Flat key signatures. If you follow the same ‘cycle of 5ths’ rationale and count downwards by five notes, you reel off the flat keys. ... For example, C major (with no key signature) is relative to A ...

The number of sharps in a key signature increases, as we move through what is known as ‘the cycle of 5ths'. Count up five ...

The major key and the minor key, which will begin on a different note. This is known as the relative minor. So G major, for example has a key signature of one sharp, but this is also the key ...