Interval ear training teaches you to hear the distance between two notes, the skill behind playing by ear, sight-singing and transcribing. Take the free interval test below: hear an interval, name it on the chart and see which intervals you confuse. You can also sing intervals into your microphone, or use the interval detector to name any two notes.

Related Tools

Pitch Matching Game
Hear a note and sing it back: the step before singing intervals.
Pitch Accuracy Checker
Measure how in tune you sing, note by note.
Scale Finder
See the intervals that build every major, minor and modal scale.
Chord Progression Analyzer
Type chords and see their Roman numerals and functions.
Note Finder
Find out which single note you are playing or singing.
Pitch Detector
Live pitch of any voice or instrument in Hz and cents.

How to Use the Interval Ear Trainer

Identify (the interval quiz): pick a preset in Settings, press Start training and listen. Press the interval you heard on the chart, or its number key. Wrong answers show the right one, a reference song, and buttons to hear the correct answer and your answer side by side.
Sing: allow the microphone. The trainer plays a note and asks for an interval above or below it, for example a perfect 5th above A3. Sing and hold the note; after about a second you get the interval you actually sang and the error in cents.
Detector: tap two keys on the piano, or press Listen and sing or play two notes one after the other. It names the interval, its semitones, its other names and how in tune it was.
Progress: your accuracy for every interval and a confusion table of the intervals you mix up, saved in this browser. One button builds a practice set from your weakest intervals.

Shortcuts: keys 1–9 and 0 answer (the chart shows each key), Space replays the interval, Enter goes to the next question and H plays the correct answer again.

The 12 Intervals and Songs to Remember Them

An interval is counted in semitones (half steps). Within one octave there are twelve, each with a name and a typical sound. Reference songs give you a quick hook while you learn; the table is the same list the trainer shows after every answer.

Semitones are equal-tempered half steps. Songs are memory hooks: after a few weeks you should recognise the sound of the interval itself.
Interval	Semitones	From C	Ascending song	Descending song
Minor 2nd (m2)	1	C–D♭	“Jaws” theme	“Für Elise”
Major 2nd (M2)	2	C–D	“Happy Birthday”	“Mary Had a Little Lamb”
Minor 3rd (m3)	3	C–E♭	“Greensleeves”	“Hey Jude”
Major 3rd (M3)	4	C–E	“When the Saints Go Marching In”	“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
Perfect 4th (P4)	5	C–F	“Here Comes the Bride”	“O Come, All Ye Faithful”
Tritone (TT)	6	C–F♯	“The Simpsons” theme	–
Perfect 5th (P5)	7	C–G	“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”	“The Flintstones” theme
Minor 6th (m6)	8	C–A♭	“The Entertainer”	–
Major 6th (M6)	9	C–A	“My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”	“Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”
Minor 7th (m7)	10	C–B♭	“Somewhere” (West Side Story)	–
Major 7th (M7)	11	C–B	“Take On Me” (chorus)	–
Octave (P8)	12	C–C	“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”	–

Take the Interval Test: Ascending, Descending and Harmonic

Melodic intervals play one note after the other, going up (ascending) or down (descending). Harmonic intervals play both notes together, as in a chord, so you judge the colour of the sound instead of the jump: a major third sounds bright, a minor second clashes, a perfect fifth sounds open and stable.

Start with the Beginner preset (perfect 4th, perfect 5th and octave), ascending only. When you score 90% twice, move to Intermediate (seven common intervals), then All in an octave, then add descending and harmonic questions. The Compound preset goes up to two octaves: a 9th is an octave plus a 2nd, a 10th an octave plus a 3rd, and so on. Six semitones are called the tritone, written as an augmented 4th or a diminished 5th depending on the notes.

Sing the Interval With Your Microphone

Hearing an interval and producing it are different skills, and singing trains both. In Sing mode the trainer plays a root note, you sing the requested interval, and the pitch engine measures the note you hold. The result shows the interval you really sang and how far it was from the target in cents (hundredths of a semitone). Normal grading accepts ±25 cents; Strict needs ±15.

If you cannot yet hold a steady single note, warm up with the pitch matching game first. Headphones help, and you can press Hear the target when you are stuck.

Interval Detector: What Interval Is This?

Use the detector when you want to know the interval between two notes you hear, play or read. Tap two keys, or sing or play two notes into the microphone with a short gap. It shows the interval name and direction, the number of semitones, the other spellings (for example a minor 3rd is also an augmented 2nd), the simple frequency ratio such as 3:2 for a fifth, and whether the pair was wide or narrow in cents. Notes and their frequencies are listed in the musical note frequency chart, and why equal-tempered intervals differ slightly from pure ratios is covered in intonation and temperament explained.

To find the notes of a recorded song first, load it into the audio file pitch detector. String players can train intervals here and check each open string with the violin tuner.

Reading Your Progress and Confusion Table

The confusion table lists the interval that was played in each row and what you answered in each column, so repeated mistakes stand out. These pairs are the usual suspects:

Minor 3rd vs major 3rd: dark versus bright. Sing “Greensleeves” and “When the Saints” back to back.
Perfect 4th vs perfect 5th: the 4th feels like it wants to move on, the 5th sounds finished.
Tritone vs 4th or 5th: the tritone sits exactly between them and sounds unstable.
Major 7th vs octave: the major 7th is one semitone short and pulls upward.
Minor 6th vs major 6th: bittersweet versus warm; think of a minor chord against a major one.

Smart practice (on by default) plays the intervals you miss more often, and Practise the ones I missed starts a new session with only those.

A 10-Minute Daily Practice Plan

Two minutes of Identify on your current preset, ascending only.
Three minutes on the same set with descending and harmonic questions switched on.
Three minutes of Sing mode with the same intervals, on Easy until you pass 80%.
Two minutes on your weakest pair from the confusion table.
Change the sound between piano, guitar and pure tone so you learn the interval, not the instrument.

Short daily sessions beat one long weekly session because auditory memory is built by repetition. For chords, scales and rhythm, see the ear training guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is interval ear training?

Practice in recognising and singing the distance between two notes by ear. It builds relative pitch, which lets you work out melodies and chords without an instrument.

How long does it take to learn intervals by ear?

With about ten minutes a day, most people recognise the beginner intervals within one to two weeks and all intervals within an octave within two to three months. Descending and harmonic intervals take longer.

Is a tritone an augmented 4th or a diminished 5th?

Both: they sound the same on a piano (six semitones) and are spelled differently. C to F♯ is an augmented 4th; C to G♭ is a diminished 5th.

What are compound intervals?

Intervals larger than an octave. A major 9th is an octave plus a major 2nd (14 semitones), a perfect 12th is an octave plus a fifth (19 semitones) and a perfect 15th is two octaves.

Can the interval detector hear my voice or instrument?

Yes, any single note with a clear pitch: voice, whistle, guitar, violin, piano or wind instruments. Play the notes one at a time; chords are not split into separate notes.

Is my microphone recorded?

No. Sound is analysed live in your browser and never leaves your device. Only your settings and progress are stored, in your browser’s local storage.

Interval Ear Training

Interval Ear Trainer