Guitar Lesson How To Deal With Double Sharps And Flats

By James Emery Vigh

On occasion, you can, as a guitarist, run into a circumstance where you will run into double sharps and flats. The good news is that it’s rare in frequent music. The bad news is that you still can run throughout them sometimes, and you can in addition learn in what manner to cope with them.

Let's get started this off by discussing keys and major scales in particular.

Recall that major scales have a formula ( 1 + 1 + 1/2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1/2)

There are likewise rules concerning the construction of these things:

1. You should use each letter of the musical alphabet ( ABCDEFG ). You can’t skip a letter. Ever.

2. You should use the major scale formula.

3. You should never mix sharps and flats in the same scale. A major scale are going to have sharps in it, or flats in it, or none of either.

So, whether or not I wanted to build up an A major scale, I would get started off with rule number 1 -- Use each letter.

A B C D E F G.

Now it becomes a subject of if there are any sharps or flats. So let's employ the formula:

1 step above A is B

1 step above B is C#

1/2 step above C# is D

1 step above D is E

1 step above E is F#

1 step above F# is G#

1/2 step above G# is A

So my A major scale is: A B C# D E F# G# A (There are 3 sharps in this key C#, F# and G#)

Most of your "pop keys" wouldn’t have more than 5 sharps, but what whether or not I'm in the key of G#? Let's develop this headache of a scale:

1. Use each letter. I will initiate by making use of G# because I acknowledge that that is the key. I likewise acknowledge that I are going to be using sharps and not flats because I can’t violate the rule that worries mixing sharps and flats. But at this point I don't acknowledge where these are so:

Rule number 1 -- Use each letter. G# A B C D E F G#

Rule number 2 -- Apply formula ( 1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 )

1 step above G# is A#

1 step above A# is B#

1/2 step above B# is C##

1 step above C## is D##

1 step above D## is E##

1 step above E## is F##

1/2 step above F## is G#

G# A# B# C## D## E## F## G#

Look at all of the gorgeous double sharps! What's up with that and how did they get there?

In truth, these guys are a ache for any musician. It forces even the most proficient and most cultured musicians to "think fast" (as you may imagine). But they’re not hard to grasp whether or not you acknowledge what a sharp (#) actually does.

A sharp (#) raises a note 1/2 step. That is the definition of a sharp. So, as an illustration a C## is a C raised a half step twice.

Now let's consider the Chromatic Scale:

A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A

Recall that this baby is a 1/2 step scale. That is, the numeric distance amidst every and each note in this scale is 1/2 step.

Now, what does a sharp do? It raises a note 1/2 step.

That means that whether or not I wanted to (I wouldn't, by the way) I COULD express a D as A##### (D raised a 1/2 step 5 times)

1/2 step up from A is A# (raise number 1)

1/2 step up from A# is B (raise number 2)

1/2 step up from B is C (raise number 3)

1/2 step up from C is C# (raise number 4)

1/2 step up from C# is D (raise number 5)

Fortunately you will never, ever see this to this extent -- it's too demented even for classical music.

But you will see double sharps on occasion.

So going back to the despised G# major scale

G# A# B# C## D## E## F## G#

A B# is actually a C, but due to the rules of major scales it is having to be represented as a B#.

A C## is actually a D, but due to that rule, it is having to be represented as a C##.

A D## is actually an E.

An E## is actually an F# (This one's fun! )

An F## is actually a G

So, whether or not you have the misfortune of seeing a piece of music in the key of G#, you may run throughout an E##m7 chord -- which is actually F#m7!

Now ain't that particular?

Again, you can play for years before you’re forced to cope with something like this on a pragmatic level (and surely not to this extent. A piece of music are going to be written in Ab instead of G#). But sooner or later you will, so it's primary that you grasp what's going on.

Now transaction with double flats is the same problem -- only in reverse. The definition of a flat is to lower a note 1/2 step.Double flats are far fewer mutual though.If you may grasp double sharps, you won't have much of a problem understanding double flats.

Article Source: http://interpret.zar.vg

About The Author
Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to read my article. My name is James Emery Vigh, and I am an author of guitar method books for kids and adults as well as history books on famous battles. I am also an independent film maker. My current project combines animation and live action to teach the guitar to kids.