Salford Piano Studio

Trial Lesson

Specific Intervals

Every generic interval can take various forms, those are called Interval Quality.

The 5 kinds of interval quality:

  • Perfect
  • Major
  • Minor
  • Augmented
  • Diminished 

Perfect Intervals

There are four Perfect Intervals:

  • Perfect Unison (P1)
  • Perfect Fourth (P4)
  • Perfect Fifth (P5)
  • Perfect Octave (P8)
A perfect unison, perfect fourth, perfect fifth and perfect octave on treble staff
a piano keyboard showing how to play a perfect unison, perfect fourth, perfect fifth and perfect octave

Major Intervals

There are four Major Intervals:

  • Major Second (M2)
  • Major Third (M3)
  • Major Sixth (M6)
  • Major Seventh (M7)
A major second, major third, major sixth and major seventh on treble staff
a piano keyboard showing how to play a major second, major third, major sixth and major seventh

Minor Intervals

The four Minor Intervals are:

  • Minor Second (m2)
  • Minor Third (m3)
  • Minor Sixth (m6)
  • Minor Seventh (m7)
A minor second, minor third, minor sixth and minor seventh on treble staff
a piano keyboard showing how to play a minor second, minor third, minor sixth and minor seventh

Augmented And Diminished Intervals

Perfect intervals are never Major or Minors, but they can be further augmented (made larger) or diminished (made smaller).

The same is true for Major and Minor intervals. Major intervals can be augmented, and Minor intervals can be diminished.

The Tritone

The interval between a perfect fourth and a perfect fifth is called a Tritone.

By augmenting a perfect fourth we get C – F♯, and by diminishing a perfect fifth we get C – G♭.

While both are Tritones, they are written as either A4 (augmented 4th) or D5 (diminished 5th).

an augmented fourth next to a diminished fifth on treble staff
a piano keyboard showing how to play augmented fourth and diminished fifth a

Examples of Augmented and Diminished Intervals

While Augmented and Diminished intervals are used in more advanced and complicated music, they’re still useful to know. Let’s have a look at a few examples.

  • Augmented Second (C – D♯)
  • Diminished Fourth (C – F♭)
  • Diminished Seventh (C – B♭♭)
an augmented second next to a diminished fourth and a diminished seventh on treble staff
a piano keyboard showing how to play augmented second, diminished fourth and diminished seventh