Advanced Intervals

Now that we have looked at the intervals in the major and minor scales, we have covered almost all of the intervals possible within an octave. The chart below includes the minor 2nd and tritone to round out the collection.

A minor second is simply one half step away from the starting note, and a tritone is an interval of three whole steps (or three tones, hence the name 'tritone'). The tritone falls between the perfect 4th and perfect 5th, so it can also be called an augmented 4th or diminished 5th. Also, the tritone is significant because it is 6 half steps and thus divides the octave exactly in half.

When intervals occur that are greater than an octave, you simply keep counting up as if the scale continued. The trick is that you can't simply add intervals together numerically by the interval names: an octave plus a major 3rd is not a major 11th as you might expect, but a major 10th. But, you can add intervals if you think of them in half steps: 12 half steps + 4 half steps = 16 half steps.

Complimentary Intervals

Two intervals are considered complimentary when they add up to an octave. If you think of the intervals in terms of their half-steps, any two intervals that add up to 12 are considered complimentary. On the other hand, if you think of them in terms of their scale degrees, they should add up to 9, and minor intervals should be paired with major intervals. For example, a minor 3rd (3 half steps) and a major 6th (9 half steps) are complimentary, as are a major 7th (11 half steps) and a minor 2nd (1 half step). A perfect 4th and a perfect 5th are complimentary, and the tritone is its own compliment because it divides the octave in half.

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