A key signature is the placement of sharps or flats at the beginning of a piece of music which determines what the key of a song is and unlike the time signature it is repeated every line; here is a list of all the possible keys you can write in:C Major/a minor (no sharps and no flats)Sharp Keys:G Major/e minor (1 sharp)D Major/b minor (2 sharps)A Major/f♯minor (3 sharps)E Major/c♯minor (4 sharps)B Major/g♯ minor (5 sharps)F♯ Major/d♯ minor (6 sharps)C♯ Major/a♯ minor (7 sharps)Flat Keys:F Major/d minor (1 flat)Bb Major/g minor (2 flats)Eb Major/c minor (3 flats)Ab Major/f minor (4 flats)Db Major/bb minor (5 flats)Gb Major/eb minor (6 flats)Cb Major/ab minor (7 flats)
There are seven keys with sharps and seven keys with flats, one key has no accidentals altogether, making a total of 15 possible major keys you can write in. There are also 15 minor keys with the same key signatures, totalling 30 keys. The 15 Major Keys Are: C Major (no sharps or flats) G Major (one sharp) D Major (two sharps) A Major (three sharps) E Major (four sharps) B Major (five sharps) F♯ Major (six sharps) C♯ Major (seven sharps) F Major (one flat) Bb Major (two flats) Eb Major (three flats) Ab Major (four flats) Db Major (five flats) Gb Major (six flats) Cb Major (seven flats) Hope that helped!
Eb major/C minorAb major/F minorDb major/Bb minorGb major/Eb minor
The key of E-flat major contains three flats: Bb, Eb, and Ab.
C major: no sharps, no flats F major: no sharps, B flat Bb (B flat) major: no sharps, B and E flat Eb major: no sharps; B, E, and A flat Ab major: no sharps; B, E, A, and D flat Db major: no sharps; B, E, A, D, and G flat Gb major/F# (F sharp) major: no sharps; B, E, A, D, G, and C flat / F, C, G, D, A, and E sharp; no flats B major: F, C, G, D, and A sharp; no flats E major: F, C, G, and D sharp; no flats A major: F, C, and G sharp; no flats D major: F and C sharp, no flats G major: F sharp, no flats
Eb Major
None
A key signature is the placement of sharps or flats at the beginning of a piece of music which determines what the key of a song is and unlike the time signature it is repeated every line; here is a list of all the possible keys you can write in:C Major/a minor (no sharps and no flats)Sharp Keys:G Major/e minor (1 sharp)D Major/b minor (2 sharps)A Major/f♯minor (3 sharps)E Major/c♯minor (4 sharps)B Major/g♯ minor (5 sharps)F♯ Major/d♯ minor (6 sharps)C♯ Major/a♯ minor (7 sharps)Flat Keys:F Major/d minor (1 flat)Bb Major/g minor (2 flats)Eb Major/c minor (3 flats)Ab Major/f minor (4 flats)Db Major/bb minor (5 flats)Gb Major/eb minor (6 flats)Cb Major/ab minor (7 flats)
Flatten the third and seventh notes in the scale. Therefore, if you're in the key of A major the notes are A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A. Therefore, flattening the 3 and 7, you end up with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A. By the way, Am is the relative minor of the key of Cmajor, which has no sharps or flats.
In total, there are only seven sharps and seven flats on an instrument since there are only seven letters. There are, however, fourteen different key signatures with sharps and flats in them with the exception of C major. The fourteen key signatures are as follows: G major and E minor = 1 sharp (F♯) D major and B minor = 2 sharps (F♯, C♯) A major and F♯ minor = 3 sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯) E major and C♯ minor = 4 sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯) B major and G♯ minor = 5 sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯) F♯ major and D♯ minor = 6 sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯) C♯ major and A♯ minor = 7 sharps F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯) F major and D minor = 1 flat (Bb) Bb major and G minor = 2 flats (Bb, Eb) Eb major and C minor = 3 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab) Ab major and F minor = 4 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db) Db major and Bb minor = 5 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb) Gb major and Eb minor = 6 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb) Cb major and Ab minor = 7 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb) C major and A minor (no sharps/flats) Hope this helps.
