Intervals
The diatonic intervals are usually understood as those between some pair of notes both drawn from the same diatonic scale. Intervals that cannot be so derived are then called chromatic intervals. Because diatonic scale is itself ambiguous, this way of distinguishing intervals is also ambiguous. For example, the interval B♮–E♭ (a diminished fourth, occurring in C harmonic minor) is considered diatonic if the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic; but it is considered chromatic if the harmonic minor scale is not considered diatonic.
Additionally, the label chromatic or diatonic for an interval may be sensitive to context. For instance, in a passage in C major, the interval C–E♭ could be considered a chromatic interval because it does not appear in the prevailing diatonic key; conversely in C minor it would be diatonic. This usage is still subject to the categorization of scales as above, e.g. in the B♮–E♭ example above, classification would still depend on whether the harmonic minor scale is considered diatonic.
Read more about this topic: Diatonic And Chromatic
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