6 Flats: G Flat Major / E Flat Minor
Six flats is G flat major, or E flat minor. This is the other half of the only exact enharmonic tie on the circle: F sharp major needs six sharps and G flat major needs six flats, so neither spelling is simpler.
6 flats
G♭ major / E♭ minor
With flats, the second-to-last flat names the major key directly: the flats run B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, so the key is G♭ major.
G♭ major scale
G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭ E♭ F
E♭ minor scale (relative minor)
E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭
This one has two names
G♭ major and F♯ major are the same twelve pitches written two different ways: 6 flats versus 6 sharps. Neither is simpler — six of each — so both spellings are in genuine use and the choice comes down to what the surrounding music is doing.
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G♭ major scale
G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭ E♭ F
E♭ minor scale
E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭
The sixth flat is C flat
Flats are added in the order B, E, A, D, G, C, F, so the sixth is C flat — a note that sounds identical to B natural and looks, at first glance, like a mistake.
It is not. G flat major is G flat, A flat, B flat, C flat, D flat, E flat, F. The letter B is already used by the third degree, B flat. If the fourth degree were written as B natural the scale would contain two B's and no C, and the key signature would need two accidentals on one staff line while another line went untouched. Writing it as C flat keeps one accidental per letter, which is the entire structural requirement of a key signature.
The same logic produces E sharp in F sharp major, on the other side of the tie. Both spellings need one awkward-looking note, which is part of why neither wins.
Choosing between the two spellings
Since the accidental count is identical, the decision is made by context rather than by rule. Music already in flats — a piece in D flat or A flat modulating down a fifth, or a wind part whose whole family reads flats — stays in flats and writes G flat. Music already in sharps writes F sharp.
In practice the flat spelling is the more common of the two in wind and brass writing and the sharp spelling is more common in string and guitar writing, which is exactly the split you would predict from which instruments read which keys most easily. Neither is more correct; they are two consistent answers to a question that has no arithmetic winner.
E flat minor, and why it beats D sharp minor
The relative minor is E flat minor, with the same six flats, and its enharmonic twin is D sharp minor with six sharps. Here the tie does break in practice, if not in arithmetic: E flat minor is written far more often.
The reason is where the music comes from. Minor keys this far around the circle are usually reached from flat-side material — from B flat minor, from A flat major, from G flat major — and a copyist keeps a piece in the accidental family it is already using. Raising the seventh degree of E flat minor for a cadence gives D natural, an ordinary accidental; doing the same in D sharp minor gives C double sharp, which is not.
On the instruments
On a piano, G flat major is five black keys plus two whites — C flat, played as the B key, and F. It is physically the same scale as F sharp major and plays just as comfortably; the hand does not know or care which spelling is on the page.
On a guitar there is no open-string support at all: not one of the six open strings belongs to G flat major. Guitarists reaching this key almost always capo — one fret up and the key reads as F, two frets and it reads as E — rather than barre through a whole piece. For B flat instruments concert G flat reads as A flat major, four flats, which is entirely playable, so this key is considerably friendlier to a wind section than to a guitarist.
The seven chords of G♭ major
Every major key produces the same pattern of chord qualities — major on the first, fourth and fifth degrees, minor on the second, third and sixth, diminished on the seventh. Only the names change.
Questions people ask about this signature
- Six flats is what key?
- G flat major, or E flat minor. It is also, note for note, F sharp major or D sharp minor written with six sharps instead.
- Why is there a C flat in G flat major?
- Because a major scale uses each letter name exactly once, and the letter B is already used by B flat. The fourth degree has to be a kind of C, and the one that sounds right is C flat.
- Which spelling should I use, G flat or F sharp?
- Whichever matches the music around it. Both need six accidentals, so the only real consideration is staying consistent with the preceding key and with what the players' parts already use.