The minor 3rd is an interesting interval – on the one hand, it is half of the Major/Minor tonality system of Western Music that was established over 400 years ago, but it is also an interval that has connections with vocal speech inflections when expressing sadness, not to mention the universal use as a children’s taunt – perhaps this lies at the heart of sad music normally being associated with the minor key in the Western tradition?
Tunes that teach you the sound
The classic ear-training trick is to pin each interval to a melody you already know. For the minor 3rd the usual suspects are Hey Jude, The Star-Spangled Banner and even Bob the Builder – but Pete points out a catch: those are minor 3rds inside a major context (Hey Jude is really outlining a major triad, fifth down to major 3rd down to root). To truly learn the colour of the interval, pick tunes that live in the minor key:
- Greensleeves – the minor 3rd straight off the root.
- The 1960s Spider-Man theme – doubly useful: a minor triad on the way up and a diminished triad (minor 3rds all the way) on the way down.
- Spoonful by Cream – the minor 3rd rising and falling.
- And Pete's favourite: Mad World – especially the Gary Jules version.
Why Mad World works
The Gary Jules recording is slower than the Tears for Fears original, stripped to little more than piano, cello and that emotional catch in the vocal – and it makes the tune a masterclass in what a good melody actually is. Sparse instrumentation, a strong structure, and an interval doing real emotional work. Learning to hear that is exactly why we train our ears – and why Pete recommends playing melodies on the bass in the first place.
Meet the other half of the coin in Major Thirds in Summertime, or book a one-to-one lesson to put your ear training on the fast track.