Article can be found here: https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/happy-new-ear/ .
Okay, pick up your guitar and play the open (low) E on the sixth string.
Strike the string again, get the sound firmly in your mind and then strike the A, or fifth string. Listen to the "spacing" between the notes, the distance from the one note to the next, as if they were parts of a scale.
This is a fourth. Now repeat this exercise, but this time use the D and G strings. This is also a fourth (you already knew that). The intervals are the same even though the notes are not. Can you hear the interval? When I first started developing my ear, picking out intervals seemed very hard. I would actually sing "do, re, mi" aloud in order to figure it out. Now when I tune my guitar, I'm still actually "singing" the intervals in my head.
The tricky thing to remember is that wherever you decide to start is "do." The point is not to recognize what note it is, but what the interval between the notes is. This is a significant difference and I cannot stress it enough. Few people have perfect pitch but just about anybody can sing a scale well enough to figure out the interval from "do" to "la," "fa" or "te."
That part confuses me. Is the open sixth string supposed to sound like "do" and the open fifth string supposed to sound like "fa"? I'm getting so frustrated learning how to pick stuff up by ear. :cry:
what the author is saying is that the distance between the notes E and A is the same as the distance between the notes D and G........
E, f, fsharp, g, g sharp, A (4 notes inbetween E and A)
D, dsharp, e, f, fsharp, G (4 notes inbetween D and G)
the distance between any two notes is called an interval. As the distance between E and A, and the distance between the notes D and G are the same, the interval is the same (in this case a Perfect 4th).
take a C major scale
C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
each note combination (i.e. C-D, C-e, C-f, etc, etc) is an interval. the D major scale and C major scale share the same interval-structure (all major scales share the same interval-structure). By recognising this structure, you can then work out how to play things by ear. Relative pitch is when, given the start note, you can recognise the gap between that start note and the next note played.
That part confuses me. Is the open sixth string supposed to sound like "do" and the open fifth string supposed to sound like "fa"? I'm getting so frustrated learning how to pick stuff up by ear. :cry:
Yes, and no.
Yes, because the interval from "do" to "fa" is a 4th (do-re-mi-fa) and the interval from E to A is a 4th (E-F#-G#-A)
No, because "do" is traditionally C, making "fa" an F (Classical players get any number of scores saying 6=Re, meaning "Drop D tuning" for example)
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
What David is trying to get across is that the sound of a 4th interval is always the same, as is the sound of a 5th.
The most obvious interval is the octave. Try fretting the 9th fret of the G string and the 12th fret of the high e. Finger pick both strings at the same time - there is a very distinctive chime to the octave interval. Now move down to the 7th and 10th frets (G & e respectively) and pick again. Even though they are different notes, you get that same chime with the octave interval. Move your fingers over to the 5th and 3rd strings and fret them at th 5th and 7th frets, respectively. Now pick them and you hear the same chime as on the 3rd/1st strings. The octave interval always has that same, distinctive sound, no matter where you play it on the fretboard.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
Hi Dave
I have been reading your article here:
https://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/happy-new-ear/
Quote
Using this same logic, D to F is not a third, but a minor third.
Please explain a little further what logic you are referring to in the above quote.
I don't understand how you arrived at minor 3rd from the information provided.
Thanks in advance
MoreNoise
(No music yet, still trying!!!)
Actually, the "logic" here is probably not as clear as it might be because I don't totally explain things. Which is why a number of other Guitar Noise pieces get written. Like this one:
https://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/the-power-of-three/
This article delves into thirds, since they are the basis of Western harmony. Let me quote from the passage we need:
The interval of the third is the key component to the assembly of chords. But, naturally, it's not as cut and dried as we'd like to think it might be. How so? Well, let me ask you - what is the interval from C to E? Right, it's a third. How about C to Eb? Technically, this is also a third, but we call it a minor third. A minor third is a step-and-a-half away from your starting note instead of two full steps. To distinguish between the two types of intervals, we call the “regular†third (two full steps) a major third.
So, from the information provided in the "Happy New Ear" article, I did not get the needed logic. Thanks for pointing that out. I will rectify it this evening.
But I hope that this helps.
Peace
Hi David
I thought for a moment I had been overlooking something, and complicating matters.
Thanks for the clarification.
Nice article, thanks
MoreNoise
PS:
Can you tell me where I posted this question.
I thought it was in beginners questions but can't find it there.
The forum doesn't seem to indicate the address of postings, what might I be overlooking :?:
I sent you a PM. You did post this in beginners but I merged it with the thread in Lessons. Sorry if that caused confusion but I thought you'd see the PM.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
Hi Musenfreund
Thought I was going mad for a while there.
I haven't quite worked out my way around....
I didn't realise I could add it directly to the article posting...mmmm...I'll check this out...thanks.
Yeah, it makes sense to move it....
The Logical thing to do. (excuse the pun)!!
Cheers
MoreNoise
(No Music Yet!!)
P.S
I checked your PM that I missed and the link detailing lesson posting requirements....cheers..all makes sense....thanks.
8)
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
