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A key signature at the beginning of a piece of music indicates
the notes that are sharp or flat consistently throughout a whole
song, or section of a song. The sharp
or flat is
placed so that a line or space of the altered note will go through
the middle of the symbol. The sharp or flat symbol in a key signature
will indicate that all of a particular note (in all octaves)
will be altered.
Below are the major key signatures. Since the major
scale is the constant to which all other elements are compared,
start to learn to "spell" all major scales. Memorizing these key
signatures will be a great help in achieving this, and to understanding
all theory from this point on.
As you see the key signatures progressively add a symbol as you
go from left to right. This is why memorizing the key signatures
will help you learn to "spell" the major scales more quickly.
The key of G major has an F#, while the key of D major has that
F# plus a C#. Once the pattern of sharps(flats) is learned, you
will be able to "spell" all major scales easily. Note that the
order of the flats is exactly opposite to the order of the sharps.
The placement of the symbol is a little different but the names
are the same.
no sharps or flats
If you see a key signature in a piece of music here are a couple
of tricks to help you figure out what the major key is.
- The name of the major keys that use sharps can be found by
going up a half step (1 fret) higher than the last sharp in
the key signature. For example look at the key of A. Going up
a half step from G# (the last sharp in the key signature) will
tell you that this is the key of A major.
- Finding the name of the major keys that use flats is a little
different. You can find the name by going to the next-to-last
flat in the key signature and that will be the name of the major
key. The next-to-last flat in the key of Eb major is, Eb. The
key of F is the exception to this trick. Since there is only
one flat, there is not a next-to-last flat. Just memorize that
one flat is the key of F major.
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