Now that you understand how the sharps and flats work, it’s time to learn how to figure out which scales have which key signatures. For example, the F# in the treble clef will ALWAYS be on F♯5 ( F sharp 5) (the highest F) and not F♯4 ( F sharp 4) (the lowest space). When writing key signatures, the sharps and flats are always written on specific lines/spaces.The order of sharps and flats follows a specific order and that order never changes.The highest number of sharps and flats you can have in a scale is 7.Major scales use either flats or sharps but never mix the two.There is only one major scale for every key signature.There are a few key signature rules to help us: If we look back to the key signature at the beginning, we can see that it has 3 flats notated: E♭, A♭ and B♭, just like our scale! Key signatures are like a shorthand symbol to represent these different scale patterns. So, the notes of the E♭ ( E flat) major scale are: E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D, E♭. Finally, the last semitone in the pattern brings us back to E♭ ( E flat). Another tone after B♭ ( B flat) brings us to C and then we move another tone to D. ![]() After A♭ ( A flat) we move a tone that brings us to B♭ (instead of A#). We can only use each letter name once in a scale. ![]() Since we already have a G in our scale, we need to use A♭ ( A flat). This puts us on a black note which we can either call G# or A♭ ( A flat). If we start on E♭ ( E flat) and move up one tone, the next note in the scale will be F. Why don’t we use the E♭ ( E flat) major example from the key signature example we used at the beginning. Let’s apply this recipe to build another scale by starting on another note. Notice the pattern of tones and semitones: T, T, S, T, T, T, S. Here is the C major scale as it looks on the piano. A tone is simply two semitones put together. On the piano, a semitone is a space from one note to its next closest neighbour (either a white note or a black note). On the guitar, each fret is one semitone. A semitone is the smallest space between two notes. If you follow the recipe of tones and semitones, any scale you build will sound like a major scale. This pattern operates kind of like a recipe. Where does the Key Signature come from?Ī major scale sounds like it does (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do) because it is built of a pattern of tones (T) and semitones (S). This is one of the reasons why knowing your key signatures is so important. In other words, if you are playing a song in C major (which has no sharps and flats) and you see a chord labeled “Dm”, you can easily figure out how to play it on the piano by building a chord with D on the bottom and simply playing only the white notes on the piano. When playing pop songs, we often will see these chords labeled like this: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim. They are labeled by a number based on what note of the C major scale they start on. As you can see, there are no sharps or flats in any of these chords. These are the chords that are most commonly seen when playing a song in the key of C major. So when you are playing chords for a song in C major, the chords won’t have any sharps or flats either. For example, C major scale doesn’t have any sharps or flats in it. Since each “key” or “scale” has certain sharps or flats associated with it, there are certain chords that are also associated with each scale. Not only does the key signature help you understand which sharps and flats to use in a song, it can also help you to understand what chords you might encounter while playing the song. ![]() Why is it important to know what the Key Signature is for a song?
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