in this video i'll be explaining how to lay out the key signatures for both major and minor keys of up to three sharps or flats it is recommended that you have watched my video key signatures the basics before watching this one as in that video i do explain the fundamentals of key signatures you will also need to know how to calculate scales so have a look at my videos about scales as well if you need to okay you'll see at the top of the screen that i've put the series of letters f c g d a e b if you watch my videos about the circle of fifths you'll know that i have a handy but very silly phrase which can help us remember this order of letters father christmas gave dad an electric blanket the first letter of each word from this phrase being the order of the letters now if you've got your own phrase that's absolutely fine but i'll be using this phrase throughout this video this order tells us the order of the sharps in a key signature in other words in key signatures where there is one sharp we take just the first letter the f and it becomes f sharp on our stave if the key signature has two sharps we take the first two letters f and c and they become f sharp and c sharp if the key signature has three sharps we take the first three letters f c and g and they become f sharp c sharp and g sharp and so on all through the other letters now this video is about how to lay out the key signatures that have up to three sharps or flats in them well once you remember this order of letters it's very easy firstly key signatures with sharps always follow this order so for example you'd never see a c-sharp before an f-sharp in a key signature f-sharp always comes first then the c-sharp and so on secondly the f-sharp always goes at the top of the stave never ever at the bottom when using treble or bass clef if the key signature has two or more sharps then the neck sharp the c sharp is placed lower on the stave than the f sharp like this in key signatures with three sharps the g sharp goes higher than the c sharp a key which uses three sharps is a major here's an ascending scale of a major without key signature notice that even though the c-sharp appears in the scale before the f-sharp the key signature for a major if we were asked to write one still follows the order of sharps at the top of the screen f-sharp c-sharp and then g-sharp let's assume we now want to write the same scale but with a key signature a common error for students studying music theory is to follow the scale from left to right and pop each of the sharps into the key signature in the order in which they found them so the c sharp would be placed first then the f sharp and finally the g sharp although there is the correct number of sharps here they are placed in the wrong order it's essential that the number and order is correct the only acceptable order is that listed next to the green tick or this order if the scale was written in bass clef the order of letters at the top of the screen can be reversed to give us the order of flats in a key signature so this time in key signatures with just one flat we take the first letter the b and it becomes b flat in the key signature two flats we take the first two letters b and e they become b-flat and e-flat in the key signature notice where the e-flat is placed after and higher than the b-flat let's just take a quick look at b-flat major descending without a key signature if we were to use a key signature this is the key which has two flats in its key signature a common error here is that some students think that it has three in its key signature as they quickly count all of the flats one two three however the first and last note are the same b-flat just be careful with this and where the flat is placed remember it is placed after and higher than the b flat as for three flats we take the first three letters from our order of flats b e and a they become b flat e flat and a flat notice how the a flat is placed after and lower than the e flat just a quick word of warning about e flat major the key which has three flats in it just be careful although the key has three flats in its key signature if you write out the scale without a key signature there appears to be four remember that the first and last notes are both e-flat so far in this video i've only referred to the layout of key signatures for major keys you'll be pleased to learn that the same key signatures are used for minor scales so c major with no sharps or flats is the same as a minor for the sharps g major is the same as e minor d major the same as b minor and a major the same as f sharp minor for the flats f major is the same as d minor b flat major is the same as g minor and finally e flat major is the same as c minor now you might say at this point how can c major have the same key signature as a minor when a harmonic minor has a g sharp in the scale well you're right that there is a g sharp and here's a scale of a harmonic minor to prove it but the g sharp does not form part of the key signature firstly remember from our order of sharps that the f sharp must always be first in any key signature with sharps we're not allowed to just randomly put a g sharp in the key signature secondly if you followed my method for calculating minor scales that is natural minor first then converting it to either harmonic or melodic minor this forces you to calculating the key signature first any further alterations such as the raising of the seventh note by a semitone in the harmonic scale are treated as accidentals and do not appear in the key signature now if you do need help with minus scales have a look at my three-part series of videos which explains everything you need to know including this conversion method so finally let's have a look at c minor you can see that c minor has three flats in its key signature let's have a look at a scale of c harmonic minor ascending without key signature you can see that there appears to only be two accidentals rather than the three we would expect to see there is an e flat and a flat but no b-flat remember that a harmonic minor scale raises the seventh note by a semitone therefore what would be b-flat has been raised to become b natural hence why it does not appear in the scale if we look at the same scale but with a key signature you can see that this time a natural symbol appears in front of the b you can't just remove the b-flat from the key signature because the order of flats must appear as per the order at the top of the screen now i could go on about minor scales for quite some time providing various examples but this is not the purpose of this video do have a look at my videos on minor scales if you need to what is important and the purpose of this video is that you know how to lay out each of these key signatures as well as remembering the layout of key signatures don't forget the helpful letters at the top of the screen which always remind us the order of both sharps and flats i do hope this video has been useful to you many thanks for watching