A scale is a sequence of notes (known as ‘degrees’) that provides the raw material for a piece of music. The intervals between the notes follow a set pattern that depends on the type of scale. The ...

Two notes mean the interval is a second of some kind. Next, we determine the interval’s quality - whether it’s major, minor, perfect, etc. Look at the lower note and construct a major scale starting ...

Andy Wood's debut column for Guitar World is an essential study for players looking to have a greater knowledge of the ...

The key to any scale is how the notes are spaced and their intervals. A music interval can be perfect, minor, major, augmented, or diminished, and as you would expect those intervals matter to the ...

At times when music was holy, harmonious and ordered, this dissonant interval went against everything it appeared to stand for. It was christened diabolus in musica – the Devil in music and the ...

Japanese music emphasises different intervals, too, and understanding the formulas of these more unusual sounding scales is a rewarding area for us musicians.

The mathematical rules for creating musical harmony may be more malleable than thought. Western music theory traditionally holds that chords sound most pleasant when they contain notes separated ...

Talking about 12 notes in music generally applies to music from the West and from some other parts of the world, but certainly isn’t an exhaustive system for all music. Arabic music had a 17-tone ...