Press Up to hear a major sixth, then try the quiz!
Intervals · M6 ·
Major sixth
A major sixth is nine semitones, the distance from C up to A. It is the first leap in "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean," on "My Bon-."
Listen: C4 and A4
Quiz
Wormy plays one of these, up or down, from a different note each time. Can you tell which: minor sixth, major sixth, minor seventh?
What it sounds like
Nine keys apart, warm and sweeping, like opening your arms wide.
In music theory
Do up to la, or sol up to mi, is a major sixth. Upside down it becomes a minor third. Add it to a major chord and you get the sweet, settled sound of a sixth chord.
Where you've heard it
- My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean: "My Bon-," sol up to mi, going up.Published 1881. Published as "Bring Back My Bonnie to Me" by Charles E. Pratt under the name H. J. Fulmer, 1881.
Every tune named here is public domain in the US or traditional. Wormy names the spot; it never plays the song.