key signatures everything you need to know so you don't fail music class in just six minutes key signatures are a musical notation that indicates which notes are sharp or flat in a piece of music they're a useful shorthand because this looks pretty cumbersome but this doesn't look so bad but both pieces would actually sound the same because of the key signature this indicates that all FS CS and G's are sharp and this one says that all B's E's and A's are flat it's important to note that this means all apps are sharp not just this one but this one this one this one this one and this one too and it's pretty important to play the right key signature because it can really change the sound of a piece there are 15 key signatures in total corresponding with the 15 major scales littering the mall is an important rite of passage for a musician you'll probably memorize them over time through sheer exposure and practice kind of like the way you probably memorized all the street names in your neighborhood but you probably never studied them however most will find it useful to have a trick or device to help remember them in the mean time there are a number of popular tricks but this device is my favorite one it looks a little complicated at first but this device tells you the key signatures for all the sharp and flat keys and it's really easy to learn this device also makes a lot more sense when you're aware of a few patterns that emerge in key signatures so let's take a look at those now examining all fifteen key signatures we see that there are seven keys with sharps and seven keys with flats there's just one left over C major it's a special case because it only has natural notes but most people find it pretty easy to remember that C major doesn't have any sharps or flats taking a closer look at the sharp Keys the first thing to notice is that they all start the same way each one starts with F sharp G major only has one sharp and it's F sharp C sharp major has a whole bunch of sharps but it starts with F sharp too in fact all these key signature start with F sharp the second sharp if there is one is always C sharp all of these keys have two or more sharps and they all start with F sharp and then C sharp this pattern continues the third sharp if there is one is always G sharp the fourth sharp is always d sharp the fifth is a sharp the sixth is a sharp and the seventh is B sharp another way to visualize this pattern is here's the key signatures for G major D major e/b F sharp and C sharp the flat key signatures have a similar pattern you'll notice that the first flag is always B flat F major only has one flat and C flat major has seven flats but they all have B flat as the first flat the second flat if there is one is always a flat the third flat is always a flat the fourth is D flat the fifth is G plot the sixth is C flat and the seventh is F one again to help visualize this pattern here are the key signatures for F B flat E flat a flat D flat G flat and C mud so the order of the sharps is this and the order of the flats is this they're always in that order and they always fill in left to right you'll never see some random combination of sharps and flats together in a key like C sharp and E sharp or a flat and D flat that's not a thing and you'll never see sharps and flats together in a major key signature that's not a thing either the phrase I like to use to remember the order of the sharps and flats is father Charles goes down and ends battle the phrase works backwards for the flats to battle ends and Down Goes Charles's father this is great because you can double check that you've got both sets in the right order and if you only happen to remember one of the phrases you can still use it to generate both sets battle ends and Down Goes Charles's father father Charles Goes Down and ends battle you can come up with your own if you prefer maybe something like furry creatures gently dozing after eating berries or before even attempting dancing get creative fashion or French children greet diners after explaining backgammon or bizarrely energetic antelope discussed grandiose corporate forecasts it doesn't really matter whatever you can use to remember now that we know the order of sharps and flats we can make use of that device from the beginning here's how to write it first write out the order of the sharps and flats then draw a line to the right of the C add accidentals to the left of the line sharps for father Charles and flats for battle ends finally add numbers below each letter starting to the right of the line then loop around when you get to the end this device tells us the order of sharps and flats the names of all major key signatures and how many sharps and flats are in each key if you want to know the key signature for a major find a we see that there are three sharps in a and we know that three sharps has to be F C and G if we want to know the key signature for a flat major we see that the number says there are three flats we know the three flats must be B E and a this works for all the keys G major has one sharp F sharp D major has two sharps F sharp and C sharp a major has three es four B has five F sharp has six and C sharp has seven for the flats F has one flat B flat is to e-flat has three a-flat has four D flat is five G flat is six and C flat at seven if you want to identify a major key signature just count how many sharps and flats there are and find it in the chart with this one we count five flats go to the flats chart and find the key with five flats D flat major you'll always know which chart to use because there isn't any overlap between the two each key only appears once this is B and this is B flat this is F and this is f sharp this covers 14 keys the only one that is in there is C major and we already know the C major doesn't have any sharps and flats it's also important to know that the sharps and flats must be on these specific lines and spaces just like the written language has been codified over time so his music this looks normal but this doesn't look normal for the sharps most people see a shape of 2 3 2 on the bass clef it's the exact same shape but we start on this F instead and continue the pattern of 2 3 2 the flats go in a 2 2 to 1 pattern and it's the same in the bass club except we start down here and that's it if you can remember father Charles goes down and ends battle and battle ends and Down Goes Charles's father line to the right of the C accidentals to the left of the line numbers to the right of the line in these shapes and you've pretty much mastered key signatures be sure to LIKE comment share and subscribe for more videos thanks for watching [Music]