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Answers: Darkling, if you look at the piano keyboard the white keys starting with middle C are:

C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C.

Remember:

A flat lowers the sound a half-step and you get there by playing the next key down (to the left) regardless if it is white or black.

A sharp raises the sound a half-step and you play the very next key up (to the right) regardless if it is white or black.

So to play Bb you go from B to the next key down which is black in this case. Actually that Bb key has two names, because if you start at the note A and go up to the next key you arrive at the same black key but since you raised the A a half-step it is called A#. A# and Bb are exactly the same note.

All of the black keys have two names - one as a sharp note and one as a black note.

C - (C#/Db) - D - (D#/Eb) - E - F - (F#/Gb) - G - (G#/Ab) - A - (A#/Bb) - B - C.

And contrary to what one poster has said, you will sometimes see a B# (which going up to the next key turns out to be the same as the note C- a white key!) and an Fb (which by going down a half step to the next key is the same as E - white key).

If you want to study a little music theory which will help you understand these things more go here:

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theo...

http://www.dolmetsch.com/theoryintro.htm

Good luck.

Musician, composer, teacher.

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the black note just before the b... It's a b flat

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the note just below--the black key---b flat

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The rule for flats is that you play the note immediately left of the note itself. A semitone lower is how it is explained. This means that for D E G A B the black note on the left. For C and F the flat is a white-note flat.

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The black note right above it on the left and that makes it a B Flat.

You will never encounter a B Sharp or an F Flat, so there is only one symbol ever to appear in front of a B and that's a Flat.

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