Tones and Semitones

The picture below shows a piano keyboard. We can see that there are black notes and white notes. The distance between notes are called tones. If we move up the keyboard each white note to black note, these distances are called semitones. When we have two semitones distance between notes, the distance is a tone. So for example, when we move from G note to the black note directly to the right, the distance is a semitone. When we move from the G note to the A note, this is called a tone. There is no black note between notes B to C and notes E to F. These distances are semitones. The general rule is from the white to black notes are semitones and if there is no black note between the white they are also semitones. When you have a distance of two semitones it is a tone for example D to E, A to B and F to G.

Photo credit: ms.akr via Foter.com / CC BY

Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, p. 26.