Interval Ear Trainer
This interval ear trainer plays two notes for you to name the interval between them — from a unison all the way up to an octave. Play them ascending, descending, or harmonic (both at once), start with a handful of intervals and work up to all thirteen, and lean on the reference-song hints (a perfect fifth is “Twinkle, Twinkle”) until your ear does it on its own. The pitches are exact 12-tone equal temperament with A4 = 440 Hz.
ℹ This is an uncalibrated practice aid, not a test, exam, or measurement. Your score is a personal practice metric that depends on your ears, your headphones, and the room — it is not a certification of ability. Music-theory interval names are exact in 12-TET (A4 = 440), but how an interval “feels” is subjective and the song hints are mnemonics, not rules. Use a moderate volume, and ideally headphones. Your scores are stored only in your own browser — nothing is uploaded.
Set up your practice
Press Play interval to hear two notes, then choose the name below.
How It Works
An interval is the distance in pitch between two notes, measured in semitones. This trainer picks a random root note within a comfortable middle range, then builds a second note a set number of semitones away. It plays them with a clean fade so there are no clicks, you pick the name, and it tells you whether you were right — with a song hint to anchor the sound in memory. Regular practice builds relative pitch, the ability to judge the interval between any two tones without needing an absolute reference, which is one of the most practical aural skills for musicians, composers, and producers alike. Ear training through interval recognition is a cornerstone of music theory study, and this kind of relative pitch practice is something almost anyone can develop with consistent daily sessions. You can pair this trainer with the interval calculator to cross-check frequency ratios and cents values for any interval you find tricky.
The thirteen intervals
From smallest to largest within one octave: unison (0 semitones), minor 2nd (1), major 2nd (2), minor 3rd (3), major 3rd (4), perfect 4th (5), tritone (6), perfect 5th (7), minor 6th (8), major 6th (9), minor 7th (10), major 7th (11), and octave (12). Each is a fixed frequency ratio in equal temperament: every semitone multiplies the frequency by the twelfth root of two (about 1.0595), so an octave is exactly a 2:1 ratio. In older tuning systems such as just intonation, intervals like the perfect fifth have slightly different ratios (3:2 exactly, versus the 12-TET approximation of about 1.498); this trainer uses standard 12-TET throughout.
Direction matters
Ascending plays the lower note first, descending plays the higher note first, and harmonic sounds both together so you judge the interval from the blend. Many people find descending intervals and the harmonic tritone the hardest, which is exactly why mixing them in is good practice. Start on Easy (just the perfect fifth, perfect fourth and octave), and add intervals as your accuracy climbs. If you want to practise recognising intervals within real chords rather than isolated pairs, the chord recognition trainer is a natural next step.
Using the song hints
Reference songs are a classic shortcut: the opening leap of a familiar tune is the interval. A perfect fourth opens “Here Comes the Bride”; an octave opens “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”; a minor second is the Jaws theme. After each answer the trainer shows the song so you can hum it back. They are memory aids, not theory — once the interval’s character is in your ear you will stop needing them. Different ear-training traditions use different mnemonics, and you can substitute any song whose opening interval you know well; what matters is that the association is vivid and immediate for you.