Interval · m3 · 3 half steps
The minor third
A minor third is 3 half steps wide, spanning three letter names: C to E♭. The bottom of a minor chord, and the top of a major one.
- Half steps3
- Letter names3
- From CC–E♭
- Inverts tomajor sixth
The minor third on the staff
An interval’s number counts letter names from the bottom note to the top, both included: C, D and E is three, a third. On the staff, both notes are on lines or both in spaces: from a line, it lands on the next line up; from a space, on the next space up.
The number alone doesn’t make it a minor third: minor means exactly 3 half steps. Check for sharps and flats, including the key signature: D–F is a minor third, but change one note by a half step and the same third on the staff becomes a major third 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 third is the 3rd key up, E♭.
From a white key, a third up is the white key after next (skip one). Count the half steps to tell minor (3) from major (4): D–F, E–G, A–C and B–D are the minor ones.
On the white keys alone, the minor thirds are D–F, E–G, A–C and B–D.
How a minor third sounds
A minor third has a soft, slightly dark or wistful colour. It’s the interval that makes a minor chord minor: the same chord with a major third at the bottom sounds bright instead.
In harmony, it’s an imperfect consonance: sweet and settled, with a colour (major or minor).
Tunes that start with it
- Greensleeves starts with a minor third up: A to C.
- Brahms’ Lullaby (Wiegenlied) repeats its first note and then rises a minor third.
- Hey Jude by the Beatles opens with a minor third down, on the two words of its title.
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
Every triad is two thirds stacked up. A minor chord has a minor third at the bottom (A–C in A minor) and a major third on top (C–E); a major chord has them the other way round, so C–E–G has a minor third between E and G. Reading thirds at a glance is how you read chords.
Turned upside down, with the bottom note moved up an octave, a minor third becomes a major sixth: 3 and 9 half steps make an octave, and the letter numbers always add up to nine (3 + 6).
To read it fast in real music, practise intervals the way you read words: as shapes. Level 2: right hand skipping thirds in the free sight-reading exercises has plenty of them.
Quiz: the minor third
Ten questions: name the interval on the staff, among its neighbours, and play a minor third above a written note on the piano below, a MIDI keyboard or your computer keys.
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A minor third above every note
| From | A minor third up |
|---|---|
| C | E♭ |
| C♯ | E |
| D | F |
| E♭ | G♭ |
| E | G |
| F | A♭ |
| F♯ | A |
| G | B♭ |
| A♭ | C♭ |
| A | C |
| B♭ | D♭ |
| B | D |
Each one is spelt with the 3rd letter up, which is why some need a sharp or flat that looks unusual, like A♭ up to C♭.
Questions
How many half steps are in a minor third?
3 half steps. Count every key, black and white, from the bottom note up to the top one: C to E♭ is a minor third.
What is a minor third above C?
E♭. It’s spelt with the 3rd letter up from C (C, D and E), so it’s written E♭ rather than D♯, though both are the same key.
What is the inversion of a minor third?
A major sixth. Move the bottom note up an octave and the three half steps become nine: minor third and major sixth add up to an octave.
How do you recognise a minor third on the staff?
Both notes are on lines or both in spaces: from a line, it lands on the next line up; from a space, on the next space up. 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 third?
Greensleeves starts with a minor third up: A to C.
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.