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Interval explorer

Choose a bottom note and an interval. Both notes appear on the staff and the keyboard, the semitones between them are counted for you, and you can hear the interval one note after the other or both together.

Interval explorer

Try it

Hear an interval

Pick a bottom note and a distance. Play it melodically, then harmonically — the same interval sounds quite different each way.

Bottom note
Interval
CE
CDEFGABC
C to E is a major third — 4 semitones.

Reading an interval name

An interval has two parts. The number counts letter names, both ends included: C up to E spans C, D and E, so it is a third. The quality — major, minor, perfect, augmented or diminished — comes from the exact size in semitones. C to E is four semitones, a major third; C to E♭ is three, a minor third. Same letters, different quality.

That is why the explorer spells the top note from the letters rather than picking the nearest black key: a minor third above E♭ is G♭, not F♯, even though they are the same key.

Every interval inside an octave

IntervalShortSemitonesFrom C
Perfect unisonP10C → C
Minor secondm21C → D♭
Major secondM22C → D
Minor thirdm33C → E♭
Major thirdM34C → E
Perfect fourthP45C → F
Augmented fourthA46C → F♯
Diminished fifthd56C → G♭
Perfect fifthP57C → G
Minor sixthm68C → A♭
Major sixthM69C → A
Minor seventhm710C → B♭
Major seventhM711C → B
Perfect octaveP812C → C

Hearing them apart is a separate skill from naming them on paper. The interval ear training lesson has a method for it; this explorer is the place to practise.

Learn the idea behind it

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