Intervals

An interval is the distance between two notes, and it is the smallest unit of everything else on this site. Chords are stacked intervals. Scales are patterns of intervals. Learn to hear thirteen distances and most ear training takes care of itself.

Start here

Start with the octave, the fifth and the third.

Those three are the easiest to recognise and the most common. Everything else is easier once you have a few fixed points.

Jump straight inPress the triangle to hear it, the name to read it

The stable ones

Unison
Octave
Perfect Fifth
Perfect Fourth

The ones that carry the mood

Major Third
Minor Third
Major Sixth
Minor Sixth

The tense ones

Minor Second
Major Second
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Tritone

The stable ones

they sound settled, and they are easy to find

UnisonTwo notes at the same pitch fuse into one. Play a unison, detune it slightly, and hear the beating that tuning is built on.
OctaveTwelve semitones and a 2:1 ratio. Play the octave, hear the two notes merge, and stretch it slightly to hear where that merging stops.
Perfect FifthSeven semitones, a 3:2 ratio, almost one sound. Play it, hear the overtones lock together, and stack fifths until the circle closes.
Perfect FourthFive semitones, solid and ceremonial. Play it above and below the bass, and hear why the same interval can feel stable or unresolved.

The ones that carry the mood

major and minor, the emotional pair

Major ThirdThe distance from C to E, and the one note that decides whether a chord sounds happy or sad. Which chords contain it, which scales, and how to hear it.
Minor ThirdThree semitones and the mood drops. Play the minor third against the major third on the same root and hear the single note that changes.
Major SixthNine semitones, open and inviting. Play it, hear it as the added sixth in a chord, and flip it to hear the minor third it becomes.
Minor SixthEight semitones, wistful and stretched. Play it, flip it into a major third, and hear how inversion changes the feeling but not the notes.

The tense ones

close, wide or unstable

Minor SecondOne semitone, maximum friction. Play it, hear why the two tones grind, and compare it with the major second right next to it.
Major SecondTwo semitones, the plain step most tunes move by. Play it, hear it as a ninth in a chord, and compare it with the minor second.
Minor SeventhTen semitones, mildly dissonant and restless. Play it, hear it drive a dominant chord, and compare it with the major seventh above it.
Major SeventhEleven semitones, harsh on its own and dreamy in a chord. Play both, then drop one semitone and hear the minor seventh instead.
TritoneSix semitones, dead center and unstable. Play the tritone, hear it inside a dominant chord, and hear both ways it wants to resolve.

Keep going

The Circle of Fifths
Voicings
Interval Ear Training

The other sections

Everything on this site sits in one of these, in the order they are meant to be learned.

The building blocks

Chords
Scales
Rhythm
Reading Music

How music works

Harmony
Chord Progressions
Melody and Form
Sound and Hearing

In practice

Songwriting
Styles
Playing and Improvising
Production and Arranging