Choose any major or minor scale and count notes until you arrive at the fifth note. For example, the C major scale is spelled out C-D-E-F-G-A-B. The fifth note of the scale, starting at C and counting to five, is G. The G major scale is spelled out G-A-B-C-D-E-F#. The fifth note of the G scale is D, which is an interval of seven half steps. Interval is the name for the distance between two notes. A fifth is two notes that are seven half steps apart, or an interval of a fifth.
Look at a piece of sheet music. Sheet music has five horizontal lines and four spaces in each staff. Each of these represents a note. On the treble (the higher, and usually the upper) clef the lines are E-G-B-D-F. The spaces are F-A-C-E. To find the note a fifth above any note written on the music staff, count to five going up from the starting note (lines and spaces).
Identify power chords by looking for a fifth interval. Power chords are typically played by guitar players, but can be played on piano as well. Major chords use the first, third and fifth notes of a scale. Power chords, also called fifth chords, omit the third note and use only the root of the scale and the fifth, creating a fifth. In guitar tablature, you can recognize a fifth because they are located on consecutive strings with a fret between them. A note on the third fret of the lowest string of the guitar (the sixth string) is a G. To make a G power chord (fifth chord), you need a C. This note is on the fifth string at the fifth fret. Placing your fingers in these two positions creates a chord made of two notes separated by an interval of a fifth: a power chord.
Locate fifth notes on a piano keyboard by counting five half steps from your starting note, including the black keys. If your starting note is F, begin counting on the first black key after the white F key. Count seven half steps (black and white keys), which brings you to C, a fifth above the F. You can also skip the black keys, start on the F and count five, including the F. You arrive at the same note, C.