7 Flats & 7 Sharps: What They Reveal To You

Good morning. This is Duane and If you have one flat, that flat is always B-flat. In other words, if you see a song in the sheet music and there’s only one flat in the key signature, that flat is B-flat and that means you’re in the key of F, because the F scale has one flat, that B-flat. Okay? So you’re basing you’re playing on the scale of F, which has one flat. If you have two flats, they are B-flat and E-flat, because the scale of B-flat has two flat, B-flat and E-flat. So the two flats, if you have a song with two flats, they’re always B-flat and E-flat. If you have three flats, they’re always B-flat, E-flat and A-flat. Can you see a pattern developing here? You see, it’s a perfect fourth from B-flat up to E-flat, the fourth note of the scale, but it’s also the fourth note on the scale up to A-flat. So, if B-flat’s the first flat, E-flat’s the second flat, A-flat’s the third flat, what’s the fourth flat? Right, four scale notes up from A-flat. So, if you have four flats, they spell the word B-E-A-D, B-flat, E-flat, A-flat and D-flat. The word bead, B-E-A-D.

Then, four above that is G-flat, so if you have five flats, it’s B, E, A, D, G. Six flats, let me come down lower so I can see it. Six flats is that note. Now is that B? No, it can’t be B, because we’re playing G-flat, A-flat and B-flat, we can’t have two B’s in the same scale, so that’s got to be known as C-flat. So, if you have six flats, the sixth flat is C-flat and the seventh flat is not E, but F-flat, because we already have an E in that scale. Okay? So, the order of the flats are B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, D-flat, G-flat, C-flat and F-flat. The order of the sharps is just opposite of that, so it’s very easy to remember. Okay? In other words, B, E, A, D, G, C, F, just say that backwards. F, C, G, D, A, E, B and you have the order of the sharps, okay?

So, the order of the sharps is just opposite with the order of the flats and there’s a pattern there, too. The first sharp, for example, is F-sharp. If you have one sharp in the key signature, it’s F-sharp and you’re in the key of G. Okay? Because the key of G has that one sharp. One sharp is F-sharp, two sharps F-sharp and C-sharp, three sharps F-sharp and G-sharp. You see the pattern? We’re coming up with fifth now, not a fourth, like we did in flats, but 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Each sharp is a fifth above the previous sharps. F-sharp, C-sharp, fifth above that is G-sharp, fifth above that is D-sharp, fifth above that is A-sharp and E-sharp and B-sharp. Again, at the end we have those inharmonic tones.

Okay, that’s it for the order of the sharps and flats. Get that down cold in your mind, so that you never have to wonder about that again. The nice thing about music is you can master things like this in just a few minutes. This video’s been going on for five minutes maybe and I bet you know that already. But, if you don’t, just memorize this — B, E, A, D, G, C, F. The word BEAD and then G, C, F. The sharps are just the opposite, F, C, G, D, A, E, B. Okay. Thanks for being with me and we’ll see you again tomorrow with another piano tip. If you’re not already signed up for my piano tips, be sure and come on over to Play Piano dot com and sign up for those free tips. See you tomorrow. Bye-bye for now.

Here is the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyhrkqJmmhY

Here is an article from Wikipedia on sharps and flats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signature
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