Press Start round: middle C plays, then a second note, and you tap its name.
Press Start round. A note plays. Tap its name.
No permission needed. It opens at 10% volume. A score says nothing about how musical you are.
How it works
One note, one answer
A note plays and you press its name. In the plain rounds no answer is shown until the end, because a shown answer becomes a reference for the next note. The misses say more than the score.
Sample
4 of 12 right, median answer 3.1 s.
Score
4 of 12
Median answer
3.1 s
Missed most
E
How far off
4 at 1 semitone, 3 at 2 semitones, 1 at 5 semitones
12 notes
More options
Rounds, misses and anchors
Your runs in this tab
No round yet.
Your best score for each round is kept in this browser and nowhere else. No answer is sent anywhere.
How this test works
Each run draws its notes so that every note name comes up about equally and the same name never plays twice in a row.
Your answer is compared by note name, so any octave counts. The time of each answer is kept for the median.
Your best score for each round is kept in this browser only. Practice runs, where answers are shown, are never kept as a best.
On a keyboard, press A to G for a note, hold Shift for its sharp, and R to hear it again.
This relative pitch test plays a named reference note, then a second note, and you name the second from the distance between them. It opens on three notes from middle C up and grows to all twelve. No microphone is used. Start quietly.
Read the full guide
How the relative pitch test works
1. Press Start round. Middle C sounds, then the note to name.
2. Tap C, E or G. The right key lights at once, so each answer teaches the next.
3. After twelve notes you get your score, your median answer time and the notes you missed most.
Move up when a round gets easy
The rounds under More options run from three notes to five, the C major scale and all twelve, then two more from a reference A. After a round, What it means opens the row for each note you missed, such as Major third: 4 semitones, C up to E.
Replay, or the R key, repeats the test note alone. The reference comes back with the next note.
Steady on all twelve notes? The perfect pitch test takes the reference away.
Questions and answers
What is relative pitch?
Relative pitch is naming or singing a note by comparing it with a reference note and judging the interval between the two. It is common among musicians, and ear training develops it.
Is relative pitch the same as perfect pitch?
They are different skills. Perfect pitch, also called absolute pitch, names a note with no reference at all. Relative pitch starts from one known note and works out the rest by distance, which is why this page always plays the reference first.
What is a good score on a relative pitch test?
This page sets no pass mark and compares you with nobody. On three buttons blind guessing averages 4 of 12, so a score well above that means you are hearing the intervals. Measure progress against your own earlier rounds.
How do I train relative pitch?
Play short rounds and move up when one feels easy. Singing up the scale from the reference, do, re, mi, is the classroom method called solfège. Some teachers tie each interval to the first two notes of a familiar tune.
All 25 rows
Rounds 6
Three notes after a reference CThe opening round. Middle C, 261.63 Hz, sounds first and is named on screen, then C, E or G follows: the reference again, a major third above it or a perfect fifth above it. Together the three are the C major chord. Twelve notes, three buttons.
Five notes after a reference CC, D, E, G and A: the major scale with its fourth and seventh notes left out, which is the major pentatonic scale. New here are the major second, two semitones up, and the major sixth, nine semitones up. Fifteen notes, five buttons.
The C major scale after a reference CThe seven white keys from C4 to B4. Their steps run whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, and E to F is the half step. Every interval measured from the reference is major or perfect. Fourteen notes, seven buttons.
All twelve notes after a reference CEvery key from C4 to B4 (493.88 Hz), black keys included, so the four minor intervals and the tritone join in. Each note comes up twice in twenty-four. Twelve buttons, and a black-key button carries both of its names.
Show all 25 rows (21 more)
Rounds, continued
Seven white keys after a reference AThe reference moves to A4, 440 Hz, and the answers run from A4 up to G5 (783.99 Hz). The white keys from A are the natural minor scale, so the third, sixth and seventh above the reference are now minor ones: C, F and G. Fourteen notes, seven buttons.
All twelve notes after a reference AEvery key from A4 to G sharp 5 (830.61 Hz). The twelve buttons carry the same names as before, but each now stands for a different distance: C is a minor third above this reference. It shows whether you hear distances or have learned how each note sounds against C.
The twelve intervals above the reference 12
Unison: the reference again, C to CThe test note is the reference played again: two notes of one pitch are a unison, a ratio of 1 to 1. It is in every C round so that 'the same note' stays a possible answer. After a reference A, C is a minor third up.
Minor second: 1 semitone, C up to D flatThe next key along on a piano, black or white, and the smallest step this quiz plays. A whole tone divides into two of them. From middle C it lands on D flat 4, 277.18 Hz. After a reference A, this key, as C sharp, is a major third up.
