Musician's Phrasebook
Interval
The distance in pitch between two notes, like a third, fifth, or octave.
Why it matters
Intervals are the building blocks of every chord and melody — once you can hear them, you hear music differently.
Used in a sentence
“That's a perfect fifth between those two notes.”
Digging deeper
Pick any two notes and measure the exact semitone distance between them — that distance has a name: a third, a fifth, an octave, and so on. Every chord and scale on this site is really just a stack of intervals.
Common questions
Do I need to know interval names to play by ear?
Not to start, but it speeds everything up — once you can hear “that's a fifth,” you can find it on any string instantly.
What's the difference between an interval and a scale?
An interval is the distance between two notes. A scale is a whole set of notes built from a repeating pattern of intervals stacked in order.
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