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E#. Wait, what?
- Thread starter comatosedragon
- Start date
Hey I meant it in good fun.
These things tend to get heated and I wish they wouldn't, but I guess that's the internet for you.
This is insensitive to the 'nth degree and the fact that you used all caps for the word THE will give me no choice other than to curl up in the fetal position under the table and cry until my mascara runs a black river down my cheeks!
I hate you!
The choice between F# and Gb isn't the issue. It's when you start using incorrect enharmonic spellings that things get ugly:
Easy to read. Most musicians I work with would read this with no difficulty:
Easy to read. Again, most musicians I work with would read this easily:
Sounds the same, but really, really hard to read:
It is flat-out wrong to write an F for the second note of this example. Even the very best readers are likely to play the third example incorretly, and when you're writing charts that need to be read correctly the first time, that matters.
With all due respect, that's just silly.
I will never again be able to play an F (or an E#) without thinking of this bizarre thread. 
This is like trying to explain the color of the sky to a blind man.
That's because you probably aren't jamming in F# major or C# major...
Sorry but in Gb major, there is no C.
The 4th note of the scale is Cb, not C. The fifth note is Db, not C.
This is getting really, really funny
What, like, people with vision say it's blue (E#) and people who are blind say it's black (F)?
I have played E# before on my bass - it is possible.
By the way, here are my basses.
By the way, here are my basses.
I can understand that but you are playing bass with tone deaf ears ... impressive ! As for modulation, listen to Iron Man by Black Sabbath, it is great exemple of modulation ( the moment the guitar solo start )
See, that's a common misconception. Yes when the notation calls for an E# you would play what is normally an F on your instrument, but you are in fact playing E# not F.
The reason it's an E# is you are in a sharp key that contains an F#...you can't have both an F and F# in any scale, so if the key calls for a note a half step below F#, that note is E#. Period. The same logic applies to B#.
The key of C# major contains an E# (in fact all the notes in the key are sharped, including B#) but many players will simply call the key as Db major instead. Db major does contain an F natural (flat keys only contain flatted notes, never sharped; the opposite is true for sharp keys).
When I go around the circle of fifths I usually name the keys this way, by flats rather than sharps:
C -> F -> Bb -> Eb -> Ab -> Db -> Gb -> B -> E -> A -> D -> G -> C
That avoids having to use E#, B#, etc. but you will find that in Gb major you have a Cb
That's the one major key where you're screwed either way... Whether you call it F# major or Gb major you get an oddball note:
Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F
F# G# A# B C# D# E#
your circle of fifth looks more like a circle of fourth
Well the circle is fifths in one direction and fourths in the other direction, right?
