# Just brushing up on theory



## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

And boy do I have alot of cobwebs. I have a couple of questions. First I'm going over the major scales with sharps and flats. Concerning the F# major scale. Wikipedia reports F# major scales as having 6 sharps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_scale 

One of them being E#. I didn't think that there was such a thing as E#.
Also I'm reading that sharps or flats are determined in a scale by whether a letter is repeated. For example: in the G major scale the F# is determined as F# not G flat as G cannot be repeated twice. Or any letter for that matter. Is this true?


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

guitarman2 said:


> And boy do I have alot of cobwebs. I have a couple of questions. First I'm going over the major scales with sharps and flats. Concerning the F# major scale. Wikipedia reports F# major scales as having 6 sharps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_scale
> 
> One of them being E#. I didn't think that there was such a thing as E#.
> Also I'm reading that sharps or flats are determined in a scale by whether a letter is repeated. For example: in the G major scale the F# is determined as F# not G flat as G cannot be repeated twice. Or any letter for that matter. Is this true?



E# is of course the same as F. It's called an enharmonic equivalent. 

Memorizing the key signatures is sort of a necessary step in learning to read and write effectively.

And yes, you would never have a key with say a G AND a G flat.



Good luck with the "boning up". I'm pretty rusty as well.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Milkman said:


> E# is of course the same as F. It's called an enharmonic equivalent.
> 
> Memorizing the key signatures is sort of a necessary step in learning to read and write effectively.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the response. I realized that E# is actually F but I just never thought that it would ever be referred to as E# when it is in fact an F.


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


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## GuitarMatrix (Jun 28, 2008)

*Interactive Circle of Fifths*

I came across this a while ago. It's a great visualization tool that might help if you're working on memorizing key signatures.

http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths/

www.theguitarmatrix.com


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

GuitarMatrix said:


> I came across this a while ago. It's a great visualization tool that might help if you're working on memorizing key signatures.
> 
> http://randscullard.com/CircleOfFifths/
> 
> www.theguitarmatrix.com


Thanks for the link. Very helpful.


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## pattste (Dec 30, 2007)

Terry,

A couple of years ago, I decided to learn some serious music theory. I prepared for and passed the Royal Conservatory of Music program's Rudiments I and II examinations. That's more theory than you're likely to need; essentially the level that's expected of people who enter university for a bachelors degree in music. The workbook that I used is called The Complete Elementary Music Rudiments by Mark Sarnecki. It's full of theory and exercises. You have to do the exercises, it's the only way that you really learn. You can buy the Answer book, too. Highly recommended.


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## GuitarMatrix (Jun 28, 2008)

*Visual memory aid for key signatures*

Hi guitarman2,

Here are a couple of diagrams showing an easy to memorize visual approach for memorizing the number of sharps and flats in each major key. The letter name of the fretted note becomes the name of the key signature, the number shown on the diagram is the number of sharps or flats. 

The key of C, which has no sharps or flats has been omitted.



















Hope this helps!


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

GuitarMatrix said:


> Hi guitarman2,
> 
> Here are a couple of diagrams showing an easy to memorize visual approach for memorizing the number of sharps and flats in each major key. The letter name of the fretted note becomes the name of the key signature, the number shown on the diagram is the number of sharps or flats.
> 
> ...


Nice. Thank you again. I wish I had these charts in big posters to hang on the walls of my music room.


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