To say that a piece is in the Key of A, would mean that usually most of the notes in the piece would follow the tonal rules of the A Major scale. A key is the use of a scale in actual music. Without the sharps, it is a different pattern and, therefore, not a Major scale. A scale is a defined set of ordered pitches. This image shows that the key of D Major follows this same pattern.

Notice that the pattern changes, which means that this is no longer a Major scale. Here's what it would look like without the B flatted. The B is flatted so that the scale follows the same W W H W W W H pattern. The key of F, for example, has 1 flat (B flat). The key of C has no sharps or flats because it naturally follows this pattern. In the last lesson, we discussed that the W W H W W W H step pattern is the same for all major keys. Whole & Half Step Pattern in a Major Scale Let's discuss what all of these key signatures have in common. This little trick will help you quickly determine the name of the key signature when there are multiple sharps or flats in the key signature, but you may have noticed that this trick doesn't work for the key of F or the key of C. In this case, there is already a C# in the key signature, so this key is the key of C#. The quicker way to determine this is to look at the sharps already in the key signature. This means that half step above B# is C#. Remember that there is a naturally occurring half step between B and C, which means B# is the same pitch as C. Why? The last sharp in this key signature is B#. It is not the key of E# because there is no E# in this key signature. This is the key of E because E is half step above D#, which is the last sharp in the key signature. This is the key of G because F# is the last sharp in the key signature.

Sharpsįor key signatures with sharps, the key signature is the note name half step above the last sharp. It is not the key of D because there is a D flat in the key. This is the key of D flat because D flat is the second to last flat in the key signature. This is the key of E flat because E flat is the second to last flat in the key signature. Here is a list of all of the different key signatures:įor key signatures with flats, the key signature is the second to last flat.

Different music keys