Why do we have Sharps and Flats?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- UPDATE: Since there's been some criticism (thoughtful discussion mostly, you guys are great) about the first part of this video I wanted to clarify things:
I'm (attempting) to explain why, out of all the different pitches we have, we nearly always use 7. There isn't some physical law that causes it; it's just a very natural and aesthetically pleasing division of the octave. We could use 8, we could use 6, but they simply don't work as well. What I'm NOT trying to explain is why we separate an octave into twelve logarithmically equal divisions, why certain intervals are dissonant and some aren't, how the harmonic series helps determine those intervals, how just intonation compares to equal temperament, or any other very fundamental aspect of how we determine the pitches in our musical system.
I have every intention of doing a lesson on "the physics of music". But that's a huge topic all to itself, and it's not what I was trying to explain here.
Feel free to keep discussing it in the comments though. There's a lot of interesting thoughts on it.
This guy is the best teacher when it comes to music theory!
also patdavidmusic
#trueFacts I love this dude. He's a beast!
Wow, you explained it so well that in the middle of the video I could see clearly where you were going with the whole "that's why sharps and flats matter" and that's coming from someone who always had a hard time understanding "why flats even exist?" so, really, thank you Michael!
Raffz Vieira I've always prefered flats over sharps.
After googling this for hours I finally found your video. This finally made several things click for me and I cannot thank you enough. Specifically a few sections.
(1) when you talk about how using all 12 notes is analogous to mixing every color and ending up with an ugly gray blob, and how the whole step scale gives a similar feeling. And how some asymmetry gives the scale character. That really helped me understand the basic idea of a key in a way I hadn't before.
(2) Starting from a place of solving the problem of how to create a scale starting from nothing is brilliant. Explaining how the scales we're taught are just trying to solve this more fundamental problem (and then going through the problem and why various solutions have pitfalls) really helped me build some more mental structure around music theory.
(3) Having the difference between sharps and flats explained in terms of what they communicate about key changes was a little bit over my head. I think I need to play more music for this to really click. But at the very least I'm satisfied enough now I can go to sleep :) Thanks again.
using 12 notes might sound like an ugly grey blob, and yet for some 12 are not enough. listen to Radiohead's wonderful How to Disappear Completely, which uses notes in between the semi-tones (making it 'microtonal') - and it sounds fantastic!
Thanks Michael. It took me a couple years to ask myself all these questions and figure out answers. You did it in 20 minutes!
Highly recommended video!
I actually get that the reasoning behind it always was the concept of thinking in scales, but with a modern, tempered 12-note chromatic scale it is kind of a paradox that the piano layout and traditional notation somehow robs us of a more intuitive understanding of scales and chords. While impractical for obvious hand anatomy reasons, a piano with only white, equally spaced semi notes would instantly make scales, chords and chord progressions into easily recognizable, moveable patterns. Chords and scales would look the same in all keys.
I was thinking the other day about getting a piano made exactly the same but with 2 more black keys to fill in the two empty spaces in the octave, and simply making the octave C to C go white to black, and I think that would make visualizing and understanding music a LOT easier if you were learning from the very beginning, and still be totally playable on piano (even make it a little bit more condensed requiring less stretch to hit the octave) I think it would be really cool to see/experiment with, but I'm not rich and don't have the space or knowhow to make my own keyboard lol
Guitar moment
It wouldn't necessarily be impractical to play, but it would certainly be different. I've been thinking about such a keyboard for years, at least I would like to be able to try and see how it feels. I'm sure that it wouldn't work well for highly technical classical pieces, but when it comes to a more casual type of playing, or even possibly some advanced jazz improvisation, it could work and be an advantage. It would have to make use of some markers, just like a guitar, so you can tell which note you're playing.
not earlier than in 14 minute he said finally something interesting. overall waste of time
@@WoodyGamesUK I always keep one of my guitars tuned in fourths.. (EADGCF in stead of EADGBE).
I really like it.. it takes time to adjust but it makes all chord structures and scale patterns identical across the neck.. If I could start all over again, I'd probably prefer to learn the guitar this way!
Amazing lesson. Makes a lot of sense. Thanks for clarifying what seemed impossible to understand.
