Hey Friend,

So I mentioned in the last email that I wished the interval pattern in the riff example “Open Arms” (Journey) was a perfect fifth, but it is not.

Remember, an “interval” is just a fancy word for the space in between two notes. We can count the spaces as “whole" or "half steps," which is two or one fret, respectively. We could also call them “tones" or “semitones," which again is two or one fret, respectively.

I know, kind of a pain in the butt, having two sets of terms for the same thing, and we musicians tend to use them interchangeably.

Trust me, you’ll get used to it...

I was focused primarily on the first two notes in the tab. Theoretically, this IS a perfect fifth interval, with seven semitones between the two notes. But it’s a perfect fifth interval for the key of A.

The dilemma is, the “Open Arms” is in the key of D major. I didn’t even think about keys when I was looking for examples, and since the sound of the interval is correct, I just went with it as a perfect fifth.

It wasn’t until I looked at it again that I realized the error of my ways.

So that was my mistake. 

What you have in this example is the riff starts on the five note A. It is the perfect fifth note from the scale, but when we play the first two notes of the riff, we’re playing A and then E (which is the perfect fifth interval in the key of A).

It all comes down to reference points: A to E is a perfect fifth interval in one key (A), but it’s also a perfect fifth to major second change in another (key of D major).

D E F# G  A  B C# D  E  F#

See why it can be confusing trying to determine which key a song is in?

Fortunately, for an ear training approach, the sound you hear regardless of key is the proper interval. 

So there’s another pattern you can add to your toolbox - the tonic to perfect fifth has the same number of semitones as a perfect fifth to major second interval - SEVEN.

Savvy?

Switching gears for just a moment, have you ever wondered what the difference between all the various USB connectors is? 

Heck, I’ve been an IT professional for going on 20 years and I still scratch my head when thinking about USB 2.0 versus 3.1, or powered, or Thunderbolt.

These are the cables we use to connect various devices to our computers, and since a lot of audio gear uses USB, Sweetwater just published a handy guide to help us out.

Cables are one of the biggest pains about technology - everything seems to have its own proprietary cable that only works with that device. 

The latest USB version is USB-C, and with any luck, this version will help to standardize connectors so we don’t have to keep a box of various cables around.

While it’s addressed to the music crowd, you don’t have to be a musician to benefit from this article. New smartphones are using these USB connectors, so literally everyone that uses technology is going to have to mess around with these cables at some point. 

Please feel free to share this USB connector article around to all your friends! 

Have a great one...

Peace~

Dave