Distance between notes
See a half step on the piano and the fretboard, hear it, then learn its name — one distance at a time.
A half step (also called a semitone) is the smallest distance used in most Western music. On a piano or keyboard, it's the gap between any key and the very next key — white or black. On a guitar, it's the gap between two adjacent frets on the same string. Every interval name below is just a memorized nickname for a specific number of half steps.
Two half steps in a row make a whole step — the distance between most neighboring notes in a major scale.
Fret 0 is your root — every fret to the right adds one more half step, same string.
C4 → C4
🎵 Same note, twice
| Half steps | Interval name | Short | Mnemonic | Listen |
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Next step
Switch to the game to practice spotting these distances by eye and by ear, under time pressure.