Accidental (music)

An accidental is a symbol modifying a note's pitch. There are three main types of accidentals:

Sharps () raise a note's pitch by one semitone. For example, a sharp symbol on a D note indicates that the note should be played a semitone higher.
Flats () are essentially the opposite of sharps: they lower a note's pitch by one semitone. For example, a flat symbol on an A note tells the player to play the note a semitone lower.
Naturals () cancel the effects of a sharp or flat, returning a note to its standard pitch. For example, if a G is followed by a G in the same bar, a natural is used to cancel the effects of the sharp accidental.

A key signature may consist of up to 7 sharps or flats. For example, the key signature for B major has five sharps (F, C, G, D, and A).

Accidentals in notation
In musical notation, accidentals are written to the left of the note and that accidental applies for the rest of the bar; canceling an accidental within that bar is done by writing in another accidental.

Below is an example of the effects of accidentals within bars:

Note that the natural accidental in bar 1 is used to cancel the flat accidental of the previous D, and in bar 2 the third note is D because no accidental is being used to cancel.

Notes outside of the key signature must be indicated with accidentals. For example:

Double sharps and double flats
Although not commonly seen, double sharps () and double flats () exist. They modify a note's pitch by two semitones. For example, the following passage contains an F:

Related pages
Key signature
Circle of fifths
Scale (music)

Category:Musical notation