so my piano book says... a FLAT sign before a note means to play the next key to the left, whether black or white. but does this mean say the flat sign appears before middle c....do i play c and b (being the next key to the left) at the same time? or just play b? or play b then c? how does this flat thing work then? i am still confused. are the black keys the flat ones then?
ok so this piece of music. its a b right. thats the note. then the flat sign appears before the b note. so what do i play? the b note? or the a note or both? If there is a FLAT sign before any note be it black or white,
it simply means the note no longer would be in its original pitch. It will be a semitone lower (the next immediate key to its left)
ex 1: original note = B; put a flat next to it ---> it becomes a B flat; this is the black key to the left of the B key
ex 2: original note = C; put a flat next to it ----> it becomes a C flat; this would be the white note to the left of the C key which is actually a B! so a C flat is actually a B
*however when you see a flat sign next to any note, (it is actually an alteration or an accidental) you just play the altered note.
ex 1: B flat ----> you play the black note to the left of the B key only.
ex 2: C flat ---> you play the key to the left of the C key (which is a B)
so you dont play the original note, but only the altered note with the accidental/flat sign. Think it this way...if you change into a new dress, you cant wear your old dress and new one at the same time. you just wear the new dress you just changed in to!
A flat changes a note in its original form to the note to its immediate left, which is a semitone lower in musical terms. i think you should just play B okay...
so when you play a flat it basically means that they want the original note to be deeper or flatter.....
usally the flat signs don come BEFORE the note they come after so im going to assueme you mean a b flat...
don get confused about the b and c keys both being white keys just play the b flat which is the small black key on top of the b....
hope that helped babe!! =)
confused??? sorry but it's kinda hard to explain piano by just tellin you its more of a visual kind of thing Okay, a flat means the note is ONE HALF STEP (or one key to the left) of the written note.
a Cb is ONE KEY to the left of C (therefore you are playing a B)
Sometimes, for technical reasons, they will call it a Cb.
Sometimes, (again for technical music theory reasons) you might see an Fb - in which case you play an E | 