MUSIC READING - Level 6: Understanding Key Signatures

[nicksprad]

thank you so much, man. i've been having trouble in my music theory class with key signatures and all. this helped out a lot. thanks a ton!

[bmr21021975]

can u tell me one thing? the key of F# has 6 sharps but i only count 5. It includes E# which is actually F natural. Why is it listed as E# when it is in fact F natural? Would really appreciate it if you could answer this. Thank you very much in anticipation..

[hismajestythedessert]

@bmr21021975

i'm pretty sure it's because each note name can only show up once in a diatonic scale. in this case, if you called it F instead of E#, you would have repeated F twice and left out E...

so it should be: F# G# A# B C# D# E#

NOT: F# G# A# B C# D# F

[bmr21021975]

@hismajestythedessert cool man thanks...that actually makes sense

[shoepebble]

another way I found that makes it easy for me to remember the sharps and flats for each key all consist on the low E and the A strings. Start on G note on the 6'th string for the key of G and the sharp will be F#, jump a 5th up to the D note on the A string to the D note, key of D will have F and C as the sharps. The A note on the 6th string will be the key of A will have F#, C#, and G# and so on. For the flat keys I start on the F note on the A string and notice the notes going left.

[Sean791022]

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii­ice explaining it helpppppppppppps very much thx

[bmr21021975]

@darmel100 capo has nothing to do with it

[audiosyncrasy09]

tnx



[RlFFERMADNESS]

great lesson!

[DontTreadOnMe888]

Can't believe I paid a hack teacher to confuse me when you taught me in a concise and in depth way for free. Youtube usually sucks for this kind of stuff. Gracias Amigo. You're a gifted musican and teacher!!

[popups46okay]

How do you know though if it's a major or minor. I.E. a C.major could also be an A.minor since they both don't have a sharp or flats. So how can I tell if a key is a minor or major? This is what confuses me the most.

[TobyEllisSongwriter]

@popups46okay you have to look at the notes. At a basic level, if the first note is C then its C, and if the first note is A its in A minor. More advanced is look at the first chord: again, if the first chord is C major its Cmajor, if the first chord is an Aminor then the piece is in A. Of course there are exceptions, but take on easy music first and then you'll easily be able to figure it out for yourself when its more difficult.

Remember A natural minor is the same notes as C major.

[Chipwilliams77]

You rock I'm sending you a pizza roll in the mail. 

[norly4God4People]

thanks sir Andrew!

[audiosyncrasy09]

are we talking on note intervals in a major scale here? xD

[Cyrix166]

Dude, i'm fucking hammered and I LOVE the way you talk really really fast. Nice lesson, I really learned a lot. actually, it seems, i learned all of it. All of my friends call me a "gifted musician because all instruments have come fairly easy to me, but I am an engineering major. I LOVE learning about music theory and this video helped me quite a bit. Thanks for taking the time to pot it. I really appreciate it!!!

[creativeguitarstudio]

@Cyrix166,

Wicked. Glad I was able to help!

Thanks for watching,

Andrew Wasson

[23445545665]

so key signature is for what?

[musicchild12]

you just made my life easier, Im glad I clicked on this, I almost didnt, you make complete sense casue my teacher is to genius to explain it in terms I would understand. Thank you soooo much!

[DemonsRiver]

Still dont know what a "fifth" is supposed to represent >.> And I entirely understand how to determine how many shaps/flats are in akey signature so what do I do with it? make a chord? make a scale? make 2 instruments harmonious? all 3? lol

[drumbassguitar]

@DemonsRiver The whole flats and sharps thing is really more useful when you're playing piano, because you can just look at it and see that the black keys are sharps/flats and the white keys are normal, so you know what notes are available to you when you're playing. On the guitar you can't tell which is which unless you have memorized the notes on the neck.

[drumbassguitar]

@DemonsRiver Aside from that though, a good application of the circle of fifths is figuring out key changes. If you want to move to a different key, its generally easiest to go to the key directly to your right or left. And note that the fifth interval, or the fifth chord in a key, is also called the dominant chord, because you'll probably hear that a lot, and if you don't know it can be really confusing. You should look up this guy's lesson on common key changes, it goes over that.

