two half steps

semitone

WHOLE STEP

The distance from A to B, however, is a whole step because it consists of two half steps.

F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B♭, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat: B♭.

TL;DR: Western music has 12 notes, but our scales have 7. For those seven notes to never be farther than a whole-tone apart, math dictates 2 semitone intervals. Because we arbitrarily picked that the major scale starts with C, those semitone intervals must occur at B->C and E->F.

There is no note between B & C. By dividing a pitch, by 1. you get the next lower semitone. There is a B#, which is enharmonic to C.

Whole steps are those where we skip one note of the chromatic scale – there is one note in between the notes of a whole step, in other words. So the short answer is, B to C is a half step because the is no note in between them.

Yes a B# is just a C, but it is written that way because that note is function like a “B” instead of a “C”. If you look at the notes you have G#, B#, and F#.

three half steps

A half step on the piano is the very next key. So, C# is the very next key to the right after the C and it happens to be a black key. Logically enough, flats are defined as the note that is one half step lower than the note you are starting on. So, Db is the next key to the left of D.

Major and minor keys are defined by their tonic note (their starting or base note) and their scale being major or minor. A major key uses a major scale, and a minor key uses a minor scale. It comes down to the pattern of whole and half steps within each scale.

In music, an accidental is a note of a pitch (or pitch class) that is not a member of the scale or mode indicated by the most recently applied key signature. In musical notation, the sharp (♯), flat (♭), and natural (♮) symbols, among others, mark such notes—and those symbols are also called accidentals.

Accidentals last only until the end of the measure in which they appear. In the example below, note C sharp (in bar 1) is cancelled by the bar line. This means that note C in bar 2 (beat 1) is no longer affected by the sharp.

In music theory, a natural is an accidental which cancels previous accidentals and represents the unaltered pitch of a note. A note is natural when it is neither flat (♭) nor sharp (♯) (nor double-flat nor double-sharp. ).

Flat

A double-flat is the equivalent of two flats, and lowers a note’s pitch by two half steps. The double-flat symbol (♭♭) is placed before a note like other accidentals.

The double flat (?) lowers a note by a whole step, and looks like two flats glued together. Here is an example using double flats. Note that, like double sharp, or any accidentals, a double flat cancel all previous accidentals, and is cancelled by any accidentals.

In music theory, B-flat major is a major scale based on B♭, with pitches B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor.