How FAMOUS Songs Use Intervals (Ear Training Trick That WORKS!)
In this video
Andy's Intervals and Ear Training Course - click here
Today we look into one of the most powerful concepts in guitar playing: thinking in intervals rather than note names.
Using the iconic intro to "Sweet Child O' Mine"as our starting point, we demonstrated how understanding intervals allows you to play any riff or melody in any key, simply by maintaining the same relationships between notes. The key insight we explored was that intervals are the secret to transferring emotional content in music.
We spent considerable time exploring how film composers like John Williams use specific intervals to create emotional responses in listeners. Through examples from Star Wars, Batman, and Superman themes, we showed how heroic intervals (root, fifth, octave) create that triumphant feeling, while minor intervals convey darkness or struggle. We demonstrated that these same principles apply directly to guitar riffs, explaining why power chords sound so epic and why certain riffs feel so instantly recognisable, like;
Smoke on the Water
Seven Nation Army
All Batman Themes (1960s to present)
The session included extensive practical application, where we worked through 12-bar blues progressions while consciously choosing intervals based on the emotional content we wanted to create. We contrasted "heroic" playing using roots, fourths, and fifths against "darker" approaches using minor thirds and dominant sevenths. This hands-on demonstration showed how the same backing track can be transformed from triumphant to melancholic simply by changing which intervals we emphasize.
We explored the concept of the "longing note" - the major seventh interval that appears in classics like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." This interval creates a sense of movement and aspiration, explaining why certain melodies feel like they're reaching toward something just out of grasp. We connected this back to practical guitar playing, showing how understanding these emotional intervals can inform both rhythm playing and lead work.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow - tutorial link
Immigrant Song
The session concluded with a discussion about how professional musicians think about emotion first, then choose their intervals accordingly. Rather than getting trapped in scales or licks, we encouraged thinking about the feeling you want to create and then selecting the intervals that support that emotion. This approach gives players conscious control over the emotional impact of their playing, whether they're improvising a solo or writing a new riff, making every note choice intentional rather than accidental.
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