| R (root) |
Home, grounded, complete |
The reference point everything else is measured against; no pull of its own |
Every scale and chord, in every genre — the tonic |
| ♭2 / ♭9 |
Spicy, tense, exotic, passionate |
A half-step above home; the closest, most urgent interval; demands resolution down into the root |
Flamenco, Phrygian modes, Middle Eastern and Balkan music, klezmer (freygish); altered-dominant ♭9 chords in jazz; a genre-defining sound in metal, often stacked over a tritone for maximum darkness |
| 2 / 9 |
Peaceful, open, hopeful, gentle |
A whole step out; passes through or hangs suspended; doesn't demand resolution |
Sus2 / add9 in pop and folk melodies; dominant 9th and add9 voicings are everywhere in blues, funk, and jazz comping — a 9 chord is practically funk's signature color |
| ♭3 |
Sad, wistful, nostalgic, bittersweet |
Defines the chord as minor |
Ubiquitous — defines "minor" in every genre, from classical and jazz to rock, pop, and metal. Also the classic blues "blue note," bent or slid into against a major backing |
| 3 |
Happy, bright, joyful, confident |
Defines the chord as major |
Equally ubiquitous — defines "major" in every genre; the bright half of nearly every style's harmonic vocabulary |
| 4 / 11 |
Uplifting, yearning, open |
Leans toward the 3rd or the 5th; a suspension that wants to move |
Sus4 chords in rock and pop power ballads; a mainstay of Celtic and modal folk melodies as a passing/drone tone |
| ♭5 / ♯11 |
Dissonant, dangerous, unstable |
Exact midpoint of the octave (the tritone) — inherently unstable; how much that instability dominates depends on what it's mixed into, not whether it's present |
Dim7 chords, tritone substitutions, and altered dominants in jazz; a signature interval of metal and horror/thriller scoring, where the tension is the main flavor. In Lydian's maj7♯11, the same edge is folded into an otherwise sweet, floating major chord in jazz and film scoring — still there, like chili stirred into something mostly sweet, just blended rather than dominant |
| 5 |
Stable, solid, essential yet neutral |
Reinforces the root without adding major/minor color |
The backbone of the power chord — arguably the single most-used interval in rock, punk, and metal riffing, plus drones across countless traditions worldwide |
| ♭6 / ♯5 |
Enchanting, secretive, mysterious |
As ♯5: floats between major and minor (augmented ambiguity). As ♭6: leans down into the 5th |
Augmented chords in jazz and Great American Songbook harmony; harmonic minor, Phrygian dominant, and double harmonic scales (flamenco, klezmer, Egyptian and Arabic maqam music); the same ambiguous, floating quality drives whole-tone harmony in Impressionist classical music |
| 6 / 13 |
Playful, affectionate, tender |
Adds warmth and sweetness without changing major/minor quality |
6/9 chords and Dorian mode in jazz and bossa nova comping; a warm staple in gospel and neo-soul voicings too |
| ♭7 |
Bluesy, soulful, gritty |
Defines dominant-7th / Mixolydian character; the classic V7 pull |
Dominant 7th chords, blues, and Mixolydian broadly; the twang of country and southern rock (Mixolydian licks); reggae's core minor/dominant-7 chord vocabulary; a funk and R&B staple in dominant 9/13 voicings |
| 7 |
Spiritual, yearning, otherworldly |
The leading tone — the strongest pull of all, a half-step below home |
Major7 chords in bebop, gospel, and "floating" jazz ballads; also the note doing the work in the classical cadence (leading tone resolving to tonic) across virtually all Western tonal music |