Interval Ear Training: 4 Amazing Games [Online Ear Trainer]

Online ear trainer

Are you ready to take your musical ear to the next level? Welcome to our online ear trainer using 4 amazing games. They are free and work on mobile devices:

1. Ascending intervals
2. Descending intervals
3. Harmonic intervals: at the same time
4. Mixed intervals: ascending, descending and harmonic

Learn more about the interval ear training games below.

What is a music interval?

A music interval is the distance between two notes. To understand music intervals you first need to understand the musical notes:

• Learn the musical notes from scratch.
• YouTube: Learn the musical notes.

Now that you know all the basics about musical notes, let's learn more about intervals. We will use the basic notes without accidentals:

• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G

An interval is made up of a quantity name (such as third) and a quality name (such as major). First, let's learn the quantities.

The distance between A and B is called a "second", because B is the second note name after A. The note C would be the third note after A, so C is a "third" from A. As you can notice, D is a "fourth" from A, and so on.

Accidentals (such as sharps and flats) don't count when you are naming the quantities of intervals. C will always be a "third" from A, even if it is C# or Cb. 

An "octave" is a well known interval because it is the same note name but higher in pitch:

• A to B: second
• A to C: third
• A to D: fourth
• A to E: fifth
• A to F: sixth
• A to G: seventh
• A to A: octave 

Interval types

There are three main types of music intervals:

1. Perfect consonances: fourths, fifths and octaves
2. Imperfect consonances: thirds and sixths
3. Dissonances: seconds and sevenths

When we take into account the accidentals (sharps and flats), we use a quality name to represent the interval. For example:

• A to B: major second
• A to Bb: minor second
• A to B#: augmented second

We use these quality names:

• diminished
• minor
• major
• perfect
• augmented

Not all the intervals (quantities) can use all the quality names:

• Perfect consonances: only use "perfect"
• Imperfect consonances and dissonances: only use "minor" and "major"

All the intervals can be diminished and augmented.

These are the intervals in a C major scale:

• C to D: major second
• C to E: major third
• C to F: perfect fourth
• C to G: perfect fifth
• C to A: major sixth
• C to B: major seventh

Use the C major scale as a guide. Minor intervals are half a step lower than a major interval (C to Db). Diminished intervals are half a step lower than minor and perfect intervals (C to Fb). Augmented intervals are half a step higher than major and perfect intervals (C to G#).

Interval ear training games

Practice and improve your musical ear with these free games. Learn how to recognize ascending, descending and harmonic intervals. Practice every day and soon you will have musical superpowers.

You can login with your Facebook account to save your progress and scores.

As a musician, it will be very useful to recognize all the intervals. These games use levels to train your ear:

1. Perfect fourths and fifths
2. Adds octaves
3. Minor and major thirds
4. Adds minor sixth
5. Adds major sixth
6. Minor and major seconds
7. Adds the tritone (augmented fourth or diminished fifth)
8. Adds minor seventh
9. Adds major seventh
10. All the intervals

Solving problems with the games

The games have been tested throughly using many devices. If you use a modern device with a modern browser, you should not have any problems. These tips might help:

• On mobile devices, Facebook uses a built-in browser which does not support the technology to play these games. If you came here from Facebook and the games are not working, please copy the link and paste it on your favorite browser.
• If the games load, but you don't hear any sound, please check the volume of your device 

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