Music Theory: Introduction to Intervals
- Mar 18
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 25
We may not know whether or not the chicken came before the egg, but we know this: intervals came before chords. Nowadays, we nurture a collective obsession with chords. From cowboy chords to the famed pop song formula, chords have been the basis of our musical system since before Bach (Bach Bach… pardon my chicken humor).
But how did chords come to be? To understand this, we first need to look inside the metaphorical chordal egg to see what exactly is in there. Thus begins a new
“Theorize This” series investigating the basis of our modern musical system: the interval.
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Simply put, an interval is the relationship between any two notes. A to B is a type of interval, as is C# to F, and so on and so forth.
As we continue in our series, we’ll examine every type of interval and discover where they show up in the movies we watch and the music we listen to. For today, just remember this: chords couldn’t exist without intervals. (So we ought to be grateful!)
Be sure to peruse our other theory lessons on our Music Insights page. See below for links to our other intervals lessons.
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