Enharmonic Equivelants

[ggpianogg]

Hi guys,

Beginner asking a beginner's question, bare with me please

What is the reason that sometimes we write something as Gb instead of F#, or E# instead of F?

For example (from a book):

The Eb minor scale:

Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb

Why Cb, and not just B? Does it maky any practical difference? Can it come in handy at some later stage, and how do we actually decide which one to use? Or is it completely arbitrary?

Later on the same book, when referring to E minor, notes:

E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E

Wju F# this time, and not Gb as in the previous example?

Thanks in advance!

[ggpianogg]

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[iroveashe]

To put it in the most simple way: it's incorrect, the same way it's incorrect to write korrect with a k instead of a c, even if it sounds the same. If you have problems remembering why it's an F# instead of a Gb, just think that if the E minor scale was:

E Gb G A B C D E

there'd be a note, F missing and you're repeating a G. How would you write the key signature for that?

Furthermore, while on the piano a C# sounds the same as a Db, it is not always the case when an instrument like a violin for example, permits to differentiate both notes.

[ggpianogg]

Ahhhh, ok I understand now, so the point is to make sure that you mention in one way or another all of the notes (C G E F G A B) with the proper # or b if any, both as a standard as well as to make it possible to easily display this on the staff. Thanks!

I was too absorbed examining each note apart, failing to notice the scale as a whole. Thanks for opening my eyes

[pianowolfi]

Actually G^b and F^# are two different notes. They are only on the same piano key. The selection of notes on the piano is actually a compromise. F^# for instance is slightly higher than G^b. Violinists learn to make that difference. We as pianists unfortunately can't make it. But our ears actually correct that automatically, we hear an F^# higher than a G^b if it appears in a certain harmonic context, for instance a D7 chord with an F^# as highest note tends to resolve to G major, an A^b7 with G^b tends to resolve to D^b major.