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What are Sharps & Flats?

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From Quick Guide: Sheet Music Basics

Summary: Sharps and flats are notes that go in between whole notes in the musical alphabet. Learn more in this free music theory video lesson.

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By Eric Williams
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Eric Williams, of “Eric Williams and the Cruisers,” lives in Sedona, Az. His band is successful throughout Arizona. He also teaches guitar, voice and other instruments at Yavapai...read more

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Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, I'm Eric Williams. And, I'm going to tell you about reading music. Okay, the next step of learning the musical alphabet is to understand that yes there are seven letters of the alphabet that go with musical pitches, but as you may have guessed, that's almost too easy. There are other notes that go in between musical alphabet pitches. And, they are the sharps and the flats. And, they have names. If you take the note A and you try to raise it by a half step, a half step raise is called a sharp, and A becomes A-sharp. And, that brings us to this black key right here. So, A, A-sharp, B. And, up here very small is the A-sharp which is what it looks like. Now, the same exact pitch also has another name. It can be called B-flat. The reason that is, is if you look at the B note here, and you lower a note by a half step, then it becomes B-flat. And, that's what this little symbol up here is B-flat. So, the same exact key or the same note, the same pitch can have two different labels. One is A-sharp. One is B-flat. So, if we follow that theory further down the line, we go B to C. Now we have C to D. Now, we may say what would be the names for this black key? A half step higher than C could be called C-sharp. A half step lower than D could be called D-flat. And, these are all marked here. And, on the piano, so you can here what it sounds like in real life, here's A. There's B. And, we have a pitch in between which can be called A-sharp or B-flat. And, that's that note right there. So, hear how it's raising? We're going A, A-sharp, B. Or, B, B-flat, A. So, A-sharp, B-flat, same key. Now, we have C and D. In between, we have C-sharp or D-flat. In between D and E, we have the magic note that's D-sharp or E-flat, very nice. Now, we have F, F-sharp, G. Or, G, G-flat, F. They both work. G, G-sharp, A. A, A-flat, G. And then, A, A-sharp, B, or B, B-flat, A."

eHow Article: What are Sharps & Flats?

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