Half Steps and Whole Steps

What you’ll learn

Look at a piano keyboard. The white keys are the letters you already know, C D E F G A B, and the black keys come in groups of two and three. C is always the white key just left of a group of two. That’s your landmark on the keyboard, the way G is your landmark on the staff.

Going from any key to the very next one, black or white, is a half step. It’s the smallest step in most music. Two half steps make a whole step. (British books call them by other names; see American vs British music terms.)

Most neighboring letters are a whole step apart, with a black key between them: C to D, F to G, A to B. Two pairs have no black key between them: E to F and B to C. They’re only a half step apart. That’s the one thing to remember about the keyboard’s pattern.

The staff doesn’t show the difference. On the staff, every step from one line or space to the next looks the same:

That’s why knowing the keyboard’s pattern matters: it tells you how big a step really is.

How the lesson works

The lesson has an on-screen keyboard from middle C to the C above it. Tap any key to hear it. There are three tasks, each needing ten right answers:

1. Half step or whole step? Two keys light up and play. Say whether they’re a half step or a whole step apart.
2. Find it. The lesson asks for a key, such as “a half step up from E”, and you tap it.
3. Name the black key. A black key lights up. Every black key has two names, a sharp and a flat, and either one is right.

If an answer is wrong, the feedback counts the keys for you: “F to G: one key in between, so a whole step.”

The next lesson puts these black keys on the staff, with sharps, flats and naturals.