Intervals

In the last lesson, you learned how to identify all of the notes of the piano and saw that they repeat in a
pattern of octaves. Now, we find out how to label the relationship two notes have to one another based
on their distance, and how to use that knowledge to build scales and chords.

An interval is the difference in pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal,
linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody,
and vertical or harmonic if it pertains to simultaneously sounding tones, such as in a chord.

To practice away from the piano, think about the distances between notes (measured in half tones) in
your head or with a diagram. For example, if you ascended a major third from D flat (4 steps up), what
note would you land on? What about descending a minor sixth from F (8 steps down)? Learning to do
these sorts of musical calculations quickly is the most important skill involved in building chords.

You will notice that in addition to the formal names, intervals have numbers attached to them. As you’ll
see in the next section, every type of chord can be written using a formula of interval symbols. For
example, a major chord can be called a 1-3-5 chord, because it is built from the tonic, the major third,
and the perfect fifth.
 Chord Formulas
Chords are formed by stacking intervals on top of a root note. The most common and simple form of
chord is a triad, which contains three notes. All the basic triads are some variation of the structure 1-3-5.
While the root, 1, will remain constant in every variation, the alterations you make to the other notes of
the chord are what determine the sound. These should be the first chords you learn. Once you can play
major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads from any root note, move on to the full chord chart
below.

( ) = OPTIONAL NOTE
MAJOR
Chord Type Symbol Formula
Major M, Maj 1-3-5
Added Fourth add4 1-3-4-5
Sixth 6 1-3-5-6
Six Nine 6/9 1-3-5-6-9
Major 7th Maj7 1-3-5-7
Major Ninth Maj9 1-3-5-7-9
Major Eleventh Maj11 1-3-5-7- (9)-11
Major Thirteenth Maj13 1-3-5-7-(9)-(11)-13
Major seven
Maj7#11 1-3-5-7- #11
sharp eleventh
Major Flat Five - 1-3-b5

MINOR
Chord Type Symbol Formula
Minor m 1-b3-5
Minor added fourth madd4 1-b3-4-5
Minor sixth m6 1-b3-5-6
Minor seventh m7 1-b3-5-b7
Minor added ninth madd9 1-b3-5-9
Minor six add nine m6/9 1-b3-5-6-9
Minor ninth m9 1-b3-5-b7-9
Minor eleventh m11 1-b3-5-b7-(9)-11
Minor thirteenth m13 1-b3-5-b7-(9)-(11)-13
 Minor/Major seventh m/Maj7 1-b3-5-7
Minor/Major ninth m/Maj9 1-b3-5-7-9
Minor/Major eleventh m/Maj11 1-b3-5-7-(9)-11
Minor/Major thirteenth m/Maj13 1-b3-5-7-(9)-(11)-13
Minor seven flat fifth m7-5 or ø 1-b3-b5-b7

DOMINANT
Chord Type Symbol Formula
Seventh 7 1-3-5-b7
Ninth 9 1-3-5-b7-9
Eleventh 11 1-(3)-5-b7-(9)-11
Thirteenth 13 1-3-5-b7-(9)-(11)-13
Seven sharp five 7#5 1-3-#5-b7
Seven flat five 7b5 1-3-b5-b7
Seven flat ninth 7b9 1-3-5-b7-b9
Seven sharp ninth 7#9 1-3-5-b7-#9
Nine sharp five 9#5 1-3-#5-b7-9
Nine flat five 9b5 1-3-b5-b7-9
Seven sharp five sharp nine 7#5#9 1-3-#5-b7-#9
Seven sharp five flat nine 7#5b9 1-3-#5-b7-b9
Seven flat five sharp nine 7b5#9 1-3-b5-b7-#9
Seven flat five flat nine 7b5b9 1-3-b5-b7-b9
Seven sharp eleven 7#11 1-3-5-b7-#11

Symmetrical
Diminished dim (° ) 1-b3-b5
Diminished Seventh dim7 (°7) 1-b3-b5-bb7
Augmented aug (+) 1-3-#5