Q: Hey, i'm just now learning about intervals and harmonies and stuff and i've been listening to this song and it just confused me. (https://youtu.be/GC6nSX67Q-4?t=31 i linked to the relevant part at 31 sec). Listen to the guitar melody, it has these notes in it, ignoring all the little thrills and slides, - F# B A C#. And then the second guitar comes in and harmonizes over the first and I figured out that the harmony is a minor third (correct me if im wrong). But here's the confusion: the notes in the harmony are A D C# E, and A D E are all a minor third of the corresponding notes in guitar 1 - F# B C#. BUT the C# in guitar 2 is a MAJOR THIRD away from the A in guitar 1. And it sounds bloody cool. What's going on here, why isn't that C# a C, and why does changing that one note make it sound so much better?
A: let's skip the harmony and just look at melodies. in most songs, they don't use all the notes. they tend to use some, but kind of skip the ones in between. typically if you lay out all 12 notes in order, xxxxxxxxxxxx, an ordinary song for example usually is only gonna use these notes 0x0x00x0x0x0. you'll notice that's uneven. and if you're wondering what happens when it's completely evenly distributed: 0x0x0x0x0x0x, well you'll notice it sounds like you are spinning around. i've still left most of life's most important questions unanswered, but hopefully this is a more direct way of accessing the conundrum you mentioned, which has nothing to do with harmony