I generally do not comment on tutorials, however, your tutorials are very special. Your methodical teaching approach, selection of topics, pace, quality of information everything is of a very high standard. I am learning a ton. Kudos to you~!!! Thanks~~~
Michael, thankyou so much for demystifying this for us. I've wondered for a long time why the sharps/flats system is the way it is, but people seem to never be able to explain it properly. You made it perfectly clear in this video. You're excellent at explaining things, and clearly have a good grasp of music theory.
-Are 'double-sharps' only used in harmonic-minor scales, or are there other scales which use it?
-Is there such thing as 'double-flats'? If so - where are they used?
-If I was playing a Csus2 chord, would the sus2 note (2nd note of the scale) be considered a 'D', or would it be an 'E-double-flat'?
-Does what you've shown in this video directly apply to modes other than Ionian and Aolian?
-If I momentarily played a chromatic scale over any given key, would we still use sharps/flats in the manner shown in this video?
-Would you recommend people to master C-major and A-minor keys before mastering the other 10 keys? Someone told me that Beethoven always based compositions on C-major and A-minor, then transposed those as necessary.
I have a request for a future tutorial if you feel like doing it (inside the following curly-braces)...
{
How jazz progressions relate to classical music progressions, specifically the differences between the two, particularly keeping in mind someone who has a moderate understanding of classical composition and modal playing, but a very limited understanding of Jazz-specific composition. Also keep in mind someone who has never received proper structured music-theory training, but is self-taught through unguided research and study.
I know things like using the 2-5-1 progression for use in helping key changes resolve better, but I can hear many things going on in jazz, which I cannot decode into some form of non-strict rule-set or guideline.
I'm also well aware of using chord-voicings and chord-inversions to tighten up the sound and help the music not jump around all over the place.
Could you please also incorporate into the video, how we can use the circle of fifths to create jazz progressions, if it is applicable.
Studying existing jazz songs (the real book) is not helping me to grasp the specifics which make jazz different from classical music, because I just end up getting confused.
}
Michael - thanks again for this video, you're a scholar and a champ. Much MUCH respect to you.
I love the Eb major and E major keys because it sounds like tears of joy.
this is the khan academy of music, congrats you're such a good teacher & musician
You are one of the best music teachers on TH-cam. Fabulously explained ...
Your lessons are out of this world. I find it amazing how a teacher can get info through to someone so they understand, if the teacher is enthusiastic and wants to teach. This, sir, is you.
Thank you so much for these videos!
N/W Scotland.
Amazing as always. Complicated matters explained not simply, but very clear to grasp.
Your videos even on simple subjects like these are even great for intermediate and even advanced musicians. You are not teaching just for beginners. I'm seeing and hearing things that put a whole new fresh way of looking at music theory... Thank you!!!
Very well explained and demonstrated. As an engineer, I could put forward a case for a radical overhaul of music convention but I am resigned/accepting to the fact that tradition and history as well as convention will mean any such overhaul is very unlikely. No criticism is intended.
Michael - thank you SO MUCH for this video. I don't know if it was a direct video-response to me and my question about this issue, or just a coincidence of timing, but thank you either way! You've answered the question more clearly than I've yet to encounter!!
this wasn't making much sense to me until you said at the end "like in the key of C#, where you end up with a Bbb." resolution :)
I'd love to see you write a song sometime. The theory alone is great, but I'd like to see some of the ways it can be applied in the songwriting process.
Thank you so much for this! This is the best video ive found that really helped me understand why we use seven letters and sharps and flats. Thanks so much for making this
Hey Michael! Great video, as always. I'd like to see a video on forming chord progressions, and why some chords lead into certain chords better than other chords. For instance, why a V chord leads into a I chord, and what choice would be the best to lead into the V chord. Keep up the great work!
Couple things: I used to think that music was a concept of literature or maybe poetry, but I've watched enough of your vids to realize its not that, its mathematical. Which is easier for my particular brain to deal with. And I wanted to thank you for that. Also, if anyone has a lead on the same type of youtube channel, but maybe just dumbed down a level or two, let me know. There are parts that I follow but other parts that go over my head.
I have no idea what it is; I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the way this guy explains things just makes sense to me.
The amount of extra steps that are shown to find the patterns don't showcase the actual theory that came from it.
The diatonic scale happens because of the Greeks making modes out of two tetra chords, put together. All 7 notes are related in a cycle in the circle of 5ths. It's not about making patterns of wholesteps and halfsteps - that's an oversimplification.
Greek Tetrachord method: Whole whole half + whole whole half, separated by a wholestep. That would be like C D E F, and G A B C. (F and G are separated by a whole step.)
