Tones And Semitones

Music Theory Notes, Sharps & Flats & Octaves!
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Understand tones and semitones and how they translate on the guitar neck!


View the full lesson at Tones And Semitones | JustinGuitar

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these are lessons which remind me how glad i am i played piano for like half a year lol. but great lesson as always! youre helping so many people with your lessons; thank you!

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Thanks for the good feedback @mnemo and welcome to the Community.
Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide, Approved Teacher & Moderator

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As an American it was difficult to switch my vocabulary to using Tone and Semitone. I started using this memory trick for guitar that’s been quite useful: a TONE is TWO frets, and a SEMITONE is a SINGLE fret.

Not sure if it’s the best memory trick out there, but sharing in case someone else finds it useful!

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Agree with you @ryansmith​0518 and I am Birtish ! I am not familiar with your ‘memory aid’ but whatever works for you.

I think Justin has “muddied the water” by dismissing the US system and “reinventing the wheel” with another definition of Steps.

Personally, I find it easy to understand visually the Steps/ Half-steps , the Tones/ Semi-tones, and Sharps/Flats simply looking at the 12 notes from Middle C to the first Octave C above it (eg. C to C).

There is a Tone or Whole Step each time you pass by a Black Note while moving up through the White Notes.

The EF and BC are also obvious having no Black Notes in between; therefore they are Half Steps or Semi Tones.

The clock-face is a circular representation of the linear piano scale; and it might make it a more ‘visual tool’ for some people.

Does any of this matter ? Not really; whatever works for the individual to help them remember the construct of a Major Scale.

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** C to C on the piano , that is

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While I completely understand the translation of the American system (half step/whole step) and this version(semi-tone/tone), it seems like it’s semantics more than anything to me. 100% of people in the US will understand telling them to move a whole step up, not nearly as many would understand moving a tone up off the get go. Makes more sense to use whatever is most popular where you play.

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In regard to not using whole step / half step … there is a part of music terminology where step means something else.
In melody, the movement of a step (which could be ascending or descending) means a move to the immediately adjacent scale note. Depending on where in the scale the melody note is, that could be a move of a semitone or a tone. Because scale degrees are spaced at tone and semitone intervals.

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Americans make up less than 5% of the worlds population.

I believe that is what Justin is doing. After all he is from Tasmania and lives in the UK.

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And how many speak English as their first language? Maybe about 14% of that 5% use El Tono and El Semitono? :thinking:

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