Sharps and Flats

The Sharps and Flats represent a semitone up or down.

• Sharp  – semitone up
• Flat– semitone down

The Sharp

The five sharps on the piano are: C♯ – D♯ – F♯ – G♯ – A♯

The Flat

The 5 flats on the piano are: D♭ – E♭ – G♭ – A♭ – B♭

How To Write Sharps And Flats On The Staff

The Sharps (♯) are always written before the note.
The same applies to the Flats (♭).

Treble Clef

Bass Clef

Enharmonics

Enharmonics are essentially different spellings of the same keys on the piano.

For example, C Sharp and D Flat.

Here are the 5 sharps and flats sharing the same keys on the piano.

As you can see, the same key can be called both C sharp/D flat, D sharp/E flat, etc.

The Natural

A Natural (♮) cancels out any sharps or flats, and we play the original white key (the natural note). As with sharps and flats, the natural appears before the note.
In this example, The Natural cancels the F Sharp.