The other one is by circle of 5ths. If you start on F, you would get F C G D A E B if you go 7. These notes, arranged in order of pitch class, would give you C D E F G A B C (or any other diatonic mode).
Once the diatonic scale was established, all accidentals are used to maintain the circle of 5ths. Equal temperament is used, of course, such that F# and Gb are tuned the same. But still, 'real' (Pythagorean) tuning names are still followed in traditional music, because C to say... G is a Perfect 5th and C to Fx is a doubly augmented 4th, which (in Pythagorean tuning) would sound RADICALLY different, even though in Equal Temperament they would sound identical. It all comes from the tradition of Pythagorean tuning.*
Again - when using a diatonic scale, or anything based off of the order of notes found on the circle of 5ths (basically anything that is a natural mode off of Major - meaning Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Major, and natural minor scales, pentatonic scales and their modes (which are any 5 consecutive notes off the circle of 5ths), and then any other scale you can make from consecutive notes off the pentatonic scale, up to and including the chromatic scale) are all based on the circle of 5ths, not just arbitrarily making notes and patterns and 'finding the most common one by chance'. There's a reason.
Final reference, the order of the notes on the circle of 5ths from double flat to double sharp are:
Fbb Cbb Gbb Dbb Abb Ebb Bbb Fb Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F C G D A E B F# C# G# D# A# E# B# Fx Cx Gx Dx Ax Ex Bx
Exercise: Take any diatonic scale you know, and find the notes (underline/circle/point to them) on the order of notes on the Circle of 5ths I've provided. Please note this will not work for harmonic / melodic minors, whole tone scales, and many jazz/20th century inspired scales. Those were much more fabricated than the diatonic scales.
Cheers~
*You'd think, after 400+ years of using Equal Temperament we'd update the system. But... what can you do?
Can you PLEASE do a video explaining the theory behind BORROWED CHORDS. as beginner i learned you could only play chords in a key and in music they sometimes play chords that don't correspond to the key so can you explain please?
Yes, I agree 100%!
MARCO AYAN an actual explanation of every chord which can substitute for another would probably be way too long to watch,let alone to make. basically all you need to know os that any chord with 2 or more notes incommon can substitute for one another. the more common notes the better it works. thats really just a choice based on your tastes. hope this helps.
NEVER BORROW CHORDS DUDE UNLESS YOU'RE SURE YOU CAN RETURN THEM !
TRICK-OR TREAT W!
you can pull chord from a mode that is similar to the key you are in. You can be in C major but borrow a chord from the C Lydian key in order to set up tension, make transitions smoother, or change keys.
Thank you so much for these videos. Your explanations are incredibly clear and I love learning what you teach. Fantastic videos and please keep going! I'll try to figure out what the Patreon system is all about.
I've been trying to mess around with music theory for years now (I play electric guitar), but it would never stick, and I always went back to being a more intuitive type of player. I don't know exactly what it is, but your method of teaching has me addicted to learning more and more about it. Thanks for the great work Michael, you're truly a great teacher ^.^
This may sound cheesy but you really are a awesome human being. You seem so nice and generous with your knowledge
You should do videos on musical notation at some point, as that may be the most important thing you haven't covered yet. Other potential topics worth discussing include: form, texture, cadence, motivic transformation and development, ornamentation, counterpoint, more topics in rhythm (e.g. additive meter, syncopation, rubato, free time), perhaps some major topics in 20th century experimental music (e.g. serialism, microtonality, aleatoricism, spectralism), and of course tuning, like you mention in the description. I'm sure you've considered nearly all of these, but I thought I'd throw them out there.
I really enjoy your videos and approach to teaching, and appreciate that you're able to get this material out to such a large audience.
Thank you so much! Your videos are amazing to watch, it's clear you have a strong grasp on music if you can explain these topics in a way that we can understand perfectly. Amazing work!
Michael New Thanks for making these videos. Your teaching style is easy to learn from and enjoyable! I'm wondering if you can make a video that demonstrates how to construct more advanced chord progressions to achieve a certain "musical emotions"?
Sir! When people talk about the transformative power of the internet to change lives and make humanity greater, I will include your video series as an example. In the bad old days, your reach would have been local, a few students perhaps. I have never heard such clear, succinct explanations for this. Wonderful. Thank you.
i just want to say thanks for the awsome vids. I got my keyboard out for the first time and after studying your theory i managed to get a really good fullon psy trance lead in about 3 mins. Yes i did go of scale a note here and there but it was 145 bpm and no muscle memory with both hands but i wouldnt of been able to do it without your awsome lessons....
