perfect unison


About

The perfect unison (or perfect prime) is the most basic interval in music theory. It is essentially the same note so it may seem that is not actually an interval. It has no semitones between the two notes, sounds super constant and is easy to remember and understand.

However, it is actually important to understand that it consists out of the same natural tone! To freshen up your mind, watch our video about natural notes.

So (where notes written are in the same octave):

C to C is a perfect unison

Ab to Ab is a perfect unison

However!:

C# to Db is not a perfect unison

F# to Gb is not a perfect unison

The latter two may sound the same as a perfect prime, theoretically they are not the same because they do not share the same natural tone. In fact, because their naturals imply a second interval, they are both diminished seconds. This is an important building block for constructing different, more complex, intervals.

Examples

One note samba - Antônio Carlos Jobim

Check out our blogpost with examples of the perfect prime!

Abbreviation

P1

semitones

0

Transposed

perfect unison - Guitar Interval Diagram - Position 0
The Perfect unison from C is an C

Select a tonic to transpose this interval

Which scales use the perfect unison interval?

Blog posts about perfect unison