| A key signature will appear at the beginning | | | | |
| of a piece of sheet music. This will tell you | | | | Seven sharps = F sharp, C sharp, G sharp, D |
| if sharps and flats will be played in the | | | | sharp, A sharp, E sharp and B sharp and the |
| piece or if no sharps and flats will be | | | | key is C sharp major |
| played. If you don't see any sharps or flats | | | | |
| at the beginning of the piece then this is | | | | One flat means all occurrences of B are flat |
| normally referred to as open key or C major. | | | | and the key is F major |
| Sharps and flats can be written in various | | | | |
| bars throughout the piece and these are known | | | | Two flats = B flat and E flat and the key is |
| as accidentals and will last for the bars | | | | B flat major |
| duration only. | | | | |
| | | | Three flats = B flat, E flat and A flat and |
| Sharps and flats at the beginning of a piece | | | | the key is E flat major |
| can also indicate which key the piece is | | | | |
| written in although there are other elements | | | | Four flats = B flat, E flat, A flat and D |
| of the piece that also determine this because | | | | flat and the key is A flat major |
| major and minor keys can share the same key | | | | |
| signature, for example C major and A minor | | | | Five flats = B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat |
| share the same key signature, that is, no | | | | and G flat and the key is D flat major |
| sharps or flats, also G major and E minor | | | | |
| share the same key signature of one sharp, (F | | | | Six flats = B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, G |
| Sharp). These similarities are known as | | | | flat and C flat and the key is G flat major |
| relatives. So C majors relative minor is A | | | | |
| minor. They are relatives because they share | | | | Seven flats = B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, |
| the same key signature. | | | | G flat, C flat and F flat and the key is C |
| | | | flat major |
| Since most people start to learn in major | | | | |
| keys, we will use examples in major keys | | | | No flats or sharps indicates the key of C |
| only. At the beginning of a piece of music, | | | | major |
| to the right of the treble clef and the bass | | | | |
| clef is where you will see sharps and flats. | | | | A good way to learn all these keys is to use |
| | | | a method, which I call the rule of seven. By |
| One sharp means all occurrences of F are | | | | adding the amount of sharps a key has to the |
| sharp and the key is G major | | | | amount of flats a key has, you should always |
| | | | end up with seven. That means if you memorise |
| Two sharps = F sharp and C sharp and the key | | | | either the sharps keys or the flat keys you |
| is D major | | | | can work out the other by creating a |
| | | | relationship. We create the relationship |
| Three sharps = F sharp, C sharp and G sharp | | | | using the letters, for example, B major and B |
| and the key is A major | | | | flat major. B major has five sharps B flat |
| | | | major has two flats 5+2=7. Lets try E major |
| Four sharps = F sharp, C sharp, G sharp and D | | | | and E flat, once you know that E flat has |
| sharp and the key is E major | | | | three flats you can work out how many sharps |
| | | | are in E major. So if E flat has three flats |
| Five sharps = F sharp, C sharp, G sharp, D | | | | then E major must have four sharps 3+4=7 |
| sharp and A sharp and the key is B major | | | | |
| | | | The exception to this rule is C flat major |
| Six sharps = F sharp, C sharp, G sharp, D | | | | and C sharp major, make sure to relate both |
| sharp, A sharp and E sharp and the key is F | | | | these keys with C major. |
| sharp major | | | | |