Make sure you understand how your major scale works at least first before you take on intervals. This can get involved so bear with me. I’ll try to break it down.
First you need to know that intervals are distiguished by two elements. They are:
1. Quality (Perfect, Major, minor, Augmented, Diminished)
2. Number (Unison -the same note-, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc)
*NOTE* I believe that the Unison, 5th, 8th (octave) intervals area always ‘Perfect’ intervals. The 4th can be either perfect or Augmented 4th (Aug4th) or it can also be written like Diminished 5th (dim5th)
Combine them together and you get things like Minor 3rd, or Major 4th.
HOW TO FIND AN INTERVAL’S NUMBER
First you want to find out the distance between two notes (this is where a keyboard comes in handy).
*Example* the note C to F. This contains the notes C, D, E, and F. So already you know that the NUMBER of your interval is going to be a 4th (four notes C, D, E, F)
HOW TO FIND THE QUALITY (Major, minor, so on and so forth)
First understand what a SEMITONE is. A SEMITONE is a ‘half-step’ between two notes. Such as C to C#. Or B to C. From C to C# is ONE semitone (half step). You need to simply memorize the amount of semitones for each interval. They are as follows…
(st = semitone)
2 st = major 2nd
4 st = major 3rd
5 st = perfect 4th
7 st = perfect 5th
9 st = major 6th
11 st = major 7th
12 st = (perfect) octave
So if we have the key of C major, where the notes are C D E F G A B C, and we have an interval of C and E. There are 4 semitones from C to E. So if we memorize our little chart above, 4 semitones equals a Major 3rd.
Now how do we find a MINOR interval? Such as a MINOR 3rd? You simply make it a minor by taking ONE semitone away. So if we had C to E is a Major 4th because it has 4 SEMITONES, you simply take one away and end up with 3 semitones, or a MINOR 3rd.
Let’s exercise this…
C to E is a Major 3rd. But if we were to drop E down to D#, we’d lose ONE semitone, and then it will become a MINOR 3rd.
I hope this helps! Make sure you know how your major scales work and the notes in them!