{"id":8767,"date":"2015-10-01T05:29:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T05:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/?p=8767"},"modified":"2015-10-11T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T09:41:08","slug":"key-signatures-the-mystery-unravelled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/key-signatures-the-mystery-unravelled\/","title":{"rendered":"KEY SIGNATURES \u2013 The mystery unravelled"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script src=\"https:\/\/petersen.leadpages.co\/leadbox-908.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" data-leadbox=\"14a4e2273f72a2:944713b9d\" data-url=\"https:\/\/petersen.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/14a4e2273f72a2%3A944713b9d\/5905658549370880\/\" data-config=\"%7B%22type%22%3A%22time%22%2C%22settings%22%3A%7B%22seconds%22%3A0%2C%22days%22%3A0%2C%22views%22%3A0%7D%7D\"><\/script><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Blog-feature-Key-Signatures-600.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-8790\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Blog-feature-Key-Signatures-600.jpg\" alt=\"KEY SIGNATURES \u2013 The mystery unravelled Feature Image\" width=\"750\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Blog-feature-Key-Signatures-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Blog-feature-Key-Signatures-600-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Blog-feature-Key-Signatures-600-220x126.jpg 220w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Blog-feature-Key-Signatures-600-460x260.jpg 460w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Key Signatures is the name given to the collection of sharps and flats that appear at the beginning of a piece of music between the clef and the time signature. But what are they, where do they come from and how are they used?<\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the theoretical concepts that is heavily used in <strong>the LICK FACTORY<\/strong> courses are Key Signatures. Key Signatures is the name given to the collection of sharps and flats that appear at the beginning of a piece of music between the clef and the time signature.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8784\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8784\" style=\"width: 220px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Key-Signatures-F-major1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8784\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Key-Signatures-F-major1.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures F# Major\" width=\"220\" height=\"139\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Key-Signatures-F-major1.jpg 514w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Key-Signatures-F-major1-300x190.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8784\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Key Signatures are located at the beginning of a piece of music between the clef and the time signature.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When using the Major Scale formula (T, T, S, T, T, T, S) to build a scale up from each and every note of the chromatic scale, you will find that every scale you end up with has Sharps and Flats in it. The only exception to this is the C Major Scale.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8772\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8772\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/C-Major-Scale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8772 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/C-Major-Scale.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures - The C Major Scale\" width=\"768\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/C-Major-Scale.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/C-Major-Scale-300x84.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8772\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The C Major scale has no sharps or flats in it. The Key Signature would reflect this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8773\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8773\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Db-Major-Scale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8773 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Db-Major-Scale.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures - The Db Major Scale\" width=\"768\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Db-Major-Scale.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Db-Major-Scale-300x84.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8773\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Bb Major Scale has 5 flats in. Its Key Signature would also have 5 flats in it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8774\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8774\" style=\"width: 1083px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Major-Scale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8774 \" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Major-Scale.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures - The F# Major Scale\" width=\"1083\" height=\"316\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8774\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The F# Major Scale has 6 sharps in it. So does its Key Signature.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you were to sharpen or flatten each individual note in a complete piece of music, the reading process can become a bit of a challenge especially if we\u2019re dealing with scales that have up to 6 sharps or flats in it. The Staff becomes extremely cluttered and like most things in life, clutter can make it hard to focus.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8788\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8788\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Example.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8788\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Example.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures F# Example\" width=\"800\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Example.jpg 800w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Example-300x38.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8788\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">With a lot of sharps or flats in the piece and the absence of Key Signatures, the staff becomes quite cluttered and difficult to read.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is where Key Signature\u2019s come in. To make the reading process neater and more efficient, we collate all the sharps and flats of the scale at the beginning of each system of music. By looking at the notes that have been sharpened or flattened you can immediately tell what key (or scale) you will primarily be using while playing through an individual system or line of music.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8775\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8775\" style=\"width: 746px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Major-Scale-Key-Signature.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8775\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Major-Scale-Key-Signature.jpg\" alt=\"F# Major Scale and Key Signature\" width=\"746\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Major-Scale-Key-Signature.jpg 746w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/F-Major-Scale-Key-Signature-300x60.