Forum: music.stackexchange.com
Tags: <notation><key-signatures><accidentals>
Title: Do accidentals override key signature and previous accidentals?
Question: I am wondering how the accidental in the first chord (see what is circled) is played?  Does any accidental simply move the note up or down a half-step from what the note is supposed to be based on the key signature or does it override the key signature all together?  Specifically, is the accidental G# played as a natural G (since G is already a flat in the key signature - thus a half step up) or actually as a G#?

Answers:
sents: text: Accidentals override key signatures and previous accidentals.
text: The circled chord has two G# and and one C# note.
text: Having "additive" accidentals would make it very hard to read music.
text: In this excerpt, the next octave chords in the top staff would then be B-flat, then B-doubleflat, and then either G natural (if adding to the previous accidental) or or G double flat (if adding to the key signature)...
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/3300/nonpop
score: 10
sents: text: The chord played is Amaj7, made up with A C# E and G#.The key sig.
text: is Db/Bbm.
text: I guess that the G# is shown instead of a possible Ab, which is technically correct for that chord.
text: All accidentals over-ride the key sig., for the rest of the bar they're marked in.
text: Sometimes the author will be helpful and remind the player that a particular accidental is not needed in the next bar by using another accidental,which can get confusing !
text: Any accidental will show the actual note to be played, not just sharpening a flat, for example.
text: In that key sig.
text: ,the
text: Gb is changed to a G# with an accidental.
text: It doesn't 'sharpen the flat' to make it a G natural.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/2808/Tim
score: 10
sents: text: As has been mentioned in other answers, alterations are not relative, they're absolute.
text: So a sharp makes the note sharp, regardless of the alteration it had due to the key you're playing in; so if the key states Ab and you suddenly see an accidental sharp on an A, you play A#.
text: Same goes for the inverse case.
text: So I just wanted to add that there is a sign to remove an alteration: the natural.
text: Your example includes the natural sign in the second chord on the treble clef; that one is used to "neutralize" a sharp or flat,
text: so you play B natural there (which is what you were thinking the sharps did in the first chord).
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/2230/Chochos
score: 5
sents: text: The key signature is always secondary to any accidentals next to the note.
text: In the chord you circled you would play a G#, C#, and another G# instead of a Gb, C, and another Gb.
text: They never cancel each other out
text: just play what is written.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/7222/Dom
score: 3
sents: text: Accidentals take precedence to any alteration from the signature.
text: Moreover, they apply until the end of the bar for every pitch.
text: If there is a G# in a bar, then, until a new accidental or the end of the bar, all the following Gs on the same octave should be played sharp.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/8577/Édouard
score: 3
sents: text: The key signature is not overridden.
text: This is just a chord borrowed from a different key and the accidentals continue until the end of the measure unless otherwise noted.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/9868/TheBluegrassMathematician
score: 1
sents: text: As noted in the other replies, accidentals are "absolute", with the meaning unfazed by preceding material or key signature.
text: There is one exception: when "weakening" a previous double accidental (key signature or previous in the bar), the resulting single accidental is often printed combined with an immediately preceding natural sign.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/23316/user23316
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Accidentals override key signatures and previous accidentals. All accidentals over-ride the key sig., for the rest of the bar they're marked in. The key signature is always secondary to any accidentals next to the note.
Accidentals are absolute and take precedence over any key signature or other alteration. In the example provided, the G would be played as a G#.