Interval · m2 · 1 half step
The minor second
A minor second is 1 half step wide, spanning two letter names: C to D♭. The smallest interval in Western music.
- Half steps1
- Letter names2
- From CC–D♭
- Inverts tomajor seventh
The minor second on the staff
An interval’s number counts letter names from the bottom note to the top, both included: C and D is two, a second. On the staff, one note is on a line and the other in the space right next to it. Played together, the two heads can’t sit one above the other, so they’re written side by side, touching the stem from either side.
The number alone doesn’t make it a minor second: minor means exactly 1 half step. Check for sharps and flats, including the key signature: E–F is a minor second, but change one note by a half step and the same second on the staff becomes a major second or something rarer.
Each example below plays the two notes one after the other (a melodic interval), then together (a harmonic interval).
On the piano
Count half steps: every key, black or white, is one half step from the next. From middle C, the minor second is the 1st key up, D♭. That’s the very next key, with nothing between.
Use two neighbouring fingers on two neighbouring keys. On white keys it only happens twice in each octave, at E–F and B–C, where there is no black key between.
On the white keys alone, the minor seconds are E–F and B–C.
How a minor second sounds
Played one after the other, a minor second sounds like a slide or a sigh: the smallest step a melody can take. Played together, the two notes rub against each other with a buzzing clash, the harshest sound two keys can make.
In harmony, it’s a dissonance: the two notes clash and want to move.
Tunes that start with it
- The shark’s theme from Jaws is two notes a minor second apart, played again and again, faster and faster.
- Beethoven’s Für Elise opens with E falling to D♯ and back: a minor second down and up.
Hum the tune’s first two notes and you have the interval: a quick way to sing one before you play it.
Where you’ll meet it
In a major scale there are two minor seconds: from the 3rd note to the 4th (E–F in C major) and from the 7th note to the top (B–C). That last one, the leading note rising to the home note, is why a scale sounds finished when it gets to the top. Minor seconds also fill in the gaps of melodies as chromatic passing notes.
Turned upside down, with the bottom note moved up an octave, a minor second becomes a major seventh: 1 and 11 half steps make an octave, and the letter numbers always add up to nine (2 + 7).
To read it fast in real music, practise intervals the way you read words: as shapes. Level 1: right hand moving by step in the free sight-reading exercises has plenty of them.
Quiz: the minor second
Ten questions: name the interval on the staff, among its neighbours, and play a minor second above a written note on the piano below, a MIDI keyboard or your computer keys.
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A minor second above every note
| From | A minor second up |
|---|---|
| C | D♭ |
| C♯ | D |
| D | E♭ |
| E♭ | F♭ |
| E | F |
| F | G♭ |
| F♯ | G |
| G | A♭ |
| G♯ | A |
| A | B♭ |
| B♭ | C♭ |
| B | C |
Each one is spelt with the 2nd letter up, which is why some need a sharp or flat that looks unusual, like E♭ up to F♭.
Questions
How many half steps are in a minor second?
1 half step. Count every key, black and white, from the bottom note up to the top one: C to D♭ is a minor second.
What is a minor second above C?
D♭. It’s spelt with the 2nd letter up from C (C and D), so it’s written D♭ rather than C♯, though both are the same key.
What is the inversion of a minor second?
A major seventh. Move the bottom note up an octave and the one half steps become eleven: minor second and major seventh add up to an octave.
How do you recognise a minor second on the staff?
One note is on a line and the other in the space right next to it. Played together, the two heads can’t sit one above the other, so they’re written side by side, touching the stem from either side. That tells you the letter distance; then check the sharps, flats and key signature to tell major from minor.
What song starts with a minor second?
The shark’s theme from Jaws is two notes a minor second apart, played again and again, faster and faster.
Hear every interval in real music
Pianomi, a free sight-reading app for piano, writes new pieces at your level and listens to your MIDI keyboard, so intervals become shapes you read without counting.