How to Learn Intervals: The Secret to Training Your Guitar Ear

I was discussing intervals with a student during a lesson today, which reminded me of an incredibly handy online resource that I always recommend: EarMaster.

Musical intervals can be notoriously tricky to memorize when you are just looking at shapes on a fretboard or notes on a page. However, associating each interval with a famous, instantly recognizable melody is one of the absolute best ways to lock them into your brain. Using this song-association method, you’ll be able to identify and conjure up major fourths, minor thirds, and tritones in no time at all.

Why Should a Guitarist Care About Intervals?

Ear training is the secret weapon of great musicianship. When you actively practice recognizing intervals, it directly transforms your day-to-day playing in a few massive ways:

• Learning Songs by Ear: Instead of guessing notes or hunting for tabs, you will start hearing the precise distance between notes on a record, allowing you to figure out solos and riffs instantly.
• Better Improvisation: You will stop relying purely on finger patterns or box shapes and start playing the actual melodies you hear in your head.
• Fluid Chord Building: Understanding intervals makes it incredibly easy to alter chords on the fly—like turning a standard major triad into a dominant 7th or a minor 9th.

The Song-Association Method in Action

To give you an idea of how this works, think about these classic examples:

• Minor 2nd (Ascending): The ominous, tension-building theme from Jaws.
• Perfect 5th (Ascending): The triumphant opening interval of the main Star Wars theme.
• The Tritone: The famous opening notes of The Simpsons theme (known historically as the "devil's interval"!).

The Ultimate Free Tool

To help you map out the rest of the intervals, the folks over at EarMaster have put together a fantastic, interactive tool. It allows you to generate a custom chart using songs you already know and love to anchor your hearing.

Check out the free tool here: EarMaster Free Interval Song Chart Generator.

Give it a spin, spend just five minutes a day testing your ear, and watch how quickly your fretboard awareness changes.

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Cheers,
Simon