Sharp - Definition and Overview

This article is about the musical notation. For alternate uses, see Sharp (disambiguation).

Figure 1. The note C sharp on the treble clef.

In music, sharp means higher in pitch. More specifically, in musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone," and has an associated symbol (<math>\sharp<math>), which looks somewhat like a "#". The note C sharp is shown in musical notation in Figure 1. Under equal temperament, B sharp is the same as, or enharmonically equivalent to, C, and E sharp the same as F. There also exist double-sharps, which look like and raise a note by two semitones. Less often one will encounter half or three quarter, or otherwise modified, sharps.

In tuning, sharp can also mean "very slightly higher in pitch." If two strings or singers are slightly out of tune, the higher-pitched one is said to be sharp with respect to the other and is adjusted downward.

See also: flat.

The Unicode character '♯' (hex 266F) may display as a sharp sign on some computers.