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April 2001

Key Signatures

I've had a lot of people ask me about keys and how to tell what key a song is in. This requires a little music theory, but I think you'll catch on. . .

Key signatures are noted at the beginning of a piece of sheet music. They are indicated by sharp (#) and flat (b) symbols. You can tell what key the song is in by counting the number of sharps or flats in the key signature.

One very helpful tool for remembering key signatures is called the Circle of Fifths.




The graphic of the Circle of Fifths looks a lot like a clock. It is called the "Circle of Fifths" because you move up one musical fifth in a clockwise direction. The key of "C" has no sharps or flats so we begin with the key of "C" at the 12:00 position. The fifth note in the "C" scale is "G," so "G" would be at the 1:00 position. The fifth note in the key of "G" is "D," so "D" would be at the 2:00 position. The fifth note in the key of "D" is "A," so "A" would be at the 3:00 position, etc. Since there are 12 notes, each one has a position on the Circle of Fifths "clock".

Again, "C" is in the 12:00 position--it has no sharps or flats. "G" is in the 1:00 position--it has one sharp. "D" is in the 2:00 position--it has two sharps, etc.

Here are all the keys:

C - no sharps or flats
G - one sharp (F#)
D - two sharps (F#, C#)
A - three sharps (F#, C#, G#)
E - four sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#)
B - five sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#)
F# - six sharps (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#)
Db - five flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb)
Ab - four flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db)
Eb - three flats (Bb, Eb, Ab)
Bb - two flats (Bb, Eb)
F - one flat (Bb)

To identify the key of a song from a chord chart is more difficult. We will
begin a discussion of that next time.

Until then, "Play More. . . with StringLife!"

Stay Tuned,
Steve



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