Mike Sheiman's Sweet and Sour Interval List
Sweet | Mild | Borderline/Bridge-able | Sour |
13/12 (and smaller) | |||
12/11 | |||
11/10 | |||
10/9 | |||
9/8 | |||
8/7 | |||
7/6 | |||
13/11 | |||
6/5 | |||
11/9 | |||
5/4 | |||
9/7 | |||
13/10 | |||
4/3 | |||
15/11 | |||
11/8 | |||
7/5 | |||
10/7 | |||
13/9 | |||
16/11 | |||
22/15 | |||
40/27 | |||
3/2 | |||
20/13 | |||
17/11 | |||
14/9 | |||
11/7 | |||
8/5 | |||
13/8 | |||
18/11 | |||
5/3 | |||
12/7 | |||
7/4 | |||
16/9 | |||
9/5 | |||
11/6 | |||
20/11 | |||
13/7 | |||
15/8 | |||
17/9 | |||
19/10 (and above it, but below 2/1) |
Why is the 16/11 sour but the octave inverse 11/8 much sweeter sounding? Please refer to make page on Alternative Interval Categorizations.
Here is a simple list of intervals I prefer (this is NOT tied or derived from to any formal system of interval limits, octave equivalence, Harmonic Entropy, or anything else).
Note that bridge-able intervals are borderline/"barely" consonant, but can be bridged IE anything between 15/11 and 11/8 or 14/9 and 11/7 will also sound borderline consonant.
Also note that
A) Anything within around 8 cents of an interval, to me, sounds like that interval...and
B) In cases of "sweet" intervals, anything within about 10 cents flat or up to 15 cents sharp of such intervals usually sound fairly consonant to me. IE a 50/33 sounds "ok" as a super-sharp 3/2.
C) Yellow indicates interval bridges IE anything between consecutive yellow intervals sounds borderline consonant...regardless of how far it is from any one yellow interval. Note that mostly only "bridgeable" category intervals can form a bridge.