Building Blocks: Sharps, Flats, and Accidentals

 

    What is an accidental?

    You've likely heard about sharp, flat, and natural notes.  "Accidental" is just a general word we use to refer to any of these things.  These concepts are really simple:

    Sharps raise a note by one half-step.

    Flats lower a note by one half-step.

    There are also "double sharps" and "double flats" which do exactly what you expect:

    Double sharps raise a note by two half-steps (which is equal to one whole-step)

    Double flats lower a note by two half-steps (which is equal to one whole-step)

    There is also something called a "natural".  This cancels any sharps or flats and returns a note to it's "natural" state (the plain letter name from the musical alphabet).  Take a look at what these symbols look like:

    In plain text we typically use "#" for sharp, "b" for flat, "x" for double sharp, and "bb" for double flat, since they look similar to the actual symbols.  For the natural symbol, we usually just use the word "natural".  There really isn't a need for this symbol in text because a plain letter is typically assumed to be natural.  For example, "C" by itself implies that it is "C natural", as opposed to "C#" which means "C sharp".  Any note can have any accidental applied to it, and when there is no accidental it is automatically assumed that it's "natural". 

<  Whole-steps and Half-Steps

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    Remember you can leave a comment below if you have a question.  I will respond as soon as I can!