There are seven keys with sharps and seven keys with flats, one key has no accidentals altogether, making a total of 15 possible major keys you can write in. There are also 15 minor keys with the same key signatures, totalling 30 keys. The 15 Major Keys Are: C Major (no sharps or flats) G Major (one sharp) D Major (two sharps) A Major (three sharps) E Major (four sharps) B Major (five sharps) F♯ Major (six sharps) C♯ Major (seven sharps) F Major (one flat) Bb Major (two flats) Eb Major (three flats) Ab Major (four flats) Db Major (five flats) Gb Major (six flats) Cb Major (seven flats) Hope that helped!
Eb major/C minorAb major/F minorDb major/Bb minorGb major/Eb minor
Sharps and flats follow a pattern of fifths, so it is not difficult to construct a list of all the sharps and/or all the flats. Additionally, there are simple tricks to determine which sharps or flats are in a key signature.Flat keys are called flat because they have flats in the key signature, while sharp keys have sharps, so you won't find any sharps in D-flat. But how many? Flats and sharps have their own patterns and tricks.First, flats:The key of C has no sharps or flats. The key of F, which is one fifth below C, has one flat, which is Bb. The key of Bb has two flats, Bb and Eb. The key of Eb has three flats, Bb, Eb, and Ab. The key of Ab has four flats, Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db. From here on out, the flats continue in this pattern: the next flat is one whole tone lower than the second-to-last previous flat. So the order of flats is: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb, B-double-flat, etc.Sharps proceed in the same way, except that you ascend a fifth each time:C has no sharps or flats. Its leading tone is b. The key of G has one sharp, which is a fifth above b: F#. The key of D has two sharps, F# and the fifth above F#, which is C#. From here, it is the same pattern as the flats, except that each new sharp is one whole tone higher than the second-to-last previous sharp. So the order of sharps is: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#, F-double-sharp.The tricks are different for flats and sharps: For flat keys, the name of the key is the second-to-last flat in the signature. Thus, for the key of Bb, Bb is the second-to-last flat, and the last one (from the list above) is Eb. Thus, Key=Bb, flats are Bb and Eb. For Cb, there must be seven flats (logical, if C is flat, everything must be flat!) and the flats are Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb.For sharps, the key name is one half-tone higher than the last sharp. So for the key of G, the last sharp must be F# (which is the first in the list). For the key of E, the last sharp is D#, so the sharps will be F#, C#, G#, D#, four sharps.So now you can figure out the sharps or flats in any key. Specifically for Db, the key signature will have Db as the second-to-last flat; from the list, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, making a total of five flats.
The keys of Eb Major and c minor have three flats in their key signatures: Bb, Eb, and Ab.
Here is the way I see it: I) How many sharps/flats do I have? You should always find the major key first II) What mode am I playing in? In other words, what note of the major scale does the song resolve to? Typically speaking, you have either a major key or a minor key but there may be times where the song doesn't resolve to the I (major key) or the vi (minor key) chord/note. This is called a mode. If I'm not in Bb Ionian (major), I'm in C Dorian, D Phrygian, Eb Lydian, F mixolydian, G aeolian (minor), or A Locrian. All of these key signatures have Bb and Eb. However each mode resolves to a different note of the scale
Step 1) Find the first note (the tonic) of the Major Key you want (A,B,C...)Step 2) Go up the notes as follows, where a tone is 2 notes (including sharps and flats) and where a semitone is one note (including sharps and flats)...Tone - Tone - Semitone - Tone - Tone - Tone - Semitone.Step 3) You should have arrived back at the starting note (the tonic) but 1 octave higher up. Those notes together form the scale of your selected note in Major form. The sharps/flats of the scale are the ones notated on the stave to show the Key Signature.Step 4) To find out whether to refer to the black notes as # (sharps) or b (flats), either see my list below OR look at a diagram showing the Circle Of Fifths - all the Major and Minor Keys. Major keys on the left are written using b (flats) and those on the right with # (sharps).C Major = NaturalG Major = F#D Major = F#, C#A Major = F#, C#, G#E Major = F#, C#, G#, D#B/Cb Major = F#, C#, G#, D#, A# / (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb)F#/Gb Major = F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E# / (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb)Db/C# Major = Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb / (F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#)Ab Major = Bb, Eb, Ab, DbEb Major = Bb, Eb, AbBb Major = Bb, EbF Major = BbC Major = Natural
E Minor is the same key as G Major, and there is one sharp. It is the F#, which in E Minor scale is the second.