Guitar Intervals Unleashed

Guitar Intervals Unleashed is the mobile app that is based on the book by the same name, now available on Amazon: https://amzn.com/1073714292

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the app, you will find a series of games, which have been uniquely developed as training tools to practice intervals concepts that have been described in the book. There is no question that it is difficult to find effective training methods for guitarists who want to visualize the fretboard in numbers or musical intervals. Most training methods emphasize chord and scale shape memorization more than anything.

This method of memorization may be useful for developing muscle memory, though when it comes to seeing intervals that lie within a specific chord or scale, it does very little. That is why I developed the NANDI Method as interval training for guitarists.

Take a look at the diagrams below. You will find the chromatic scale (1-♭2-2-♭3-3-4-♭5-5-♭6-6-♭7-7-1) if you start from the 1 or the root and count in half-steps one string at a time starting from the sixth string and moving to the first string.

You will also find the intervals of the major scale (1-2-3-4-5-6-7) if you follow the whole and half-step formula to read 7-1-2 on the E string, 3-4-5 on the A string, and 6-7-1 on the D string.

While the diagrams above represent the two most common interval patterns taught, there are many other interval patterns that are less common, yet occur naturally on the fretboard. These interval patterns can be mastered through training with the individual apps offered within “Guitar Intervals Unleashed.” You can read about all of these horizontal patterns, as well as other ways to decode the fretboard when you follow the book.

These apps are in a workbook-style format, meaning they are dynamic in nature. The apps operate entirely on user input. Unlike other apps that display interval locations at the tap of a button, this app requires the user to answer various prompts as they appear on the screen. These prompts include identifying specific notes or identifying specific intervals within a blank circle displayed on the fretboard. To make it a bit easier, you will get a few answers to choose from as well.

You may also use the HINT feature to guide you through the identification process.

ID Natural Notes:

This app will show you how to interpret the fourth pattern to identify natural notes on the fretboard. You can check out the Reading The Fretboard lesson to learn more about the fourth pattern.

ID Fourths:

This app will train you to read notes and intervals across the fretboard from left to right in fourths. Look at the photo below for a screenshot of this app. With C as the assumed root, you can pick from one of the 12 chromatic intervals to begin reading fourths across the fretboard.

In the figure below, the interval pattern begins on the 3 and moves up in fourths to the intervals 6-2-5-1, before finally reaching the 4. When you tap the HINT button, it reveals the 12 chromatic intervals as they are arranged in fourths (seen here at the bottom of the picture). The HINT button acts as a guide to identify fourths that span two frets.

You can also train to read sharp, flat, and natural notes in fourths across the strings, as seen in the second figure below. Instead of naming fourths one string at a time, we like to take the fourth pattern approach and learn a series of intervals and notes at one time.

               

ID Fifths:

This app helps you to identify notes and intervals from left to right in fifths. When you read the same intervals in fifths, as seen in the picture above, the pattern reads 1-5-2-6-3, moving from right to left. This is due to the fact that fourths and fifths are inversions of one another. You can learn more about interval inversions in the lesson titled “Inversions“.

ID Minor Sevenths:

The third interval pattern is the minor seventh pattern, which helps you further decode the fretboard intervals. The minor seventh pattern is revealed when you skip every other number in the fourth pattern (3-6-2-5-1-4), moving from left to right.

By doing so, you see that the 3-2-1 intervals (seen in white circles in the picture below) and 6-5-4 intervals (seen in grey diamond) are a whole step down. You can also use the app to practice identifying letter notes on skipped strings.

Tapping the HINT button displays a chart of fourths (seen in the second illustration) to help you with note identification.

             

ID Major Seconds:

Seconds and sevenths are inversions of one another. When you apply inversions, you can invert the pattern of minor sevenths on the fretboard to reveal a pattern of major seconds. Starting from the interval 4 on the first string and skipping every other interval from right to left (see picture above), you see the intervals 4-5-6 and 1-2-3 are major seconds apart.

Like the other apps in the intervals series, this particular app is great for practicing major second identification while starting from any letter note or interval number across the entire fretboard.

ID Intervals – Left to Right:

The app is made to train you in recalling intervals along the same fret from left to right (see illustration below). If you select the string set (E-B) and the interval (1 or Root C), you will be prompted to identify the interval in the blank circle on the B string.

Tapping the HINT button reveals the numbers within the diamonds to help you connect the dots that lead up to the interval on the top string. Based on your knowledge of notes C and G being a fifth apart at the eighth fret, you will likely identify the interval as 5. A faster and far more efficient way to reference the perfect fifth relationship between the E-B strings and determine that any two notes or intervals on the same fret are a fifth apart is easy with the NANDI Method.

Some examples of natural fifths include 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, and 4-1. With this app, you can train yourself to identify the top number in an interval when choosing a bottom string interval between 1 and 7. The app provides you with nine string set combinations to choose from to target your practice.

The namesake book has a chapter that dives into deriving interval locations on any string set using intervallic relationships that occur naturally on the guitar.

ID Intervals – Right to Left: 

This app functions similarly to the previous app, though the main difference is that interval numbers will appear on a higher string, and you will be asked to identify an interval on a lower string. If you look at the illustration above, try to imagine a 1 displayed on the B string where the blank circle is located and a blank circle where the 1 is located.

How would you identify the interval on the low E string?

The answer is the NANDI Method. You use the perfect fourth relationship that exists between the B and E strings to determine that any two notes or intervals found on the B-E strings are a perfect fourth apart. You will also find a fourth relationship between notes on the E and A strings (1st & 5th strings).

Because the NANDI Method uses fretboard logic to determine interval locations, no memorization techniques are required. A few examples of fourths on this string set include natural intervals 1-4, 2-5, 3-6, 5-1, 6-2, and 7-3.

CAGED Octaves- Intervals/Notes:  

The idea behind this particular app helps in identifying the locations of octaves across the entire fretboard when the root is on an open string. In this case, the open strings include the A, G, E, and D strings. It also teaches you to find octaves when the root is on the first fret of the B string.

Once again, we can use our string relationships as a reference to identify intervals leading up to the octave on a higher fret. The idea here is to help you access all of the octave locations from the lowest to the highest fret.

Once you have reached the highest fret location for an octave, the app will prompt you to navigate back to the root on the lowest fret or open string. You may also use the same steps to navigate your way back to the root on the lowest fret or open string or figure out the octaves’ path using letter notes.

The roots that you start from are C, A, G, E, and D. Let’s say that you want to navigate from the root C to get to its octave on the higher fret. You can use the minor seventh relationship between the B and A strings to find the C octave two frets higher on the A string.

To move from here to the octave on the G string, you can use the minor seventh relationship between the A and G strings to locate an octave two frets higher. This shortcut is used to figure out octave locations on any given string set, regardless of which root note you choose to find your octave.

Interval Architecture:

This app’s specific purpose is to help you practice locating intervals on various string sets using simple math. You’ll see why interval memorization is a thing of the past. For example, if you can successfully answer a few questions based on the fretboard’s logic, you will understand why an interval is two, three, or four frets above or below the root on a non-adjacent string.

Once again, we can use string relationships to put things into perspective. Let’s take a look at our E-D strings as an example. The pitch distance between the two strings is ten half-steps. Let’s say that you want to locate a minor sixth interval (♭6) of eight half-steps on the top D string. You can subtract eight half-steps in the minor sixth interval from the ten half-step in the minor seventh interval.

When the root is on the E string, we can conclude that ♭6 is located two frets below on the D string.

For those who prefer written practice exercises for guitar interval training, workbooks for both the right and the left-handed players are now available on Amazon: https://amzn.com/B084DH5MVS