Intervals have two-part names. The first part (major, minor, perfect, diminished, or augmented) refers to the color of the interval. The second part is a number representing the number of note names the two are apart from each other. Intervals fall into one of two families. The major/minor family, or the perfect family.
2nds, 3rds, 6ths, and 7ths are in the major/minor family.
4ths, 5ths, and octaves (8ths) are in the perfect family.
a minor 2nd = One half-step (E to F, B to C, A to Bb, and so on)
a major 2nd = One whole-step (C to D, D to E, E to F#, and so on)
a minor 3rd = One and a half steps (E to G, A to C, G to Bb, and so on)
a major 3rd = two whole-steps (C to E, D to F#, G to B, and so on)
a perfect 4th = two and a half steps (C to F, G to C, F to Bb, and so on)
an augmented 4th = three whole-steps (C to F#, E to A#, and so on)
a diminished 5th = 2 whole-steps and 2 half-steps (E to Bb, B to Eb . . . )
(please note that except for naming conventions, aug 4th and dim 5th are the same distance)
a minor 6th = 3 whole-steps and two half-steps (A to F, E to C . . .)
a major 6th = 4 whole-steps and a half-step (C to A, G to E . . . )
a minor 7th = 4 whole-steps and two half-steps (C to Bb, G to F . . . )
a major 7th = 5 whole-steps and one half-step ( C to B, G to F# . . . )
an octave (8th) is the distance from a named note to the next higher or lower note of the same name (C to C, D to D, F# to F# . . . )
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Copyright 1999 Randolph J. Sadewater
The Ultimate Chord User's Guide has some excellent text lessons on music theory as relates to a guitar. The following is a brief excerpt.
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