Basic question on music theory!

Gents,

Sorry for my basic question but I have no musical background so professional musicians will find this topic a very basic but it's important to me to understand.

I have attached the Camelot Wheel showing which note is compatible with which.

Let's take 2 or 3 examples to make sure I understand.

1- A Flat Minor is compatible with B Major

2- F Major is compatible with D minor

3- E Flat Minor is compatible with F sharp major

Questions:

---------------

1- What is an A Flat minor/major or minor/major? what is the difference between the flat and normal?

2- What is a Sharp Major?

3- When, for example, the first note is A# we call it minor and when A it's on major scale?!

4- Is the compatibility for any octave? for example if I take example 1) above A3 Flat Minor is compatible with B1 Major?

5- How I can know they of my melody? usually it has many notes but is it the first note of the melody? for example if the Main melody starts by A# and it's on minor scale I can say then that my melody is A# Minor?

Many Thanks in advance to explain me how the wheel works.

Best Regards,

Camelot Wheel

1. Minor and Major are scales (or chords). Ab (A-flat) is an A dropped a semitone.

2. # (Sharp) means that it is one semitone higher. And Major means a major scale.

3. No you can have A# (A-sharp) minor or major.

4. No. The Major scale consists of 7 tones. In the key of C they are: C D E F G A B. The (natural)minor scale in A is: A B C D E F G. As you can see the scales use the same tones.

5. No. You will have to know more about the additional notes and possibly harmony too.

5. As Eric said, you'll need to learn more theory before you make a judgment about which key your song is in. But assuming you're writing tonal music, the *last* note of the melody is a much better indicator of the key then all others. This assumes that the last note sounds like a closure, the end of the tune, a place of rest. The harmony you can figure out my ear, if it's major or minor.

And here's a ten-cent word for you: enharmonic. That means you can "spell" a chord two ways when, on a keyboard, you're hitting the very same keys.

B flat major and A sharp major are still the same chord on a piano. Music theorists wax eloquent on how they're really not the same.

But for your purposes, they are the same.

Lastly, can you play a C major chord on the keyboard? Now move your thumb and fingers down to the A and play the same spacing of the chord. That's A minor.

A minor is the relative minor of C major. (That's what the chart is telling you.)

A minor key always starts three steps below its relative major.

Visually, a relative minor is the most obvious with a C major / A minor chord on a keyboard. But the difference in intervals are the same in any key.

Now deep in the weeds: that chart's spelling is a bit off. Enharmonically it is correct. But if you want to learn more theory, a relative minor is spelled two letters below. E major minus two letters is C# minor (not D-flat). Two letters below A major (accommodating the wrap-around of letters) is F# minor (not G flat).

But most people will get what you mean. It's just not common to see it spelled like that in an actual major / minor chart. And if you establish the right labels in your brain, it's actually easier to understand than an arbitrary spelling.

And here's a ten-cent word for you: enharmonic.

That means you can "spell" a chord two ways when, on a keyboard, you're hitting the very same keys.

. . .

Now deep in the weeds:

that chart's spelling is a bit off. Enharmonically it is correct. But if you want to learn...(proper)...theory, a relative minor is spelled two letters below...(the note name of the current major scale). (for example)...E major minus two letters is C# minor (not D-flat). Two letters below A major (accommodating the wrap-around of letters) is F# minor (not G flat).

To the original poster: I'd seriously advise you to think about the points above which I culled from plowman's reply...

and then concern yourself with the rest of yr original questions at some later date, after you have the time and resources to study basic music theory.

One last point from me, a universal and very basic rule applicable to (almost) all western music and the theory behind it: you'll want to use every musical letter at least once *and only once* in any given scale.