Cycle of Keys

[Davide101]

Hello! I have a Question about the Cycle of Keys, C-G-D-A-E-B-F#-C#-Ab-Eb-Bb-F. I want to know where the Sharps and Flats come from?

[StoneDragon]

That's not an easy question to answer on a forum post, but I'll give you a condensed answer and a link to a longer answer.

The short answer is that every key is dictated by the major scale. The major scale is built by following a certain pattern of steps (w w h w w w h). If you start on each note and follow the pattern you will find that each key has a different number of sharps or flats.

I would recommend that you take a look at Lesson Four (http://www.zentao.com/guitar/lesson4/theory-2.html) for a more complete explanation.

[Play-Da-Blues]

And dude, remember, that the W, W, H, W, W, W, H. doesn't include the root or the first note. So, it would really read like ROOT, W, W, H, W, W, W, H...

That missing root at the begining gave me a fit for the first couple of days when I tried to build scales....

See ya,
Mike

[StoneDragon]

Good point.... it's easy to overlook that.

[I_b_a_nez]

if your confused now check this out http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif
Cycle of Keys,
C-G-D-A-E-B-F#-Db-Ab-Eb-Bb-F

circle of 5ths
picture a circle with 12 points(clock if you will)
starting at 12 o'clock with the C(no #s or bs) and move clock wise around the circle adding 1 sharp to each Key every hour untill you reach 6 o'clock(F# with 6 #s)
at 7 o'clock you will switch to flats(bs) with the key of Db(5 bs) removeing 1 flat from the key every hour untill you come back to C(no #s or bs)

[StoneDragon]

that's a good anaolgy.