Music Notation

Say now you have a peice of music written in c major and you wanted, for example, a D sharp-which is the same as an E flat. How do you know when to write it down as a D sharp or an E flat?

I believe that you use sharps when going from low to high and flats when going the other way around, but I'm not really sure on this.

Check this out bro: Key Signatures

I am no expert when it comes to key signatures or staff notation as I am not classically trained and I've never been inclined to learn staff on my own.

Also, check out Jazz's lessons: Music Theory Grade 1

Easy Way To Remember Sharps and Flats


Hope those help.

Rock on!

You would write it as sharp if you are going up a scale, or if the rest of the music is mainly sharp. And vice-versa.

So say the entire song is natural, and only one note is flat/sharp. Look at the note before it, if it is higher than that note, it will isually be sharp. If it is lower, it will usually be flat.

Say you have two sharp/flats, whichever you put as the first one, the second will usually be the same.

That is how I learned it.

Source: Lots of Jazz Guitar Theory and Sheet Music. A year of F-Horn Concert theory and Sheets. 5 years of Piano and theory.
Even though ive forgetten 90% of it all.

Thanks everyone. I get it now :)

When writing scales you should never write with the same letter value twice in the scale. Take the C scale in all Major modes

C Ionian=C D E F G A B
C Dorian=C D Eb F G A Bb
C Phrygian=C Db Eb F G Ab Bb
C Lydian=C D E F# G A B
C Mixolydian=C D E F G A Bb
C Aolian=C D Eb F G Ab Bb
C Locrian=C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb

This does not apply to any scales that contain more than 7 notes(diminished, BeBop, Chromatic......)

@ Mosh, that's not always the case man... accidentals for example...!

When obeying the rules, yes, that is how it should be, but he's not asking for the rules, he wanted to know about the accidentals.

@ GS, Thanks for sharing my lessons man. :)

if it's in a major scale it should be written as a sharp.

@HotKoolaid

What about these following major scales: F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, and Gb? ;]

OP, pretty much you would write in a sharp if you are moving up half a step and a flat if you are moving down half a step, regardless of the scale you are in.

For example let's say you are writing in Gminor, which consists of G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, and F. And you do not want to use a v-i (D F A to G Bb D) cadence but a V-i cadence, so you would raise the third in the v chord up half a step to make it a V chord. So now your cadence becomes V-i or D F# A to G Bb D.