Minor Third
Three semitones, and the note that makes a chord minor. Together with the major third it accounts for the single biggest emotional distinction in Western music, and the two are one semitone apart.
- 3 semitones
- 6:5
- dark
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What it is
Three semitones, a ratio of six to five. Stack a minor third under a major third and you get a minor triad. Stack two minor thirds and you get a diminished triad. It is one of the two building blocks that every chord on this site is made from.
How to recognise it
Darker and more closed than the major third, though the word sad only makes sense once you have heard the two next to each other.
The reliable way to learn an interval is to hear it against a drone on the root, not to hunt for a song that starts with it. A song hook fixes the interval in one direction, one register and one rhythm, and the moment it turns up somewhere else you are back to guessing.
Where it shows up
In every minor chord, as the middle note. In the minor pentatonic scale, between the root and the second note, which is why that scale sounds the way it does. In diminished chords, stacked repeatedly.
What it gets confused with
With the major third, one semitone wider. Toggle between them on the same root here and the distinction becomes automatic faster than any other pair.
Keep going
Everything in intervals
- Major Third
- Minor Third
- Major Sixth
- Minor Sixth