It has four flats, and the fourth one is a perfect fifth lower than A-flat. The next key, A-flat major, is a fifth lower than the previous key. The third flat is a fifth lower than the previous flat we encountered (also E-flat, not to be confused with the key of E-flat major). This brings us to our next key going counterclockwise along the Circle of Fifths, E-flat major, with three flats: The key signature for B-flat major has two flats, B-flat and E-flat:Į-flat is a perfect fifth lower than B-flat. Going down another perfect fifth from F major, we arrive at B-flat major. Starting again at C major with zero flats, we go down a fifth and reach F major with one flat, B-flat: (The system is perfectly logical if we remember that sharps raise notes and flats lower them.) The same holds for the flats, except that we go counterclockwise along the Circle of Fifths, and flats go down by a fifth. To summarize, if we start with C major (with zero sharps) and remember that the first sharp we encounter is F-sharp, all we have to do is go up a fifth for each subsequent key and sharp. Here is the key signature of C-sharp major: The last sharp – a fifth higher than the E-sharp we added last – is B-sharp. In this key, all seven scale degrees have a sharp. This adds E-sharp – a fifth higher than A-sharp:įinally, going up a fifth and adding one more sharp, we arrive at C-sharp major. Going up a fifth, we reach F-sharp major. B is a fifth higher than our last key of E major, and A-sharp is a fifth higher than D-sharp. It adds D-sharp, which is a fifth higher than the G-sharp of our previous key signature:Īre you starting to see the pattern? Going around the Circle of Fifths clockwise to the next key, we reach B major:ī major has all the sharps of the previous keys, with the addition of A-sharp. The next key, a fifth higher, is E major. These are F-sharp, C-sharp and now G-sharp:
Going clockwise along the Circle of Fifths, the next key is A major, which has three sharps. Notice that C-sharp is a perfect fifth higher than F-sharp. The second key going clockwise is D major, with two sharps: The next key clockwise along the Circle of Fifths is G major, which has one sharp ( F-sharp): The minor keys are each a minor third lower than their relative majors e.g., A minor is the relative minor of C major.) To keep things simple we’ll stick with the major keys for this lesson. (Each major key has an associated relative minor, which will be detailed in a separate lesson. To learn all the key signatures with sharps, let’s start with C major, which has zero sharps (or flats): Similarly, each subsequent sharp encountered in a key signature goes up, by a fifth to be exact. Remember that a sharp raises a starting note by a half step. While you can memorize a Key Signature Chart, key signatures are easy to learn if you follow the Circle of Fifths. (In fact, each key signature can designate any of the seven modes in music, one of which corresponds to major and another to natural minor, which are the only two modes in common use.) Without them, composers would be forced to write accidentals ( sharps and flats) every time they’re used, which would greatly complicate reading music.īecause each key signature indicates two keys (one major and one minor), key signatures are a common point of confusion for music students. Key signatures are designed to simplify music notation by indicating the key.
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