For my next song im gone to start in a harder key with more blacks in the scales.
Excellent explanation. I'm a novice at music, but it's so nice to see a real explanation in terms of the scales instead of the usual 'black notes are sharps' rubbish.
Thanks Michael. This has been extremely helpful in furthering my understanding of music and how it all works.
Wow i actually kinda got a hold of sort of understanding where flats and harps are applied in music. Great vid
It would be awesome to see you rewrite som very popular songs, and show how the melody and chord play together, which Key it is in, and why it sounds sad/happy. It would help me alot. And im shure it would attract a wider audience.
Found you yesterday. Already learned so much! Thank you!
Thank you Michael, for your coherent explanations.
this was a great video, congratulations. It would be interesting to explain this from a historical perspective: "why where Sharps and Flats created in the first place?". I think it would be a more difficult question to answer, but I'm curious about that. I read that is something related to Guido D'Arezzo way of constructing hexacords...but I couldn't comprehend.
Hi Mike, I love your videos and how got explained them. Please don't stop making them.
This made my brain sore. You're damn music theory philosopher!
i really like your tutorials,your teaching is easy to understand.. Though it would be very nice with a tutorial on passing notes\chords and counterpoints? just a suggestion..
At about 3:35 you said you would explain why 7 (of 12) notes are usually used. But can you explain why interpolate an octave with 12 notes? (as opposed to 10 or 15)? Oh I see your description now, that you are leaving the explanation of 12 divisions for another video. Thanks for these videos.
Thank you for explaining this so clearly! I never understood this my whole life.
Thank you for the great Video. Best explanation of sharp/flats ever!
I'd like to see your lessons on the similarities between the guitar and the piano also on the best times to use seventh chords(can't remember if you covered that one) Thanks for another outstanding video!
Thanks. You've made this clearer to me than anyone before you.
Where are you buddy? I need some more music theory to feed my brain. I recently bought the book 'Music Theory: The Essential Guide' by Julia Winterson which is a really useful little guide, but I like hearing your explanations.
Hey Michael. You're videos are super amazing and I am learning so much, so first of all, thank you. I feel that I am struggling with using both hands at the same time, specifically the left hand. I can play stuff with either hand, but whenever I try to combine them, I struggle and have to move very slowly. Are there any routines or drills that you could recommend for me to practice with to improve my left-right hand coordination? Thanks so much!
I think it's to refer to whether going up or down. Going up would mean sharp and going down would mean flat. Suppose you are on G# and the next key to press is C# then if you need to play in the same octave i.e; go down then one would use flat and if you have to jump up then it would be called sharp. That is what I believe.
Thanks Michael, keep them coming your vids have helped me a ton, I've watched them all multiple times, some many times.
Man, I'm getting anxious waiting for your next video.
Hey !, Ralph Clark ; You hit it ! Music is all math and harmony
I've just discovered this channel and holy crap, I'm going to watch every video. This is great stuff.
I love your videos Michael, but I had one question. Is this the only way we have to organize all 12 pitches? Has anyone ever proposed a different system? Also, as a favor to my OCD brain, if you're playing a certain scale could you please refrain from holding the 7th for too long? Again I really love all of your content. Keep it up!
Finally the perfect explanation. Thanks mate!
Yes! I've been waiting for another one of these!
btw first comment!
YOU JUST CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER
Enharmonic spellings are a byproduct of the equal temperament tuning system. In other tuning systems, they are actually different notes.
Edit: This is also why many keyboard instruments that use other tuning systems have split sharp/flat keys.
This was a fantastic video. You really put a lot of pieces together for me. Liked and shared.
It's actually pretty simple, if you see this from the perspective of a natural trumpet.
natural trumpet overtones go Do, Sol, Do, Mi, Sol, Do.
if you transpose Do to sol, by making a shorter piped trumpet, overtones will be
Sol, Re, Sol, Ti, Re, Sol. transpose one more time. Re, La, Re, Fa, La, Re.
so by transposing just twice, you get complete Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.
my one and only online music guru is back....where would i be without you...
If it was up to me, I'd name all the notes from A to L instead of A to G with sharps and flats.
