Following on from the previous post on sharps, flats are the next accidentals which we’re going to cover. The sign for a flat looks similar to that of a lower-case B.

Flats instruct you to play the notes in exactly the opposite way to sharps. They make the note sound slightly lower by a semi-tone. So, an E natural followed by a flattened E would sound like this:

The difference is very slight, so congratulations if you hear it the first time. It may take a few repeats to notice the difference.

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