Guitar For the Beginner - How to Hear Intervals

One of the areas or guitar practice that can be incorporated into your learning time is the practice of your training. Specifically, you can practice learning how to hear what are called intervals. Intervals, in its most simplistic explanation, or when two nodes are played together or separately. Intervals are important to learn, because they are the foundations to unlocking guitar theory dealing with scales and chords.

Let's take a look at the 13 different intervals available and find some common songs that you might recognize in order to help you hear intervals on your guitar.

Unison: If you ever hear two instruments playing the same note then you have a unison interval. Just be careful not to get unison intervals confused with the octave.

Minor 2nd: Just when you thought it was save to go swimming again, the movie Jaws is a great example of the minor 2nd interval.

Major 2nd: If you've ever heard someone play piano chances are that at some point you have heard the song called chopsticks. This annoying piano song is a great example of the major 2nd interval.

Minor 3rd: The Canadian national anthem is a popular way in Canada to learn how to recognize the minor third interval. Unless you live in Canada you will probably need to look up this song on the Internet.

Major 3rd: The children's full song classic called "Three blind mice" is a great example of recognizing the major 3rd interval.

Perfect 4th: the ever popular "Wedding Song" and "Amazing Grace" are great examples to hear the Perfect 5th.

Tri-tone (Augmented 4th or Diminished 5th): The tri-tone has its own unique

sound that is heard often in jazz music. Due to it's own unique sound, you will be able to recognize this interval with practice on its own.

Perfect 5th: If you have ever sang the song and "twinkle twinkle little star" or hummed the theme song to "Star Wars" you have figured out how to hear a perfect 5th interval. If you know how to play bar chords on your guitar, then you have another means of learning how to hear a perfect fifth.

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