Yep,that's what I've mostly heard from my band members over the years....it's the same but just part of the lingo.
Maybe in different parts of the country people say it in other ways...here in the South,I would understand which key you were talking about.

You're referring to enharmonics, and for further information, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enharmonic. Gb, D#, etc are perfectly legit. As a major scale, Gb consists of six flats in the key signature. It's not common, but I've seen it before in some wind band music. The reason you see Eb major instead of D# major is because D# major would contain nine sharps, and this is severely brain-hurting, especially when one plays an instrument where scales can't be learned by fretboard patterns.

It's been my observation that:

If you are a guitar player it's G#.
If you are a piano player it's Ab.

YMMV

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

It depends what key you happen to be playing in. For example if you're playing in G major you would say F sharp, but if you were playing in D flat major you would say G flat instead of F sharp because the key also contains an F natural.
Similarly, if you were playing in say E major you would say C sharp, but if you were playing in G flat major you would say D flat instead of C sharp.

The reason you mostly say people say E flat, F sharp, G sharp etc, is because the keys in which that is appropriate are more common.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

that just makes my brain hurt I really need to learn some theory

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Its fairly simple, you would say D flat instead of C sharp if there was also a C natural in the scale, just because it would be silly to have two different Cs.
Simples.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

that makes sense I suppose. so what your saying is if there is an F in the scale the next step up would be called Gb instead of F# because there is an F already?

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Thats it.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

thank you for relieving my confusion Tochai

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Most theory isn't as difficult as some people seem to think.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

Interesting topic. I never thought too deep into it, but after reading through the replies I realize there is more to it than just 'lingo'. I have always said F#, and everything else I refer to as a flat (i.e. Bb, Db, Ab etc... etc... etc...). I guess it's time again to start learning a little more about theory. Thanks for the inspiration Skirt so Plain.

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https://www.facebook.com/TheDevilandMe.Music

my favorite key to play in has to be Dx major (x= my attempt to type a double sharp)

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