You'd still have the same major and minor keys that would only use 7 of the notes, but the note names within each key would be different.
Music notation would be a lot easier to understand.
Agreed. A to L sounds more complicated when you're already using sharps and flats and have to unlearn what you already know, but for an absolute beginner, having a single name for a single note is a lot easier to digest. Plus each note requires only one syllable to say.
Like you said, the intervals are the same.
Minor third. 4 note span; A to D.
Diminished fifth. 7 note span; I to C. Every time. Much simpler without all these enharmonic conversions. Maybe for some people it's not, but I tried it for a few weeks on guitar and keyboard, and it definitely felt superior. K Major seems weird at first, but only because nobody uses it.
I'm mainly using a DAW now with MIDI notes, and the names appear on each note, so it forces me to use the conventional method unless I want to actively ignore the printed names the whole time. It's annoying.
Maybe it will take a few hundred years, but I imagine A to L has a good chance at becoming the standard.
@@majorninthwarden7167 Glad someone finally agrees with me! :-D
This isn’t why we have sharps and flats, but it is a useful byproduct of the fact that we have them!
so what i understood is sharps and flats are used to make sure the key is pronounced in the music, for the musician to identify the change in key or change in scale
Hey I posted this same post on another video thread (of yours) .. I just wanted to make sure you saw it so I found your most recent video .. Greetings fellow music freaks! .. I am fairly new, (I assure no pun intended) to your channel Michael, but I like your style quite a bit; you have a gift good sir .. Well the reason I am posting is to ask if you could maybe do a video on sight reading, (actually specifically sight singin) I am heading off to study musical therapy and majoring in voice and hopefully eventually piano and guitar and violin as well, but I am concerned that I won't get in if I fail my sight reading/singing exam if you have any thoughts I would be indebted .. thank you for all that you do! Stay passionate for music!
This is by far the best video I've ever seen!
Maybe I'm writing this for 3rd or 4th time, but I would like to see how to rewrite a major song into a minor one by changing the modes correctly. Also it would be interesting to know how to spice the songs up with some jazzy 7th 9th chords or change modes to make them fit to a specific genre... Hope you will create a small blog/video on that.
Michael could you please do more videos on composition. I'm trying to become a composer. One problem I have is I don't know whether I should write melodies or chord progressions first and also how to fit them together rhythmically.
You opened my eyes on sharps and flats thank you so much this is the answer that I'm searching you deserve a sub :)
I don't know music theory, and this was really intuitive!
Michael, the way I've always understood the sharps/flats is that each scale should have 'one of each letter A-F" in it, and the sharps/flats just keep that in check.
e.g. you can't have a G and a G# in the same key, so the G might be called an F## to make sure the letters aren't doubled up, OR the G# might be called an Ab. Depending on what else is in the scale surrounding those two. Is this ever incorrect? is this a silly way of thinking of it?
P.S. thanks for the vids :) love them!
I think you've gotten the logic a bit backwards; they didn't arbitrarily say "exactly one letter from A-G". You keep only one letter A-G because there are 7 notes (first bit of the video) in these scales, which lets you easily work out the degree of any note based on its letter alone. That property is why you keep the A-G rule, the [double] sharps and [double] flats dictate the scale.
@Anifco67 your comment is 1000x more clear than video. the simpliest and most accuracy answer ever
You’re an extraordinary teacher
totally helpful, and thank you! can you do a video on how to find the notes outside the chord progression or how to play off of another note? I'm trying to figure out how to create tension notes.
Another mist clears. Thank you.
Quick question, would you ever want to refer to the key of C sharp major, as opposed to D flat major?
Nickolai Belakovski - Even if we don't know or understand why a composer chose a particular key rather than its simpler enharmonic exchange (e.g., Cb with 7 flats rather than B with 5 sharps), no musician will refer to it by any key other than the one it was written in.
Micheal New... but does he... know?
Interesting video, although I find it a bit interesting that you basically said a Whole Tone scale isn't "right" or that it "suffers" from its symmetry. I love symmetrical sounds, man, and so did many of my favorite composers (Debussy being one of the most well known users of the Whole Tone set)! I get why you did it though. Cheers!
I love whole tone scales and use them pretty frequently when I'm writing music. Diatonic scales tend to work better when you're trying to create a tonal center in your music, for the reasons I went over in the video. I'm not judging different scales; just trying to explain their characteristics.
