Key Signature

The key signature is the group of sharps or flats just after the clef. It applies to every note of those letter names, in every octave, for the whole piece.

It saves writing an accidental on every single altered note. Sharps always appear in the order F C G D A E B, and flats in the reverse, so the number of symbols tells you the key without counting the notes.

A minor key shares its relative major's signature: a minor and c major are the pair with no sharps or flats. The chart reads the order F C G D A E B, and flats in reverse, as keys: sharps one g major, two d major, three a major, four e major, five b major; flats one f major, two b-flat major, three e-flat major, four a-flat major, five d-flat major, six g-flat major.

How to spot it

The key signature of G major: one sharp, F-sharp, sitting between the clef and the time signature.

The symbols between the clef and the time signature. If there are none, the piece is in C major or A minor.

Find it in thirty seconds

Count the sharps or flats in any piece, then name the key. One sharp is G major; two is D major; one flat is F major.

Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.

Related Topics...

  • How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.

  • Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each, clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.

  • Accidental: Accidental in piano music. An accidental is any sharp, flat or natural written in front of a note, changing its pitch for the rest of that measure.

  • Flat: Flat in piano music. A flat (♭) lowers a note by one semitone, the very next key to the left, black or white.

  • Sharp: Sharp in piano music. A sharp (♯) raises a note by one semitone, the very next key to the right, black or white.

  • Time Signature: Time Signature in piano music. The time signature is the pair of numbers after the clef. The top number says how many beats are in each measure; the bottom say…

More in This Section

  • Ledger Lines: Ledger Lines in piano music. Ledger lines are the short lines added above or below a staff to carry notes that are too high or too low to fit on it. Each one c…

  • Legato: Legato in piano music. Legato means play smoothly and connected, with each note lasting until the next one begins.

Readers Also Look For

  • F Sharp Major Scale (Piano): The F-sharp major scale is F♯ G♯ A♯ B C♯ D♯ E♯ F♯, with six sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯). Notes, piano fingering for both hands, key signature and chords. P…

  • Key of A Flat Major: The key of A Flat Major: four flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭), the notes A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G, and all seven chords, A♭, B♭m, Cm, D♭, E♭, Fm, Gdim.