I have played drums and guitar for 25 years and never “got into” music theory. I know what sounds good and play that but I never learned the names or theory behind it.
Why is a 5th not 5 notes apart? On a keyboard it’s any where from 4 white keysto 8 total keys? Why is there not uniformity or consistency?
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One way to think about it is that if you choose a note to be your main note, not all other notes will sound nice with it. One theory of music (Western classical music) will readily supply you with a list of other notes that will sound nice with your main note. When arranged by pitch starting with the main note, these form a scale.
A fifth is the fifth note of this scale. There are actually 8 notes between the main note and the fifth, but three of them have been determined to sound bad with the main note, so they are not in the scale. The fifth is actually the “best” note to play with your main note (the frequency of its soundwaves is in a nice ratio with the main note), but because we arranged the notes in the scale by pitch and not by how good of a match they are, it remains the fifth rather than the second.
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