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Don't be intimidated by music theory. Only a very basic, working knowledge is required for our purposes. It shouldn't even be a question if you should learn it or not. Knowledge is not going to make you suddenly play worse. Also, these rules apply Western music only.
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There are twelve notes, with sharps and flats in between. They are named after letters in the alphabet, like A, B, etc. There are two exceptions. There is no sharp or flat in between B and C, and between E and F. The notes are:
A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab
These notes repeat a cycle every octave.
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Intervals are the distances between notes. It's crucial that you learn these intervals as part of your ear training. For all of these examples, we'll take E as our root note. So the first note in the interval will be E.
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Minor Second (half step) - Ex: One (outro riff) E to F
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Major Second (whole step) E to F#
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Minor Third - Ex: For Whom The Bell Tolls (verse riff) E to G
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Major Third - E to G#
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Fourth - Ex: ...And Justice For All - E to A
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Flat Fifth - Ex: The Frayed Ends Of Sanity (main riff) - E to Bb
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Fifth - Ex: Battery (main riff) - E to B
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Minor Sixth - Ex: Ride The Lighting (solo riff) - E to C
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Major Sixth - E to C#
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Minor Seventh - Ex: The Frayed Ends Of Sanity (outro riff) - E to D
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Major Seventh - Ex: Blackened (bridge riff) - E to Eb
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