Music Intervals Chart (Free Printable)
All 13 intervals from unison to octave, each with its semitone count, its quality label, an example note pair from C, and a diagram showing it on the staff and on the keyboard. Pick treble or bass clef, then hit Print or Download PDF for the whole set on one page, no signup.
Prints on one US Letter page. Set margins to "None" for the sharpest result.
Music Intervals Chart
All 13 intervals, unison to octave · measured up from middle C · Treble clef
printablepolly.com/intervals-chart
How to Name Any Interval
1. Count the letters to get the number
Start on the bottom note and count every letter name up to the top one, including both ends. C up to G is C, D, E, F, G — five letters, so it is a 5th. Accidentals are ignored at this stage: C–G, C–G♭ and C♯–G are all 5ths, because a sharp or a flat never changes which letter you landed on. This is the step most people get wrong, and it is why an augmented 4th and a diminished 5th are different names for the same six semitones.
2. Count the semitones to get the quality
Now count keys on a piano — black and white alike — from the bottom note up, not counting the one you start on. Four semitones for a 3rd makes it major; three makes it minor. The chart's semitone column is the whole lookup: find your number of semitones, read off the name. Working it out on a keyboard is faster than it sounds, and the note values chart covers the other half of reading a piece — how long each of those notes lasts.
3. Learn which family the number belongs to
Unisons, 4ths, 5ths and octaves are perfect — they have no major or minor version. Everything else — 2nds, 3rds, 6ths and 7ths — comes in a major and a minor size a semitone apart. Get that split straight and half the vocabulary disappears: there is no such thing as a major 5th or a perfect 3rd.
4. Diminished and augmented are one semitone either side
Squeeze a perfect or a minor interval by a semitone and it becomes diminished. Stretch a perfect or a major one by a semitone and it becomes augmented. Because those two live outside the 13 basic sizes, the chart puts them in the ladder along the bottom of the sheet rather than in the table. In real music they show up mostly as the diminished 5th in a diminished triad and the augmented 2nd in the harmonic minor scale you can play from the piano scales chart.
5. Use the rule of 9 to halve the work
Flip an interval over — move the bottom note up an octave — and the old and new numbers add up to nine. A major 3rd becomes a minor 6th, a perfect 4th becomes a perfect 5th, a minor 2nd becomes a major 7th. So the top half of the chart is the bottom half upside down, and you only ever have to memorise as far as the tritone. The same flip is what turns a chord into its inversions, and the perfect 5th it leaves alone is the step the circle of fifths is built from.
6. Practise by writing them, not just reading them
Take a row off the chart, sing the two notes, then write the same interval from three other starting notes on blank staff paper. Writing forces you to spell it — a minor 6th above E is C, not B♯ — which is the part reading a chart never teaches. The music theory basics sheet has the key signatures and dynamics that sit around them on the page.
Printable PDF
The chart above is the whole thing — 13 intervals, semitone counts, qualities and both diagrams, on one US Letter page. Print the treble sheet and the bass sheet for a complete two-page reference. No signup, no watermark.
Make this chart last
A chart that lives on the music stand wants 65 lb cardstock, and laminating it means a student can circle intervals with a dry-erase pen and wipe them off. Our guide to the best printing supplies for charts and worksheets compares the cardstock, ink, laminating pouches and sheet protectors worth buying.
More Printable Music Charts
Circle of Fifths
The perfect 5th, twelve times over
🎶Note Values Chart
Whole to sixteenth notes & rests
🎵Music Theory Basics
Notes, keys, dynamics & tempo
🎼Staff Paper
Blank staves to write intervals out on
🎹Chord Inversions
Intervals stacked into triads
🎹Piano Scales
The scales these intervals come from
🎼Key Signatures Chart
All 15 keys in treble & bass clef
🎼Bass Clef Notes
Lines, spaces & ledger notes named
FAQ
What is an interval in music?
The distance between two notes. It is named with two things at once: a number, which counts the letter names from the bottom note to the top one inclusive, and a quality — perfect, major, minor, diminished or augmented — which pins down the exact size in semitones. C up to G spans C D E F G, five letters, so it is some kind of 5th; it measures seven semitones, which makes it a perfect 5th.
How many intervals are there?
Thirteen inside one octave, counting the unison and the octave itself — one for every semitone from 0 to 12, which is exactly what this chart prints. Anything wider is a compound interval and is usually named as the simple interval plus an octave: a 9th is a 2nd plus an octave, an 11th is a 4th plus an octave.
How do you count the semitones in an interval?
Count the keys, black and white, from the bottom note up to the top note, and do not count the note you start on. C up to E passes C♯, D, D♯ and lands on E — four semitones, a major 3rd. Counting the letter names is a separate job: C D E is three letters, so it is a 3rd. You need both numbers, which is why the chart prints them side by side.
What is the difference between a major and a minor interval?
One semitone. A minor interval is a major one made a semitone smaller without changing its letter names: C–E is a major 3rd at four semitones, C–E♭ is a minor 3rd at three. Only 2nds, 3rds, 6ths and 7ths come in major and minor pairs.
Which intervals are perfect, and why?
The unison, 4th, 5th and octave. They have no major or minor version — a 5th is either perfect, diminished or augmented. The name is inherited from medieval theory, where these were the consonances used to harmonise a melody, and it survives because they are the intervals that stay the same size in both the major and the minor scale.
What is a diminished interval and what is an augmented interval?
A diminished interval is a semitone smaller than perfect or minor; an augmented interval is a semitone larger than perfect or major. The number never changes, only the quality: C–G is a perfect 5th, C–G♭ a diminished 5th, C–G♯ an augmented 5th, and all three are 5ths because all three span the letters C to G.
What is a tritone?
The six-semitone interval sitting exactly halfway across the octave — three whole tones, which is where the name comes from. It is the one interval on this chart with two correct spellings: written C–F♯ it is an augmented 4th, written C–G♭ it is a diminished 5th. The same pair of keys on a piano does both jobs, and it is the interval between the 3rd and the 7th of every dominant 7th chord.
What is interval inversion, and what is the rule of 9?
Move the bottom note up an octave and the interval flips: the two numbers always add up to nine. A 3rd inverts to a 6th, a 4th to a 5th, a 2nd to a 7th. The quality flips too — major becomes minor, diminished becomes augmented, and perfect stays perfect. That is why learning the seven intervals up to the tritone gets you the rest for free.
Is this music intervals chart free to print?
Yes. Pick treble or bass clef, then click Print or Download PDF and all 13 intervals land on one US Letter page. No signup, no watermark, and no limit on copies for a classroom or a studio.