Major second: 2 semitones, C up to DTwo semitones make a whole tone: the first step of the major scale, C to D. From middle C it lands on D 4, 293.66 Hz. After a reference A, D is a perfect fourth up.
Minor third: 3 semitones, C up to E flatThree semitones. C, E flat and G are the C minor chord, and this third is one semitone narrower than the major one: that semitone is the whole difference between the minor chord and the major chord. From middle C it lands on E flat 4, 311.13 Hz. After a reference A, E flat is a tritone up.
Major third: 4 semitones, C up to EFour semitones, or two whole tones. C, E and G are the C major chord. A piano tunes this third about 14 cents wider than the pure 5 to 4 ratio. From middle C it lands on E 4, 329.63 Hz. After a reference A, E is a perfect fifth up.
Perfect fourth: 5 semitones, C up to FFive semitones, a ratio close to 4 to 3. It is the fifth turned upside down: C up to F is a fourth, F up to the next C is a fifth, and the two together fill an octave. From middle C it lands on F 4, 349.23 Hz. After a reference A, F is a minor sixth up.
Tritone: 6 semitones, C up to F sharpSix semitones, or three whole tones: exactly half an octave, so F sharp is as far from the C below it as from the C above. No white-key round from C plays it. From middle C it lands on F sharp 4, 369.99 Hz. After a reference A, F sharp is a major sixth up.
Perfect fifth: 7 semitones, C up to GSeven semitones, a ratio close to 3 to 2: a piano tunes it about 2 cents narrower than the pure ratio. C and G are the outer notes of the C major chord and of the C minor chord. From middle C it lands on G 4, 392 Hz. After a reference A, G is a minor seventh up.
Minor sixth: 8 semitones, C up to A flatEight semitones, a ratio close to 8 to 5. It is the major third turned upside down: C up to E is four semitones and E up to the next C is eight. From middle C it lands on A flat 4, 415.30 Hz. After a reference A, this key, as G sharp, is a major seventh up.
Major sixth: 9 semitones, C up to ANine semitones, a ratio close to 5 to 3, and the sixth note of the C major scale. From middle C it lands on A4, the 440 Hz tuning standard. In the A rounds this note is the reference itself.
Minor seventh: 10 semitones, C up to B flatTen semitones. Add it to a major chord and the result is the dominant seventh chord: C, E, G and B flat. It is the major second turned upside down. From middle C it lands on B flat 4, 466.16 Hz. After a reference A, B flat is a minor second up.
Major seventh: 11 semitones, C up to BEleven semitones, the widest distance the quiz plays: B is the seventh note of the C major scale and sits one semitone under the next C. From middle C it lands on B 4, 493.88 Hz. After a reference A, B is a major second up.
What a miss tells you 7
A miss one semitone outYou pressed the key next to the right one. A major interval and the minor interval of the same name are exactly one semitone apart, so this miss can be a major third named for a minor third, or a sixth or seventh of the wrong kind. Sing the reference, then the test note, and read the rows for both keys.
A miss a whole tone outTwo semitones off. In the five-note and scale rounds that is often the neighbouring note of the scale: D named for E, or A for G. Sing up from the reference and count the notes as you go: C is one, D is two, E is three.
A miss a third out: E for C, or G for EThe note you pressed is three or four semitones from the one played. In the three-note round every miss between neighbours is one of these, because a chord is stacked in thirds: C up to E is four semitones and E up to G is three. Hum the reference, then sing up the chord: C, E, G.
A fourth taken for a fifth, or G for CThe note you pressed is five or seven semitones from the one played. Fourths and fifths are each other turned upside down: C up to F, then F up to the next C. Sing up the scale from the reference: C, D, E, F reaches the fourth on the fourth note, and one more note reaches the fifth.
Every answer off by the same stepThree or more misses, each the same distance to the same side of the right key. The shape of what you hear is right and the count is not. One cause is how intervals are named: a third counts both ends, C, D, E, while its semitones count the steps between, four of them.
Right answers that take a whileYour right answers took more than four seconds at the median. If you sing up from the reference a step at a time, do, re, mi, until you reach the test note, that is a classroom method called solfège, and it works. The shorter rounds are the place to make it quicker.
A score that guessing could reachWith three buttons a blind guess is right one time in three, so guessing averages 4 of 12 and lands on 5 or fewer in about 82 rounds of every 100. Play the round again before you read anything into it. Luck reaches 8 or more only about once in 53 rounds.