[Music] this is the first of a series of five videos that goes over five important things that you should know really well going into theory to each of the five topics are things that would have been learned in theory one that should be rock-solid going into theory to the first of these is key signatures there's many ways to memorize and learn key signatures the way I'm going to recommend or suggest in this video is to just memorize this statement fast cars go down around every Bend the first letter of each word F for fast C for cars G go D down a around E every and B Ben are the sharps in order so for instance if you have the key of g-major to one sharp and the key of D majors to sharps notice the first sharp was was F and the second sharp was C the third sharp is G and the fourth sharp is D the fifth sharp is a the six sharp is e and the seven sharp is B and if you can memorize that saying you'll always remember your sharps in order so for instance if I wanted to start over with just two sharps fast cars right that turns out to be the key of D and the reason I knew that that was the key of D and we'll tie this into our second topic about scales building scales if you know your sharps in order to figure out sharp keys you go to the last sharp and then go up one line or space so the last sharp here of the two that's there there's an F and there's a C right that's the F sharp that's the C sharp but the rightmost sharp is the C sharp and if we go up to the very next line or space and in this case since the C sharp is a space we go up to the very next line that's a D so it turns out that two sharps is the key of D major and to build a D major scale you just start on D that's low D you just go up by step filling in all the notes until you get to Heidi right D to D so this is low D this is Heidi and everything in between is D major scale now it turns out that because we've we have the correct key signature of two sharps we have we have an f-sharp right there's an f-sharp and so this is actually not just deaf its F sharp right that and then we have a c-sharp and this is not just C it's C sharp because of the key signature so it turns out we have a pattern your D to e as a whole step e to F sharp is another whole step F sharp to G is a half-step G to a is a whole step A to B is a whole step B to C sharp is a whole step and then C sharp to D is a half step well that pattern of whole whole half whole whole whole half that is the pattern for a major scale but we didn't have to really be cognizant or aware of that pattern of whole whole half whole whole whole half all we had to do was have the right key signature let's try another one so fast cars go down okay now I have four sharps and the sharps that I've written F for fast C for cars G sharp go and then D sharp deep down so fast cars go down well the last or rightmost sharp is the D sharp and if I go up to the next line or space in this case it's a space because that's on a the D sharp is on a line is an e so this is the key of E major and now if I put an E and fill in every note from low E to high E I will get an E major scale and that's exactly right because I have F sharp I have C sharp I have G sharp and d sharp and with those sharps I now have whole step whole step half step whole step whole step whole step half step I have the right pattern for an E major scale so memorize the saying fast cars go down around every Bend you will know the sharps in order and you can figure out any sharp key by taking the rightmost sharp going up to the next liner space and the note that is there is the name of that sharp key okay so let's do some flat keys we've been doing sharp keys the flats in order are B flat E flat a flat D flat G flat C flat F flat now at first blush that doesn't look like there's any pattern but if you say are saying of fast pars go down around every bin in Reverse write fast that's low F that's an F I'm sorry yeah fast and then C cars and then G go D down a around e every and B is Bend so it's our saying but in reverse order fast cars go down around every Bend in reverse order and the first flat is B so let's go back to before we have those flats and then erase these and put a few flats on there and okay so if I only have three flats B flat E flat and a flat I'd have to use the last three words of the fast cars go down around every Bend right there's around every bent because there's an A flat and E flat and a B flat alright so here's how you you figure out the flats key signatures you go to the second-to-last flat so the last flat we have is an A flat the second-to-last flat is the E flat so it turns out this is the key of E flat major and just like with the sharps all I have to do now is put an E flat and fill in every note in between and I get an E flat major scale it turns out that because of the flats I've listed right there's B flat is the first one and E flat is the second one there's the two E flats and a flat is the third one so it turns out that I have the right pattern of whole step whole step half step whole step whole step whole step half step that's an E flat major scale let's try a few or at least one other flat key let's go with B flat E flat a flat D flat and G so there's five flats and we go to the second-to-last flat right and that is the D flat so this is a D flat major key signature I'll just start with D flat and go up by step line space line space line space and we end up having a D flat major scale let's go ahead and apply the flats there's the B flat that the key signature would add there's the E flat but the key thing is right there's the a flat there's the D flat which is both high and low and then lastly G flat and yes it turns out D flat D flat is a whole step B flat to F a whole step F to G flats a half step G flat to a flats a whole step a flat to B flat so whole step B flat to C is a whole step and then C to D flat is our half step so using the same fast cars go down around every bend forward four sharps backward four flats we can learn all of our key signatures and spell all of our major scales you