Understanding Piano Intervals - Piano Lessons

Pianolessons.com the #1 Name in Piano Lessons Online Understanding Piano Intervals – Nate Bosch Hi, I’m Nate Bosch with pianolessons.com and today I want to talk to you a little bit about intervals. What is an interval? An interval is the space between 2 notes. There we have what is called a second, that is a third between C and E is a third that go from C to F there we a fourth, C to G a fifth, C to A, a sixth, C to B a seventh, C to C is called an octave. I’m just going to stop there, we can keep going up, but that’s your basic intervals. Now each of those intervals has with in it, it’s broken down even more I said this is a second that is true. Let’s start at the C and we play the black key next to it, C sharp that is called a minor second. Now C to D is called a major second, so we have minor second and a major second. Now after a second I played a third, well that third right there is called a major third if we play the black note just below it, that is called a minor third. Now let’s play the fourth, that is called a perfect fourth, now we play the black key just above it, it’s called an augmented fourth, augmented because it’s raised. We can also call that something based on our next interval a fifth, which is also called the perfect fifth. So, we have a perfect fourth, an augmented fourth, and now we have a perfect fifth. Just to throw something little crazy in here we can also call this interval here a diminished fifth, so diminished fifth and an augmented fourth are the same thing. Stay with me here, so we’ve done second, third, fourth, fifth, so let me have the C to the A, that is a major sixth, if I play the A flat below there, the black key below it called a flat, that is a minor sixth. Now C to B is called the major seventh, if I play the black note below it, a flat, that is called a minor seventh and then we get to the octave. So, let’s review, we have C to C sharp is a minor second, C to D major second, C to E flat is a minor third, C to E a major third, C to F a perfect fourth, C to F sharp is also know as an augmented fourth or diminished fifth, C to G is a perfect fifth, C to G sharp is know as a minor sixth or you can call it an augmented fifth, C to A major sixth, C to B flat, is a minor seventh, C to B a major seventh, and then we get the octave. Well you can see where we’re going if you continue up between ninth, tenth, eleventh. Why are these intervals important? Important in understanding chords, in building melodies, all these things are based around the scale and understanding these intervals and sounds those intervals make, just a little bit to get you going—