Minor Sixth Interval

minor sixth overview

A minor sixth spans eight half steps. From C, for example, a minor sixth up is A♭. The number in its name counts the letter names it covers, including both ends: from C to A♭, C D E F G A is six, so it is a sixth. The eight half steps make it minor. With one half step more, C to A, it would be a major sixth.

Lesson Steps

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The minor sixth is a major third turned upside down, and it keeps some of that warmth, with a yearning quality when it’s played as a leap. We meet it constantly in chord inversions: the outer notes of a C major chord in first inversion, E up to C, are a minor sixth.

On the keyboard, a minor sixth always has seven keys between its two notes. Depending on where it starts, those notes can fall on white or black keys, which gives it four different shapes.

The shapes of the minor sixth on the piano

Each shape sits a little differently under the hand, so it is worth knowing them all. Under each keyboard, the same notes are on the staff: played together, then up, then down.

White key to black key: C to A♭

Minor sixths that share this same shape are C–A♭, D–B♭, F–D♭, and G–E♭. There are seven keys in between (four white, three black).

White key to white key: E to C

Minor sixths that share this same shape are E–C, A–F, and B–G. There are seven keys in between (four white, three black).

Black key to white key: C♯ to A

Minor sixths that share this same shape are C♯–A, D♯–B, F♯–D, and G♯–E. There are seven keys in between (four white, three black).

Black key to black key: B♭ to G♭

B♭–G♭ is the only minor sixth with this shape. There are seven keys in between (five white, two black).

Reading the minor sixth on the staff

A sixth goes from a line to a space, or from a space to a line, with two lines and two spaces in between. That stays true whatever the accidentals are: every sixth looks like a sixth, and the accidentals tell us its quality.

This is what makes intervals so useful for reading. Rather than naming every note from the clef, we read from one note to the next: once we know where we are, the shape on the staff tells us how far to move. Reading this way is relational rather than absolute, and it is much faster.

It works the same in the treble and bass clef, and at any height on the staff, so a reader who knows the look of a sixth recognizes it everywhere.

The minor sixth in the hand

Sixths are wider than a five-finger position, so the hand opens slightly: 1 and 5, or 1 and 4 for a larger hand. Let the hand open from the thumb rather than stretching the 5th finger outward.

The spacing on the staff and the spacing in the hand belong together. Beyond a fifth the fingers no longer map one to one onto the notes, so it helps to know the span as a whole hand shape: we see the distance on the staff, and the hand opens to it.

Inverting the minor sixth

If we move the lower note up an octave (or the upper note down one), a minor sixth becomes a major third: C to A♭ turns into A♭ to C. The numbers of an interval and its inversion add up to nine, and their half steps to twelve (8 + 4). Minor becomes major.

On the keyboard the shapes swap as well: a white-to-black shape inverts to a black-to-white one, and a white-to-white shape stays white to white.

Practice the minor sixth

Play the first shape, C to A♭, together and then one note after the other, and listen to the sound before moving on.
Find the same shape at every place it occurs on the keyboard (the lists under each image), then the other shapes. Notice how the hand changes as the keys change color, while the sound stays a minor sixth.
Play a minor sixth up from all twelve keys, naming the upper note as we go.
Read it: look for minor sixths in a piece we know, and before playing each one, name the interval from its look on the staff.
Once the shapes are reliable, play the interval without looking at the hands, feeling the span between the fingers.

Avoid common mistakes with the minor sixth

Confusing it with the major sixth. Both look the same on the staff and the hand opens the same way. The difference is one half step: eight half steps for minor, nine for major.
Counting keys instead of half steps. The starting key isn’t counted: from C, the first half step is C♯.
Reading every note from the clef. Naming each note separately is slow. Reading the interval from the previous note is what lets the eye stay ahead of the hands.