Interval Training
In order to play melodically, one must be able to hear and play intervals. What makes improvisation good is not just simply running up and down scales, but playing the correct notes over the chords (though learning basic scales is the first step to learning to improvise) making melodies. Phrasing and note choice is what really makes improvisation interesting.
Being able to jump intervals makes the melody engaging. Both hearing the interval and knowing where it is on the guitar neck are the keys to this, because interesting melodies are not just conjunct (playing the next note in the scale) but disjunct (playing notes that are not next to one another). That is, they don’t just connect scale notes, as in the beginning of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, but move intervallically and rhythmically, like in his 5th Symphony.
Knowing the geometry of the guitar neck is a complex thing. The guitar is a transposing instrument, which makes it easier than many instruments. That is, if you play an F bar chord on the 1st fret, you can simply change the fret position to change the chord. On fret 1, it’s an F chord; on fret 3, it’s a G chord; on fret 5, it is an A; and so on. The same holds true for scales and intervals. The complexity lies in the fact that the same note can be played in many places on the neck. You can play F on the 1st fret of the high E string, the 6th fret of the B, the 10th fret of the G, the 15th fret of the D, and the 20th fret of the A.
In the same way, the same intervals can be placed differently on the neck. The 5th fret G string to the 3rd fret E string (C-G) is a perfect 5th. But so is the 8th fret low E string to the 10th fret A string, or the 8th fret of the E string to the open G string. What makes it even more complex is the tuning between the G and B string.
This can be very confusing. On the piano, there is only one place to play a note, so there is also only one way to play an interval. It’s very visual. If you visualize the piano as a line of 12 notes that repeats, intervals look the same in each octave. However, on the guitar neck, the geometry is complex. It’s almost like seeing frets 0-12 as one octave on the piano (without the visual of the combination of white and black keys to help) and displacing it on each string by a 4th or 3rd (G to B string). As you can see, it can get incredibly complex.
Interval Training will equip the guitarist to see all intervals in every way they can be played. It will help us to be able to visualize all intervals on the neck and will, in addition, train our ears to hear the shape we’re playing. Thus, when we hear a note combination in our head, our mind can associate the sound with an interval and the interval with a certain geometry on the neck. The geometry can dictate where our fingers go. (Remember that for a good improviser, this happens in nanoseconds.) We hear, see, and execute. It really is miraculous that we have this God-given ability!
These exercises will help you to be able to tap into the unique melodies that have been placed inside you. These abilities are the beginnings of what will enable you to truly find your unique voice on the guitar.