The course › Unit 7: Sharps, flats and intervals
Lesson 37 of 72 · The smallest distance on the piano, and its big sister
Go from a key to its very next neighbor, black or white, without skipping any: you’ve just played a half step. It’s the smallest distance between two notes on the piano.
Most of the time, there’s a black key between two white keys: from C to the black key just to its right is a half step.
C and the black key just to its right: a half step.
Why this way: Scales and chords are made of whole steps and half steps. Seeing them on the keyboard means knowing the rule they’re built with: then you can understand a scale instead of memorizing a list of notes.
Play the key a half step above (just to the right) or below (just to the left) the note asked for. Any octave works.
Look between E and F, and between B and C: no black key! These white keys are right next to each other, so there’s only a half step between them.
Two half steps make a whole step. From C to D is a whole step: C → black key (½) → D (½). From E to the black key after F, too: E → F (½) → black key (½).
In orange, the two pairs of white keys a half step apart: E-F and B-C.
Tip: E-F and B-C are the only two half steps between white keys. E-F sits between the group of two and the group of three black keys; B-C between the group of three and the group of two.
A half step or a whole step, above or below the note asked for. Remember the E-F and B-C pairs!
Go up half step by half step, from middle C to Treble C, then back down: that’s the chromatic scale. Thumb (1) on the white keys, middle finger (3) on the black keys, and 1-2 on the E-F and B-C pairs.
As many right answers as you can in 60 seconds: whole steps and half steps, above or below.
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