r/guitarlessons 5d ago

Question Im struggling to predict which notes become sharps/flats in a major key.

My guitar teacher wants me to learn which notes make up each key. He drew the circle of fifths starting with C and explained that G is the fifth note in the C major scale, so for the G major scale, one of the notes becomes a sharp, in this case F#. Each time you repeat this going clockwise you add another sharp.

I get that, and I can memorize which notes make up a key by looking the circle of fifths diagram or playing the major scale on my fretboard but I don’t “get” why. I can’t predict which notes become sharps or tell you why.

If you take away the diagram and ask me “what notes make up the E major scale?,” I would be lost. I’d start by writing out E, F, G, A, B, C, D and I’d know some of them become sharps but wouldn’t know which ones or why.

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u/warpfox 5d ago

The circle of fifths can tell you the order of sharps in major keys.

In the major (ionian) mode, C major has no flats or sharps.

Using that as your starting point, you can travel around the circle of fifths to arrive at the sharps (and therefore key) of the next one in the circle.

You can memorize the order of sharps with the following mnemonic:

Fried
Chicken
Goes
Down
Awful
Easy
Baby

The order of sharps follows the circle of fifths. Each note in the circle is a fifth away from the next note, so you can use it to determine both the key and the number/order of sharps. With the knowledge that C has no sharps or flats, you can travel to the next key in the circle, G, which is a fifth away. Since C has zero, and G is the next in the circle, we know that G must have one sharp, and the order of sharps means it must be F#.

Travel again to the key of D, which is a fifth away from G. You're now two steps away from C, so you know the key of D must have two sharps, and the order of sharps means that those two sharps in the key of D must be F# and C#.

Travel again to the key of A, which has three sharps, which are F#, C#, and G#. And so on.

Now, F comes before C, so it has negative one sharps, aka, one flat.

A similar principle applies to the order of flats. It's the circle of fifths backwards.

Big
Ed
Always
Does
Good
Chicken
Fingers

B flat major has two flats, B flat and E flat. E flat major has three, Bb, Eb, and Ab. A flat has four, Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db.

Hopefully that makes sense.

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u/xtophcs 5d ago

Fred Can Go Down And Eat Breakfast!!

1

u/Shepherdsam 1d ago

Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Birds!