G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and . Its key signature has one sharp, F . (see below: Scales and keys).
Its relative minor is E minor, and its parallel minor is G minor.
In the treble clef, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom (a lower-octave F note).
In the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, "G major is often a key of 6/8 chain rhythms," according to Alfred Einstein, and in the Baroque era, G major was regarded as the "key of benediction."
Of Domenico Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas, 69 are in G major, and 12 of Joseph Haydn's 104 Symphonies are in G major. Beethoven, on the other hand, hardly used G major as the main key of a work, his only major orchestral work in the key being his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major.
For orchestral works in G major, the timpani are typically set to G and D a fifth apart, rather than a fourth apart as for most other keys.
G is one of the most frequently-employed keys across classical and popular music. This is in part because of its relative ease of playing on both keyboard and string instruments.