[LennyLeonard85]

So great! Awesome. Thank you so much!!

[flexiblebus]

Thank you so much for the great lessons, this will definitely help! Keep up the good work.

[CasHCreeW]

i was lost 2 mins in video

[LexMassive]

"Frigid C*nts Get Dick After Eleven Beers" I find rude mnemonics go a long way in aiding my memory.

[AgoustBolchz]

How can Key Signatures like C Sharp and C Flat have 6 Sharp keys?!...where the hell is the B Sharp? it doesnt exist! the same as the E Sharp! i cannot find the black keys on the piano! i think i didnt understood well :S

[satchfreak]

@AgoustBolchz B sharp is C. C flat is B, E sharp is F, F flat is E.

[AgoustBolchz]

@satchfreak yeah i understood minutes after i published it hahahah thnx anyways

[MegaHotDiggityDog]

i know music...i can sing, play songs on guitar...and bass...been doing it all for a few years now....I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE KEYS!!!!

[MrHeyyouwhat]

slow down please

[theebluesman]

I like the part about memory,I never took any lessons,learned from watching Jimi,but I thought this was a good video,If I knew about this when I was a kid ,I would have never pick up an axe,I leaned to play with feelings and emotion :),and I teach that :)

[dwshiva]

how do you find the key signiture of a chord progression?

[johnnysurefire]

That helped alot thanks. But im a little lost. On the clock " 'Cflat' and 'B' " are at 5, so why on the ladder chart does "C flat" have 7 flats, yet "Cflat" on the clock is at 5?

[sairamsridharaa]

I want to know what it is exactly , and i am an extreme noob @ theory trying to learn some from your videos!

[sairamsridharaa]

I know this is a stupid question, but what is a key signature :|

[spadesofchaos]

@sairamsridharaa the note of the key your in like aminor key sig would be a

[sairamsridharaa]

@spadesofchaos ah thank you!

[6EELZE6U6666]

@sairamsridharaa please dont listen to spadesofchaos, their explanation of a key signature is not correct :D

[6EELZE6U6666]

@spadesofchaos thats not what a key signature is! a key signature is basically the notes within a specific key.... for example A major, the key signature is A B C# D E F# G#... perhaps you shouldn't be trying to give people explanations if you have no idea what your'e talking about...

[spunknchunky]

dude your a good teacher man, you explain this so well

[MikroBadass]

I like you cause you got mad credentials, but yes the Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battles is over used

[lotrringereras]

wow dude thats the first time i see this kind of explanation, its really extensive and good, unfortunately my head didnt get it at the first time

[xXSlashBoiXx]

if you know what key the song is in can you use a pentatonic scale in that song? For example: the song is in the key of E, could you use an E Pentatonic scale for that song? Thanks

[frannyp46]

@xXSlashBoiXx Yes you can .Just make sure you play the appropriate major or minor one depending on the chord.

[imbattie]

Wow! I have a midterm on this tomorrow and was completely lost. This is great. You saved my life!

[Nixlplix]

"memory trick things" like this are called mnemonics. And thanks I think I can finally remember it now :)

[jimbang]

can we have that paper?

[BrokenBoySoldier1]

hey, i don't know that much about Keys in music, can anyone post any links to usefully videos, forums, webpages or recommend any books.

Thanks

[goldenflake7]

Well done, comprehensive presentation

[shredmetalmike]

I must ask - are you in a band by chance? You have shed alot of light onto my playing and cleared alot of things up! I thank you !

MortalWrath com

[FlamingCuntLips]

I'm confused why is there a B# ? I've observed for years theres no such thing as B# or E#... or am I missing a point here ?

[muziklvr1714]

absolutely brilliant... the only thing i have to say is that when you were explaing the stairwell, you said that flats had 4 letters.... it has 5. but otherwise well done ;)

[xde0mega]

@muziklvr1714 flat has 4 letters. sharp has 5 letters.

[muziklvr1714]

@xde0mega Yea but he said flats. With an S. That's five letters. But no big deal

[NabeeltheThird]

@muziklvr1714 he meant consider the the word with out the plural, (sharps) without the ''s'' has 5 letters as (flats) with out the ''s'' has 4.

