Originally Posted by: dr50376272you go down a 5th, then go back 5 steps, and one string over? is this the rule? what does he mean?

Interval is the musical distance between two notes.

In that lesson I start by showing it is possible to apply the concept of the interval anywhere on the guitar. So, I show how any two notes that are 4 frets apart on the same string are always an interval of 4 frets, or two whole steps apart, otherwise known as a major third. Always and anywhere on the guitar; or on any musical instrument for that matter.

However, the trickiest part of learning to apply this idea of intervals to the guitar, is that frequently the two notes you are trying to "see" the interval between are on two different strings. It's easy if the two notes are on the same string, you can simply look and count the frets from one note to the next.

In order to explain how to figure out the interval between two notes on different strings I first show the distance of 7 frets, or 7 half-steps, or a musical fifth, on the same string. Then I show how to locate the higher note on a different string.

This is the "rule" you are asking about. If you start on a note and count 5 frets back and one string up, you will get the same note.

So, now we can use the image on the lesson page to understand how the note E is located in three different places on the guitar (same pitch, different locations). And the interval between the low A and next E up is always a fifth. No matter which E we are referring to, it's always a fifth from that A and that E.

Make sense?