Music Intervals Explained: From Minor Second to Octave (With Chart)
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Third, fifth, seventh, octave. Watch any tutorial on chords or melodies and intervals come flying at you. It sounds like music school stuff, but the idea is simple: an interval is just the distance between two notes. Get that, and you also get why a chord sounds happy or dark, why a harmony sits right and how far you need to transpose your beat.
In this guide you'll learn every interval within an octave, how to count them in your piano roll and how to use them in your beats and vocals. You don't need to read sheet music.
The short answer
- An interval is the distance between two notes, counted in half steps (semitones).
- One octave has 12 half steps, so there are 13 intervals: from 0 (the same note) to 12 (the octave).
- The number in the name tells you how many letter names you move (second = 2, third = 3, fourth = 4 and so on). The word in front (minor, major, perfect) tells you the exact size.
- Chords are stacked intervals. A major chord is a major third with a minor third on top.
Counting in half steps
Everything in this guide is counted in half steps. On a keyboard or in your piano roll, every key is one half step, white or black. From C to C♯ is one half step, from C to D is two. There's no black key between E and F or between B and C: those are half steps too.
This works the same in every DAW, whether you use FL Studio, Logic Pro, Ableton or GarageBand. Click in your bottom note and count the keys up to your top note. The number you get is your interval.
Every interval within an octave
Here are all the intervals starting on C, so you can compare them easily. Want them on a different note? Count the same number of half steps up from that note.
| Half steps | Interval | From C | Often sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Unison | C, C | the same note |
| 1 | Minor second | C, D♭ | clashing, tense |
| 2 | Major second | C, D | a small step, slightly rubbing |
| 3 | Minor third | C, E♭ | dark, minor |
| 4 | Major third | C, E | bright, major |
| 5 | Perfect fourth | C, F | open, a little floaty |
| 6 | Tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth) | C, F♯ or G♭ | restless, tense |
| 7 | Perfect fifth | C, G | solid, stable |
| 8 | Minor sixth | C, A♭ | soft, melancholic |
| 9 | Major sixth | C, A | warm, sunny |
| 10 | Minor seventh | C, B♭ | bluesy, wants to move on |
| 11 | Major seventh | C, B | dreamy or sharp |
| 12 | Octave | C, C (higher) | the same note, higher |
The "often sounds" column is a direction, not a rule. How an interval sounds also depends on your sound, your register and whatever else is going on in your beat.
How the names work
It looks like a list you have to memorize, but there's logic behind it.
The number: how many letters you move
You count the letter names, and the note you start on counts too. From C to E is C, D, E: three letters, so a third. From C to G is C, D, E, F, G: five letters, so a fifth.
The word in front: minor, major or perfect
C to E♭ and C to E are both thirds, because you go from the letter C to the letter E. But one is 3 half steps and the other is 4. That's why you say minor third and major third.
- Seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths are minor or major.
- The unison, fourth, fifth and octave are called perfect.
- Make an interval a half step bigger than perfect or major and it becomes augmented. A half step smaller than perfect or minor is diminished.
That's why the interval of 6 half steps has two names. C to F♯ is an augmented fourth (letters C to F), C to G♭ is a diminished fifth (letters C to G). On your keyboard it's the same key. Together they're called the tritone, because it's exactly three whole steps.
The octave: the same note, twice as high
A note one octave higher has exactly double the frequency. The A that many instruments tune to is 440 Hz, the A an octave up is 880 Hz and an octave down is 220 Hz. Every half step up multiplies the frequency by about 1.0595. After 12 steps you land on exactly double.
That's why a low C and a high C sound like "the same" note, and why you can drop an 808 an octave without leaving your key. The free note to frequency chart shows the frequency of every note in every octave.
Inversions: every interval has a partner
Move the bottom note of an interval up an octave and you get its inversion. The two always add up to 12 half steps:
- major third (4) becomes minor sixth (8)
- minor third (3) becomes major sixth (9)
- perfect fifth (7) becomes perfect fourth (5)
- major second (2) becomes minor seventh (10)
- the tritone (6) stays a tritone
Good to know, because it shows why a chord in a different voicing is still the same chord. Chord inversions explained goes deeper into that.
