The Different Types of Intervals
Whether you’re a professional musician or just starting out. Intervals are an essential building block for melody and harmony.
What is an Interval?
An interval is simply the distance between two notes. There are 4 different types of intervals the are determined by the number of notes in between the two pitches. They are Perfect Intervals, Major/Minor Intervals, Augmented/Diminished Intervals, and Compound Intervals.
Perfect Intervals:
Perfect intervals are known for their strong stable sound and are often found within many types of chords.
These Intervals include: Unison, Perfect Fourth, and a Perfect Fifth.
Major and Minor Intervals:
Major and minor intervals also play a role when it comes to making many different types of chords. These intervals often make up the quality of the chord. Where a Major chord sounds bright, happy, and uplifting, a Minor chord sounds dark, or sad.
These intervals include the major second, major third, minor sixth, and minor seventh intervals.
Augmented and Diminished Intervals
These intervals are alterations of perfect, major and minor intervals. Augmented Intervals are larger than its perfect or major interval, while Diminished Intervals are smaller.
The Sounds of Different Intervals
Being able to identify the various intervals by ear can be very beneficial when it comes to music. It can help you reverse engineer a lot of the melodies and chords you hear.
Luckily there are some tools to help you identify each one.
Below is a list of references that highlight each of the intervals to help you make connections by ear.
Unison:
Minor Second
Major Second
Minor Third
Major Third
Perfect Fourth
Perfect Fifth