intervals how to view them.

[bonsy]

Ive been learning to play,see and read the notes and intervals diatonically across the neck eg Starting from 8th fret 6th string C note. I begin with just playing the root and 3rd etc. So i play CE DF EG FA GB AC BD.
When i look at these intervals and listen while playing how should i best memorise them . ie Should i view the DF as the Dm chord or should i see it as 2 4 of the C major scale. any info on this is much appreciated. ps i go on to add the 5th and 7th . cheers.

[Malcolm]

Originally Posted by bonsy

Ive been learning to play,see and read the notes and intervals diatonically across the neck eg Starting from 8th fret 6th string C note. I begin with just playing the root and 3rd etc. So i play CE DF EG FA GB AC BD.
When i look at these intervals and listen while playing how should i best memorise them . ie Should i view the DF as the Dm chord or should i see it as 2 4 of the C major scale. any info on this is much appreciated. ps i go on to add the 5th and 7th . cheers.

Depends. Using the major scale box pattern to illustrate this.

Major scale box with interval numbers shown ---- box pattern for 4 string bass.
G-|----|--2-|----|--3-|--4-|----|----|
D-|----|--6-|----|--7-|--8-|----|----|
A-|----|--3-|--4-|----|--5-|----|----|
E-|----|-----|-R-|----|--2-|----|----|

If you place the root at the E string 8th fret you are on C so this box will give you the notes of the C major scale. And R-3 will give you C E.

But, now lets move the box pattern to the A string 3rd fret - yes that is a C also - and your C E line up here the same way.

Grab hold. Say I wanted to play intervals from the C, F, and G chord. If I move the pattern's root to the F interval of the C major scale pattern my root - 3rd would now be F-A. Compared to what? Well root, 3rd of the F scale. Now move the pattern down two frets to the G - right below the C you started with and your root 3rd is in the same location - this time in relation to the G major scale. But, notice we are still in the same area of the fretboard. You mentioned the 5, it will always be in the same spot waiting on you just like the 3 was in the examples above.

That's how we play the major scale box with the bass. Place the box at one location and grab all three chords used in the I IV V progression of the Key of C. This will go into more detail.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showth...67#post9372867

[ianb]

goodness I have missed this sort of thread.

If you are working through a Major Scale looking at each set of thirds you can look at them as Major Third (e,g, CE) Minor Third (D F) Minor Third (E G) Major Third (F A) Major Third (G B) Minor Third (A C) and Minor Third (B D).

There are multiple way to look at them, one of which is to look at them as chord tones for the chord available a Major key (the chord of any major key always have the same order Major, Minor, Minor, Major, Major, Minor, Diminished) and is also a big part of the reason that there are so many songs built around three Major Chords.

[bonsy]

Thanks for the replies Malcolm and Ian. AS usual more than one way to view things. I didnt make the connection of the order of the major scale chords and the appropriate 3rds. Its not that obvious untill pointed out and i will now be able to pick this up more quickly. Thank you both.

[Malcolm]

I finally took the time to stack some 3rds and another World opened.

Purpose of this paper is to call attention to the skip-a-note method of harmonizing a scale. Take the scale then by skipping a note you build the chords for that scale. Skip a note is an easy way to identify the notes within the chords of that scale. From that you can then using the chord’s spelling to name the chord, i.e. 3 = major, b3 = minor, 7 = maj7, b7 = dominant seventh or minor seventh, m7b5 = ½ diminished, b5 bb7 = Diminished, etc. From there you can identify that specific chord’s function within the key, i.e. I-IV-V, etc. This chart can be used as a study of how chords are formed.

A Major 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Note	Chord		Spelling		Chord Name		Function
A	A-C#-E-G#	R-3-5-7		Amaj7			I	Tonic									
B	B-D-F#-A		R-b3-5-b7	Bm7			ii
C#	C#-E-G#-B	R-b3-5-b7	C#m7			iii
D	D-F#-A-C#	R-3-5-7		Dmaj7			IV     Subdominant
E	E-G#-B-D		R-3-5-b7		E7			V      Dominant
F#	F#-A-C#-E	R-b3-5-b7	F#m7			iv
G#	G#-B-D-F#	R-b3-b5-b7	G#m7b5			vii ½ dim

A Natural Minor 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7
Note	Chord 		Spelling		Chord Name		Function
A	A-C-E-G		1-b3-5-b7	Amin 7			I	   (tonic)	
B	B-D-F-A		1-b3-b5-b7	Bmin7b5			ii ½ dim
C	C-E-G-B		1-3-5-7		Cmaj 7			bIII	
D	D-F-A-C		1-b3-5-b7	Dmin 7			iv   (subdominant)
E	E-G-B-D		1-b3-5-b7	Emin 7			v	(dominant)
F	F-A-C-E		1-3-5-7		Fmaj 7			bVI	
G	G-B-D-F		1-3-5-b7		G7			bVII

A harmonic minor 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, 7
Note 	Chord 		Spelling		Chord Name	Function
A	A-C-E-G#		1-b3-5-7		A min(maj7) 	i min(maj7)         (tonic)
B	B-D-F-A		1-b3-b5-b7	Bmin7b5		ii min7b5
C	C-E-G#-B		1-3-#5-7		Cmaj7(#5)	bIII maj 7(#5)
D	D-F-A-C		1-b3-5-b7	Dmin 7		iv min7       (subdominant)
E	E-G#-B-D		1-3-5-b7		E7		V7	        (dominant)
F	F-A-C-E		1-3-5-7		Fmaj 7		bVI maj7
G#	G#-B-D-F		1-b3-b5-bb7	G#dim7		vii dim7 (full dim)

I've always been a chart guy, love to study charts. When I took up the bass, chord spelling became important, never paid much attention to chord spelling before that.