Interval · m6 · 8 half steps
The minor sixth
A minor sixth is 8 half steps wide, spanning six letter names: C to A♭. A major third turned upside down; bittersweet.
- Half steps8
- Letter names6
- From CC–A♭
- Inverts tomajor third
The minor sixth on the staff
An interval’s number counts letter names from the bottom note to the top, both included: C, D, E, F, G and A is six, a sixth. On the staff, one note is on a line and the other in a space: from a line, it lands in the third space up; from a space, on the third line up.
The number alone doesn’t make it a minor sixth: minor means exactly 8 half steps. Check for sharps and flats, including the key signature: E–C is a minor sixth, but change one note by a half step and the same sixth on the staff becomes a major sixth 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 sixth is the 8th key up, A♭.
From a white key, a sixth up skips four white keys. E–C, A–F and B–G are minor sixths; the other white-key sixths are major.
On the white keys alone, the minor sixths are E–C, A–F and B–G.
How a minor sixth sounds
A minor sixth sounds warm but bittersweet, often a little yearning. Played together it’s rich and full; as a leap in a melody it feels like a reach that wants to fall back down a step.
In harmony, it’s an imperfect consonance: sweet and settled, with a colour (major or minor).
Tunes that start with it
- Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer: after its three rising pickup notes, the melody leaps from E up to C, a minor sixth.
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
A minor sixth is a major third turned upside down: E up to G♯ is a major third, so G♯ up to E is a minor sixth. In C major, E up to C is a minor sixth, the outer notes of the chord C–E–G played as E–G–C (first inversion).
Turned upside down, with the bottom note moved up an octave, a minor sixth becomes a major third: 8 and 4 half steps make an octave, and the letter numbers always add up to nine (6 + 3).
To read it fast in real music, practise intervals the way you read words: as shapes. Level 17: thirds and sixths in the free sight-reading exercises has plenty of them.
Quiz: the minor sixth
Ten questions: name the interval on the staff, among its neighbours, and play a minor sixth above a written note on the piano below, a MIDI keyboard or your computer keys.
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A minor sixth above every note
| From | A minor sixth up |
|---|---|
| C | A♭ |
| C♯ | A |
| D | B♭ |
| E♭ | C♭ |
| E | C |
| F | D♭ |
| F♯ | D |
| G | E♭ |
| A♭ | F♭ |
| A | F |
| B♭ | G♭ |
| B | G |
Each one is spelt with the 6th letter up, which is why some need a sharp or flat that looks unusual, like E♭ up to C♭.
Questions
How many half steps are in a minor sixth?
8 half steps, or 4 whole steps. Count every key, black and white, from the bottom note up to the top one: C to A♭ is a minor sixth.
What is a minor sixth above C?
A♭. It’s spelt with the 6th letter up from C (C, D, E, F, G and A), so it’s written A♭ rather than G♯, though both are the same key.
What is the inversion of a minor sixth?
A major third. Move the bottom note up an octave and the eight half steps become four: minor sixth and major third add up to an octave.
How do you recognise a minor sixth on the staff?
One note is on a line and the other in a space: from a line, it lands in the third space up; from a space, on the third line 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 sixth?
Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer: after its three rising pickup notes, the melody leaps from E up to C, a minor sixth.
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.