Minor third Minor third In the music theory of Western culture, a minor third is a musical interval that encompasses three half steps, or semitones. Staff notation represents the minor third as encompassing three staff positions (see: interval number). The minor third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is called "minor" because it is the smaller of the two: the major third spans an additional semitone. For example, the interval from A to C is a minor third, as the note C lies three semitones above A, and (coincidentally) there are three staff positions from A to C. Diminished and
Major thirds tuning of major-third and minor-sixth intervals are termed "inverse intervals" in the theory of music. Consequently, chord charts for minor-sixths tunings may be used for left-handed major-thirds tunings; conversely, chord charts for major-thirds tunings may be used for left-handed minor-sixths tunings. Major-thirds tuning facilitates playing chords with closed voicings. In contrast, standard tuning would require more hand-stretching to play closed-voice seventh chords, and so standard tuning uses open voicings for many four-note chords, for example of dominant seventh chords. By definition, a "dominant seventh" is a four-note chord combining a major chord and a minor seventh. For example, the C7 seventh