Chords are stacked intervals
This is where it gets useful for your beats. Every chord is a stack of intervals above the root:
| Chord | Half steps | Intervals above the root | On C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major | 0, 4, 7 | major third + perfect fifth | C, E, G |
| Minor | 0, 3, 7 | minor third + perfect fifth | C, E♭, G |
| Diminished | 0, 3, 6 | minor third + diminished fifth | C, E♭, G♭ |
| Augmented | 0, 4, 8 | major third + augmented fifth | C, E, G♯ |
| Power chord (C5) | 0, 7 | just the perfect fifth | C, G |
| Sus4 | 0, 5, 7 | perfect fourth + perfect fifth | C, F, G |
| Dominant seventh (C7) | 0, 4, 7, 10 | major + minor seventh | C, E, G, B♭ |
| Major seventh (Cmaj7) | 0, 4, 7, 11 | major + major seventh | C, E, G, B |
See it? The only difference between major and minor is the third. One half step and your chord suddenly sounds dark. More on that in major vs minor explained. Take the third out completely and put a second or fourth in its place, and you get a sus chord. And what all those numbers in chord names mean is covered in how to read chord symbols.
How to use intervals in your beats and vocals
1. Transposing: half steps are your ruler
Is a beat too high or too low for your voice? Then you shift it by a number of half steps. Know your intervals and you know what you're doing: 2 half steps up is a major second, 5 is a fourth, 7 is a fifth and 12 is an octave. In the free Beat Lab you first find the key of your beat, then shift it up or down one half step at a time, at the same BPM. You see right away which key your beat ends up in.
2. Harmonies for your vocal
The most common harmony above a lead vocal is a third up. Whether that should be a major or minor third depends on the key: stay within the notes of your scale and it works out by itself. A fifth up sounds more open and bare, and an octave above or below makes your vocal fuller without adding a new melody. How to record and mix that is in how to make vocal harmonies.
3. Melodies: steps and leaps
A melody that mostly moves in seconds feels singable and easy to follow. Big leaps, like a sixth or an octave, stand out right away. A strong hook often uses both: a few small steps and one leap at the moment it needs to hit. On your next melody, listen for where your leaps are.
4. Your 808 and bass
Let your 808 glide from the root to the fifth or the octave and it stays solidly in key. A glide over a minor second or a tritone sounds tense and dark instead. Both work, as long as you choose it on purpose.
5. Chords that flow into each other
Chords whose roots are a fifth or a fourth apart often follow each other very naturally. That's exactly the interval the circle of fifths is built on.
Learning to hear intervals
You don't need to name intervals blind to make good beats. But training your ear does help. Here's how to start:
- Start with the big four. Learn the octave, the fifth, the major third and the minor third first. That's enough to hear the difference between major, minor and a power chord.
- Play them apart and together. Click two notes in your piano roll one after the other, then at the same time. Apart you hear a melody, together you hear a sound.
- Rebuild chords. Take a chord progression, find the third in each chord and listen to what happens when you move it by a half step.
- Sing along. Sing the bottom note, then the top one. Your voice learns the interval faster than your head.
Get started faster
Don't feel like counting everything by hand? With the free chord progression generator you pick a mood, key and tempo, listen right in your browser and download the MIDI with chords and a bass line on the root notes. Drag it into your DAW and look in your piano roll at which intervals make up each chord. Want to see which chords fit each key? Check chords by key.
Are you a rapper or singer who'd rather start writing than puzzle over chords? Check out the beats by NameOnTheBeat.
FAQ
What is an interval in music?
The distance between two notes. You count it in half steps: every key on a keyboard, white or black, is one half step.
How many intervals are there?
Within one octave there are 13: from the unison (0 half steps) to the octave (12 half steps). They keep going above that, like the ninth (a second plus an octave), which you'll see in chords like add9.
What's the difference between a minor and a major third?
A minor third is 3 half steps, a major third is 4. The minor third makes a chord minor, the major third makes it major.
Why is a fifth called a fifth when it's 7 half steps?
Because the name counts letter names, not half steps. From C to G is five letters: C, D, E, F, G. Five is a fifth.
What is a tritone?
The interval of 6 half steps, exactly half an octave. It sounds restless and is often used for tension. You'll find it in diminished chords, for example, and in dominant seventh chords, between the third and the seventh.
Do I need to know intervals to make beats?
No, but it helps. You understand faster why something does or doesn't work, and you can transpose, harmonize and tweak chords with more purpose.
Want more free help with your beats, like a BPM finder, master checker and rhyme finder? Check out all our free music tools.