Key Signatures

Here is a list of all of the different key signatures:

Key of C (no sharps or flats)
Key of F (1 flat)
Key of B Flat (2 flats)
Key of E Flat (3 flats)
Key of A Flat (4 flats)
Key of D Flat (5 flats)
Key of G Flat (6 flats)
Key of C Flat (7 flats)
Key of G (1 sharp)
Key of D (2 sharps)
Key of A (3 sharps)
Key of E (4 sharps)
Key of B (5 sharps)
Key of F Sharp (6 sharps)
Key of C Sharp (7 sharps)

Tricks to Remember Key Signatures

Flats

For key signatures with flats, the key signature is the second to last flat.

Key of E flat — This is the key of E flat because E flat is the second to last flat in the key signature.

Key of D flat — This is the key of D flat because D flat is the second to last flat in the key signature. It is not the key of D because there is a D flat in the key. Therefore, it is the key of D flat.

Sharps

For key signatures with sharps, the key signature is the note name half step above the last sharp.

Key of G — This is the key of G because F# is the last sharp in the key signature. G is half step above F#.

Key of E — This is the key of E because E is half step above D#, which is the last sharp in the key signature. It is not the key of E# because there is no E# in this key signature.

What about the key of C or the key of F?

This little trick will help you quickly determine the name of the key signature when there are multiple sharps or flats in the key signature, but you may have noticed that this trick doesn't work for the key of F or the key of C. Let's discuss what all of these key signatures have in common.

Whole & Half Step Pattern in a Major Scale

In the last lesson, we discussed that the W W H W W W H step pattern is the same for all major keys. The key of C has no sharps or flats because it naturally follows this pattern.

The key of F, for example, has 1 flat (B flat). The B is flatted so that the scale follows the same W W H W W W H pattern.

Here's what it would look like without the B flatted. Notice that the pattern changes, which means that this is no longer a Major scale.

D Major Scale — Here's another example of this. This image shows that the key of D Major follows this same pattern.

scale starting on D without sharps — Without the sharps, it is a different pattern and, therefore, not a Major scale.