[ericaandterrystabs]

where is the link to the diagram?

[troitpistons]

Fat College Girls Don't Always Eat Bread! Order of sharps....

and they are just reverse order of each other! I was hoping he was gonna mention that....but he didn't,

[Kensei83]

I can't see the link....... :(

[Kensei83]

You lost me at 9:07

[Kensei83]

I want to add that even in music schools, nobody ever explained to me the circle. When I was little I thought it was a UFO design.

[jiesca12]

Thank you Andrew, this was very helpful.

[thedarkener]

Definitely one of the most detailed explanations about the circle of fifths and related topics. I'll have to watch it a few times again to really have it sink in though I think =) Thank you for making this!!

[vlatkoijasa95]

Really great lesson... helped me so much.. :D

[Automobilie]

Good job! Diagrams are great and provided for my viewing pleasuer and understanding.

[Dan4157]

very nice, I like that charts you provided way more than that circle :)

[zachpeabody]

Shit i definitly need lessons haha

[xeeet99]

great man.can u tell us abt the modes of scales and their practical aspects i playing

[chilidog1001]

yoooo theory kills my brain...its like math class all over again

[inuyasha2448]

it took us about 8 classes in school to go over what you did in under 15 minutes

my music theory teacher needs to take notes

[SpaceAceTX]

@inuyasha2448  Yeah but teacher probably gets paid by the hour, ha $ $

[ProminentReborn]

@inuyasha2448 this dude goes FAST... I have my basics down but his mindset is purely music theory and I feel he takes it for granted, real smart

[jayjaygibbs]

I don't understand why there is a C flat...

[executionair]

because techinically b and c are halfsteps, just like a sharp or flat

[xNapoleon117x]

thats a sharp dumbass why are u watchin this if u dont know the difference of sharp and flat

[samgam69]

Father Christmas Gets Drunk After Eleven Bevys. thats what i got

[yorkeysa]

Thank you, this was a great lesson :)

[metalcoffin]

Awesome! Thanks so much for posting this. Gave me a much better understanding of what it means when someone says, "play in the key of ?"

[leopower7]

THANKS A LOT ANDREW!

REALLLLLLLYYY appreciated! this was very helpful!

but, how exactly can i find these notes on the fretboard?

please someone answer

[TwoHeadedPen]

you are an awesome guitar player, and you make me very happy im learning music theory.

[Beeflane]

thank you so much, your videos are helping me so much

[SinusoidRecordings]

F C G D A E B

^ my favorite acronym is Fidel Castro Gets Drunk After Every Battle

[MarcusAtreides]

Very nice as always

[XsebT]

Thank you very much for your work; it is much appreciated!

[insatanwetrustslave]

For the flats it is just Frank's chickens...in reverse. You'll only need to learn your funny memory line once and then go backwards.

FCGDAEB -> BEADGFC See, Its mirrored! :-)

Great lesson Andrew, you've cleared a LOT up!

[fretboardsean]

"Fried Chicken Goes Down Awfully Easy Brother"  =P

[creativeguitarstudio]

That's Great !

[creole2kiss]

@fretboardsean I learned "Fried Chicken Good. Don't Ask, Eat Bird!" :)

[ilovestinalots]

i learned the circle of fifths with seven sharps and flats on major and minor. the seventh sharp is a# or C#. seventh flat is ab or Cb.

[gotirish]

Great lesson!...I have never seen anyone explain this topic this clearly in such a short amount of time.......keep up the good work!

[funtochill431]

I agree "gotirish"!

[gremboul]

The Circle of 5ths is a great tool...it also helps you visualize chord progressions, triads, dominant, sub-dominant, relative minors...etc.

[allof8death]

GREAT LESSON ANDREW!!!!

[markitymark90]

ty for this

[DarkManS32]

I think it also helps to remember that the order of Sharps and Flats are mirror opposites... So if you learn one, you technically know the other. Just reverse the order and the sign (b to #). :)

[mraggrovator]

Great stuff.

[Samcubegamer]

Cycle of 5th's and 4th's is amazing!! I remember learning about this my first year at college and was like... wtf! o_0 lol