I understand all of that which is why I stated, "I get why you did it though" and prefaced the entire comment with an awful pun to, hopefully, express a brighter tone.
You nailed it Michael, terrific teaching as usual !
You probably should've explained secondary dominants first, because they really help you understand what cases call for sharps or flats
Total confusion... What is he talking about! Until 15:00 then it clicked. Watched the second time it made much more sense. Thank you.
Brilliant explanation. Thank you!
Fantastic music theory lessons, I’m learning a lot from your videos, thank you 🙏
Great video!! It was clear and to the point. I learned a great deal.
Your videos are great, thanks a lot. It would be great a video about
vocal melodies composition and what differences there are compared to
instrument melodies.
Wouldn't renaming the key from C# to Db or G# to Ab fix the issues of double sharp and renaming white keys (e.g. F->E#)? Why not always do that?
Can you do a recap about the most important things you've sumorized so far? Just when you haven't watched your old videos in a while and forgot an important aspect of music?
Do not try to conviniece anybody this is logical. It is just legacy. People first discovered 7 main notes as perfect ratios of the main note and assigned letters to them. Then they found there are gaps and filled them, but instead of assigning letters out of order or reassigning letrers for all notes they came up with this trade off in names.
Could you make a video about hand independence ? I've started learning jazz and can't get my right and left to play together and it would be great after your video about polyrhythms.
Answered exactly what I was perplexed about, thx
Thank you. Appreciate the lessons. I am into music theory as if I will learn to play the piano. So your lessons work well for me. Learning a lot. my fingers are working better but I lack in ways to make my left and right hands work together. Some of that maybe?
Good video in an interesting topic! I use to think: imagine if a piano was made with only white keys, but same number of keys. Could anyone play on it? Yes, it would not be completely impossible. But not only the claviature had been wider, but there would be no reference on which key is which.
It would therefore result in some problems and not be very usable, I think. But it would be a fun experiment...
OK still kind of fuzzy, to be honest, but it makes more sense than it did before I watched this so thanks! It will sink in with more experience I'm sure.
I think you've already got this question a gazillion times, but I'm gonna ask anyway: Michael, what kind of whiteboard do you use? I've never come across this type before. It's clearly not a regular whiteboard: shadows that notes cast indicate that it's some kind of transparent material (looks like plexiglass) with sheet of white material (maybe an actual whiteboard) behind it.
You asked for comments so I will share a recent thought. 7 is a very special number. There are 7 continents, 7 seas, 7 colors in the rainbow, 7 days in the week, and in the book of Revelation in the Bible, it speaks of the 7 spirits of God. Christ said, “I am the Beginning and the End.” That is actually evidenced in the scale. We call it an “octave,” but in actuality...whatever note we begin on we also end on. And correspondingly, 12 is a significant number in the Bible. 12 tribes of Israel, 12 months in a year, and Christ was 12 when He told His parents, “I must be about my Father’s business.” And lo and behold, with the added sharps and flats we have 12 tones. -Just some interesting thoughts that have come to my mind as I have been learning about music.
Just a random question, what are your thoughts on Brian Wilson & Pet Sounds?
Do you have a fundamental playlist?
Please do a vid on fugue and song form, thanks I love you! You explain things best
Your videos are extremely helpful! But I'm struggling with something. I have all these good ideas in my head, but I can't really write them down because I don't know which notes are which. Like if I hear a "B", I don't know that it's a B. Do you know of a way to get accustomed to that?
do you have recording abilities? I often don't write things down, I just play my idea on the piano or guitar and record it so I can remember it later. I found this works better for me then making notes (at least to remember my own ideas)
When I play something in my head for the first time I sit down and press keys until I find the root note, then I can play it.
What your describing is called "perfect pitch" supposedly; people with this can listen to a song they've never heard before and tell what key its in. I don't know if it's possible to practice at this or how, but I've been playing and writing music just fine without this ability. :)
The best way to do that is to hear B in its relation to your tonic (key) note. For example, if you're in C major, you have a solid sense of where C is, and the B will have a certain "feel" when you hear it, as the 7th of the C scale. You can develop that. Each note of the C scale will have its own feel in relation to the tonic.
Awesome video, super well explained!
Just had this doubt about this subject of double sharps and flats yesterday! You sure did clear it up, thanks man, now it makes sense!
Watching this in 2020. And yes, the vid is still very usefull! Tx for the upload. :-)