page_title: Tritone
section_title: Definitions
hierarchical_section_title: Tritone / Definitions
caption_attribution_description: English: Tritone drawn in the chromatic circle. Also an augmented-fourths or tritone tuning.
context_page_description: In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones. For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three adjacent whole tones F–G, G–A, and A–B. According to this definition, within a diatonic scale there is only one tritone for each octave. For instance, the above-mentioned interval F–B is the only tritone formed from the notes of the C major scale. A tritone is also commonly defined as an interval spanning six semitones. According to this definition, a diatonic scale contains two tritones for each octave. For instance, the above-mentioned C major scale contains the tritones F–B and B–F. In twelve-equal temperament, the tritone divides the octave exactly in half as 6 of 12 semitones or 600 of 1200 cents.
  In classical music, the tritone is a harmonic and melodic dissonance and is important in the study of musical harmony. The tritone can be used to avoid traditional tonality: "Any tendency for a tonality to emerge may be avoided by introducing a note three whole tones distant from the key note of that tonality."
context_section_description: A tritone (abbreviation: TT) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. As the symbol for whole tone is T, this definition may also be written as follows:
  TT = T+T+T
  Only if the three tones are of the same size (which is not the case for many tuning systems) can this formula be simplified to:
  TT = 3T
  This definition, however, has two different interpretations (broad and strict).
caption: Tritone drawn in the chromatic circle.
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