As musicians, we come across the terms 'major' and 'minor' everyday yet not many of us really know what they mean.

What does major and minor mean? As musicians, we come across these terms everyday yet not many of us really know what they mean. I think I did 10 years of classical music before somebody explained it to me... that's quite sad really.

Most of us associate 'major' with happy sounds and 'minor' with sad ones, and it's true, these are the qualities of major and minor chords, but they're not defined as such. So what do these terms mean? Well, if you woke up with a major headache, or you had a minor problem, what are you really saying? Simply put,

major = big
minor = small

These terms refer to the distance between two notes. For example, the distance (or interval) when you move from C to D is known as a major 2nd. Why? Because D is the 2nd note in the major scale of C. Makes sense. When moving from C to Db, this interval is known as a minor 2nd, because the distance is shorter (or smaller) so it's the small 2nd. Db isn't the 2nd note in the C minor scale, but it's known as the minor 2nd simply because it's smaller than the major 2nd. 

In other words, all major intervals come from the major scale. Whereas all minor intervals are one semitone smaller than their major counterparts.

C - Db = minor 2nd
C - D = major 2nd
C - Eb = minor 3rd
C - E = major 3rd
C - F = perfect 4th
C - Gb = diminished 5th
C - G = perfect 5th
C - Ab = minor 6th
C - A = major 6th
C - Bb = minor 7th
C - B = major 7th
C - C = octave

If you're wondering why some intervals are known as 'perfect' it's to do with the whole number ratio of their frequencies. Go ask a physics student and they'll explain it to you. =) 
The point here is... minor intervals are always one semitone lower than major intervals, and major intervals come from the major scale. The next article will discuss the various types of 7th chords so it's important to understand intervals before we can move on.

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