Understanding Whole Steps and Half Steps on the Guitar

In our previous lesson, we compared the guitar fretboard to the piano keyboard and showed you the notes of the guitar's strings. In this lesson, we break down two of the most important concepts in music theory—whole steps and half steps—directly on the guitar fretboard. These are essential building blocks that help form scales, intervals, and chords.

Table of Contents

• Video Shorts
• What is a Whole Step?
• Whole Step from Open Strings
• Whole Step Across Strings
• What is a Half Step?
• Half Step Across Strings
• Guitar vs Piano: Half Step Simplicity
• Helpful Guitar Learning Tools
• Related Blog Post

Guitar whole/half steps video tutorial

Watch our quick 1-minute tutorials showing these concepts in action:

What is a Whole Step?

A whole step (also called a whole tone) is a jump of two frets on the same string. It’s the most common type of interval you’ll find in major scales and chord shapes.

Whole Step from Open Strings

When starting from an open string, a whole step lands on the 2nd fret. For example, open G (3rd string) becomes an A at the 2nd fret.

Whole Step Across Strings

Whole steps can also happen across strings. For instance, from A on the 5th fret of the 6th string (E), you can find B by either moving up to the 7th fret of the same string or down to the 2nd fret of the 5th string (A).

What is a Half Step?

A half step (or semitone) is a distance of one fret. It’s the smallest interval in Western music and the foundation for everything from scales to key changes.

For example, a half step above open B (2nd string) is C at the 1st fret.

Half Step Across Strings

You can also move across strings. From B on the 7th fret of the 6th string, C is on the 8th fret. Or jump to the 3rd fret of the 5th string. Keep in mind: this trick works in many cases, but not always due to standard tuning intervals.

Guitar vs Piano: Half Step Simplicity

Unlike the piano, which uses black and white keys to show half steps, the guitar uses frets. One fret = one half step. Two frets = one whole step. It’s easy to see on the fretboard once you understand it.

Helpful Guitar Learning Tools

Make your learning faster and more effective with tools designed to simplify guitar theory:

• 🎸 Guitar Theory Simplified (Book)
• 🖱️ Guitar Theory Cheat Sheet Mousepad
• 🎯 Guitar Fretboard Stickers

Related Blog Post

Want to go deeper? Check out our previous blog post: Guitar Fretboard vs Piano Keyboard