Playing Piano In The Keys of Db and B – Why Are They Similar?

Here is a transcript if you would like to follow along:

Good morning. This is Duane and today I’m going to give you a little quiz. I’m going to play two scales and I want you to tell me how they’re related. At first glance they don’t seem to be related at all. One scale is the key of B, and I’ll play it for you, the scale of B. [Duane playing piano] And another scale is the key of D flat. [Duane playing piano]

Now how in the world can a flat key like D flat be related to a sharp key like that? [Duane playing piano] They seem to be totally unrelated, but for example the key of B has five sharps doesn’t it? And the key of D flat has five flats; entirely different five flats against five sharps. So how could they be related? Well, the way in which they are related is that both of them use all the black keys, and they’re the only two keys that use all the black keys, the only two scales that use all the black keys aside from the enharmonic scales.

An enharmonic scale is a scale that has the same notes but has two names. [Duane playing piano] That’s the scale of F sharp that I just played, but it’s also called the scale of G flat so those use all the black keys too, but they’re enharmonic scales and we’ll talk about those another time.

But today we’re talking about the key of B, the scale of B which has five sharps, and the scale of D flat which has five flats. That’s what makes them sister scales, and they’re easy to play in because you don’t have to worry about what flats are being used or what sharps are being used. All of them are being used. All the black keys are being used in the key of D flat. [Duane playing piano] In the key of B, all the sharps are being used so it’s very, very easy because of that. They’re not easy at first, of course, but once you get acquainted with them they’re very easy because of that factor. So, those are two sister scales that you should know about and sister keys and by knowing that it’s easier to learn those keys. That’s my point.

We’ll see you again tomorrow with another little tip about piano playing or music theory, and there’s lots of good stuff over at playpiano.com. Be sure and sign up for my newsletter over there. It just takes a second and then I’ll send you all kinds of good stuff day by day about piano tips, and learn all kinds of things about chords, and progressions, and so on. So, I hope to see you there. We’ll see you tomorrow with another idea. Bye Bye for now.