools are put together… and in most cases, intervals are those nuts and bolts.
Intervals are the building blocks of music. Everything you play uses intervals – scales, chords, and arpeggios can all be broken down into their basic intervals.
Now, this can get complicated pretty quickly – especially with the usual music theory explanations you’ll find out there. Today I’m going to show you a simpler approach you can put to work right away.
Understanding intervals makes you better – they help you to “see” how to build scales, licks, and chords… right on your fretboard. They’ll even help you learn songs by ear faster.
In this lesson, I’m going to show you how to get a handle on intervals right on your fretboard.
And the best part is you don’t need to do anything special. We’ll get a complete study of our basic intervals by using a simple pattern you probably already know – the Major Scale.
Understanding Intervals on Your Guitar
Intervals are the distances between two notes. They can be either melodic (played one-at-a-time) or harmonic (played at the same time).
Traditionally, intervals are taught in music theory classes or books using a piano keyboard, and written musical notation.
Now while I understand the need for written music (especially at higher levels), the keyboard thing always bugged me.
What is simple and obvious on a piano keyboard isn’t always so easy to translate to the guitar fretboard.
So we’ll be looking at intervals right where we use them… on the guitar.
The Major Scale as a Foundation
We’ll use the major scale as our template for studying intervals. I’m going to do this for 2 reasons:
- You probably know it already (if not, click here for a detailed guide)
- It contains most of the intervals you need anyway
The major scale has 7 steps, and our musical system has 12 intervals. So by learning the intervals in the major scale, you’re more than halfway there.
Plus you need the major scale for jazz guitar all the time anyway. So this is a win-win.
You can (and should) do these exercises with any shape of the major scale below:
For the purposes of this lesson though, I’ll be focusing on the 6th string form:
Want a downloadable copy of your major scales? Check out my “Quick and Dirty” guide to Essential Major Scales for Jazz Guitar.
Intervals Inside the Major Scale
We can find the intervals within the major scale by looking at each of the scale tone numbers (or intervals) within the major scale.
We can take the interval shapes literally at first – exactly how they appear within the scale – and this will be a good start.
But then we need to look at a couple more details:
Adjusting for the tuning of the guitar – when you cross the 2nd string, finger patterns need to be adjusted.
What does the interval look like on a single string? Sometimes this isn’t the most practical, but it’s interesting to look at anyway.
When you understand what the intervals look like on the guitar, you start to see how scales and chords are put together on your fretboard. So let’s dive in.
Major 2nd
Interval Shapes
Major 3rd
Interval Shapes
Perfect 4th
Interval Shapes
Perfect 5th
Interval Shapes
Major 6th
Interval Shapes
Major 7th
Interval Shapes
Perfect Octave
Interval Shapes
Bonus: Perfect Unison
A perfect unison is 2 of the same pitch played at the same time. So it’s impossible to play in the scale shapes, or on a single string. The best you can do is play the same note twice in a row.
Interval Shapes
Spend some time talking yourself through these intervals. Saying the numbers out loud as you practice is a great way to internalize the information. Use the practice advice at the end of this lesson to get some ideas of what to do.
The “Other” Intervals
There are other intervals that don’t show up labeled within the major scale. They’re still in there though – just not labeled in relation to the root of the scale.
Once you start seeing these interval shapes on your guitar, you’ll be able to recognize them within the major scale as well – just not in reference to the root of the scale.
These intervals are still essential ingredients of different types of scales, chords, and arpeggios – so it’s important to know what they look like and sound like on your guitar.
Your “other” intervals can be easily found by playing a note one fret above, or one fret below one of the notes of the major scale.
Minor 2nd
Interval Shapes
Minor 3rd
Interval Shapes
Tritone/Augmented 4th/Diminished 5th
All of these labels are correct, depending on what you call the note name.
G – C# is an augmented 4th
G – Db is a diminished 5th
Tritone is kind of a catch-all term, and it’s what I’ll use on the diagrams below – TT for tritone.
Interval Shapes
Minor 6th
Interval Shapes
Minor 7th
Interval Shapes
Diminished 7th
The diminished 7th interval is another name for the major 6th interval. The difference is in what you actually call the note:
G – E is a major 6th
G – Fb is a diminished 7th
Whether you call an interval a diminished 7th or a major 6 is dependent on the names of the notes involved – it’s not just whatever you want to call it in the moment.
Interval Shapes
Practicing Intervals with Major Scales
Practicing your intervals should be done a few different ways – I think a variety of approaches over time can help you keep from getting bored, and tackle the information from more angles.
Sing and Play
Say or sing the interval numbers as you play up and down the major scale. This is a great way to kill 2 birds with one stone – it doesn’t have to be a separate exercise from practicing your scales – you can just mix it in to your normal practice.
Whether you’re playing exercises, improvising, or just playing up and down the scale, sing the numbers and match the pitch as best you can.
Single Interval Practice
Target specific intervals and practice their shape to get used to what they sound like melodically.
For example, try to play major 3rds from different notes and on different strings all over the neck.
Using the finger shapes we looked at earlier will help with this.
Harmony Interval Practice
It’s the same approach, but now we’re looking at the 2 notes played at once, instead of one-at-a-time.
You’re listening to how the intervals sound as harmony this time, instead of in sequence, like a melody.
Conclusion
Understanding what intervals look like you your guitar won’t make you a jazz guitar master overnight. But they will help you understand how to build scales, chords, and arpeggios you’ll need all the time.
Having a good knowledge of how intervals look and sound will improve your ear, help you understand music theory, and make you a better overall musician.
How are you using intervals in your own practice? Let me know in the comments.