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Key Signatures Explained

There are 12 keys. The following chart represents all the keys and I have endeavored to explain what is commonly known as the "circle of fifths". Let's look at the top of the circle first of all. You will see "C". C major has no sharps or flats in its key signature. Look to the right in the diagram and you will see "G". G has one sharp in its key signature and is a perfect 5th away from "C", the previous key. (G is the 5th note in the C major scale). Look to the right again and you will see "D". D major has two sharps and again, is a perfect 5th away from the previous key of G. (D is the 5th note in the G major scale). Continue around the circle again and you will come to A major, which has three sharps and is a perfect 5th away from the previous key of D and so on.

Keep continuing around the circle until it starts over at C major again, back at the top of the circle. You will notice that there are three keys in the circle that have two different names. B is the same as Cb. F# is the same as Gb and C# is the same as Db. These are known as enharmonic keys (they sound the same, but are notated differently). In a practical situation you would use B instead of Cb as it is easier to think of 5 sharps rather than 7 flats. Also you would use Db instead of C#, because it is better to think of 5 flats instead of 7 sharps. Since F# and Gb have an equal number of sharps and flats, either can be used. C# and Cb are considered more "theoretical" keys than actual usable keys, so you will rarely see them.



Here are all the key signatures with their respective accidentals:



It is a good idea to memorize these keys and to know exactly what accidentals each contains. There is a really easy little rhyme to help you remember this. First, remember that C major has no sharps or flats. Easy. Then:

For sharp keys:
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

For flat keys:
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father

It might take a while to really know these keys inside out so don't drive yourself nuts if this doesn't sink in for a while. Know the theory behind the keys as I have explained above and the more you actually play in a key, the more each will really hit home with you and become comfortable.

Relative Minor Keys
For every major key there is a relative minor key. Our relative minor key chord is chord 6 in our major chord scale sequence. Just to remind you:

So the relative minor of C major is therefore A minor. Makes sense? All the key chords pertaining to the key of A minor are (for our present purposes) the same as C major except that in order for us to really establish our new key center of A minor, it is necessary for us to include the chord of E7 because if we were to play a perfect cadence in A minor, we would need to go v - i (chord 5 going to chord 1), just like we would in a major key. Our v chord is always dominant remember? or dominant 7th. (in the key of C major, our v dominant chord is G7). So in the key of A minor, our v dominant chord would be E7 (not E minor as the key of C major would suggest).

In any major key, simply count up six steps to find out what the relative minor key is:

Major	Relative Minor
C major	A minor
G major	E minor
D major	B minor
A major	F# minor
E major	C# minor
B major	G# minor
F# major	D# minor
C# major	A# minor
F major	D minor
Bb major	G minor
Eb major	C minor
Ab major	F minor
Db major	Bb minor
Gb major	Eb minor
Cb major	Ab minor

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