Intervals

Intervals in music describe the distance between two notes. They can be used to label the structure of a scale category. For example, the Major Scale is built by second intervals: two minor and five major seconds.

Every interval has its own sound quality. By time, you will recognize intervals in music and being able to distinguish a major third from a perfect fourth, a minor seventh from a major seventh and so on. You will hear the sharp dissonance of a minor second (e.g. C to Db), the mild dissonance of a major second (e.g. C to D) and the soft consonance of a minor third (e.g. C to Eb).

The most common intervals are: unison (prime), second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and octave. See these intervals illustrated below:

Piano sheet with intervals

Intervals can further be divided in minor, major, diminished and augmented (see below).

Here are the most important intervals with additional explanations:

See also examples of note intervals listed in Appendix A.
Ear training: Listen for the interval.

Piano interval finder

This interactive reference and learning tool is designed to help you find the music intervals you need. The virtual piano highlights the correct notes for a specific interval, allowing you to see their placement on one octave of the keyboard (the patterns are the same regardless of the position on the keyboard). The abbreviations (P1, m2, M2 etc.) are explained below.

Select Tone:
Select Interval:

Select a tone and interval to see the interval.

Short abbreviations

The standard abbreviations used for musical intervals:

See less common abbreviations in Appendix B.

Compound intervals

Intervals that span above one octave is called compound intervals and are listed below with standard abbreviations:

Perfect fifteenth is also referred to as Double octave.

Degrees

Intervals are sometimes referred to as degrees and are listed below:

All names have their explanations. Tonic is the central note of a key and the name are close related to tone and tonal music. Submediant is called so because it lies halfway between the upper tonic (P8) and the subdominant (P4).

Appendix A

Examples of intervals.
Major second: C-D, G-A
Minor third: C-Eb, G-Bb
Major third: C-E, G-B
Perfect fourth: C-F, G-C
Perfect fifth: C-G, G-D
Major sixth: C-A, G-E
Minor seventh: C-Bb, G-F
Major seventh: C-B, G-F#

Appendix B

Augmented and diminished intervals (alternate names of the minor, major and perfect intervals).
d2: Diminished unison
A1: Augmented unison
d3: Diminished third
A2: Augmented second
d4: Diminished fourth
A3: Augmented third
d5: Diminished fifth (tritone)
A4: Augmented fourth (tritone)
d6: Diminished sixth
A5: Augmented fifth
d7: Diminished seventh
A6: Augmented sixth
d8: Diminished octave
A7: Augmented seventh