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 746px) 100vw, 746px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8775\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Key Signatures collate all the notes of the scale in use at the beginning of each system.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Key Signatures act as an \u2018override\u2019 for each note written on the staff. All the notes that have been sharpened or flattened in the Key Signatures should be played as such. This is the case even though the individual notes on the system may not have any symbols before them. For example, if you have an F# in the key signature, every note in the piece of music that is written as an \u2018F\u2019 should be played as an F#.<\/p>\n<h2>NEUTRAL KEY SIGNATURES:<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When building up the Major scale using the Major scale formula (T, T, S, T, T, T, S) there is only one key that ends up without any sharped or flattened notes in it. This one scale is the C Major Scale.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8782\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8782\" style=\"width: 746px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Netural-Keysignatures.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8782 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Netural-Keysignatures.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures with no sharps or flats\" width=\"746\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Netural-Keysignatures.jpg 746w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Netural-Keysignatures-300x60.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 746px) 100vw, 746px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8782\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Key Signatures with no Sharps or Flats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>SHARP KEY SIGNATURES:<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The order in which the sharps appear in key signatures is: F#, C#, G#, D#, A# E# and B#. A simple rhyme to remember this order is \u201cFather Christmas Gives Dolls And Electric Bells\u201d. The keys that this applies to is G Major (1 sharp), D Major (2 Sharps), A Major (3 Sharps), E Major (4 Sharps), B Major (5 Sharps) and F# Major (6 Sharps).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8780\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8780\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Sharp-Key-signatures.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8780\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Sharp-Key-signatures.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures with Sharps\" width=\"800\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Sharp-Key-signatures.jpg 800w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Sharp-Key-signatures-300x48.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8780\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Key Signatures with 1 to 6 sharps.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>FLAT KEY SIGNATURES:<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The order in which the flats appear is: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db Gb and Cb. A way to remember this order is to spell \u201cBEAD\u201d and put a \u201cG,C\u201d at the end.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The keys that have flattened notes in them are F Major (1 Flat), Bb Major (2 Flats), Eb Major (3 Flats), Ab Major (4 Flats), Db Major (5 Flats) and finally Gb Major (6 flats).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8781\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8781\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Flat-Key-signatures.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8781\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Flat-Key-signatures.jpg\" alt=\"Key Signatures with Flats\" width=\"800\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Flat-Key-signatures.jpg 800w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Flat-Key-signatures-300x48.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8781\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Key Signatures with 1 to 6 Flats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It is possible to have Keys and Key Signatures with more than 6 sharps of flats, however these become quite difficult to read. For example, C# Major would have 7 sharps in its key signature, however it is easier to read using its \u2018enharmonic equivalent\u2019 (1 note with two names) Db Major which has 5 flats in its key signature.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This article is based on concepts from\u00a0<strong>the LICK FACTORY&#8217;s <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/preliminary-lessons\/\">Preliminary Lessons.<\/a>\u00a0Everything you need to know to get started on your musical journey.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Need a quicker fix? <a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/ucg-vol-1\/\">the ULTIMATE CHORD GUIDE: Volume 1<\/a> might be the answer.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Who&#8217;s your teacher?<\/h2>\n<div style=\"width: 20%; padding: 0 10pt 0 0; float: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8717\" src=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kris Petersen 'Meet You' Profile Picture\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/09\/Kris-Pic.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/nickycarrallphotography.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nicky Carrall Photography<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 70%; padding: 0px 10pt 0px 0px; float: right; text-align: justify;\"><em><strong>Kris Petersen<\/strong><\/em> is a true veteran of the Australian Music Industry. From clubs to stadiums, Kris has performed on every continent in the world and shared the stage with some of the worlds biggest artists. In the last few years alone, Kris has shared the stage with Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Orianthi, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Matt Sorumn (Guns n Roses), Eric Martin, The Drifters, Buckcherry, Daryl Braithwaite, The Living End&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/whos-your-teacher\/\">read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Signatures is the name given to the collection of sharps and flats that appear at the beginning of a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[95],"tags":[35,96,97,10,98],"class_list":["post-8767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-theory","tag-free-guitar-lessons-2","tag-free-music-theory-lessons","tag-key-signatures","tag-kris-petersen","tag-music-theory"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/10\/Blog-feature-Key-Signatures-600.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4qE6j-2hp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8767"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8940,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8767\/revisions\/8940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelickfactory.com\/the-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}