G major

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**G major**
Relative key	E minor

Parallel key	G minor
Enharmonic
Component pitches
G, A, B, C, D, E, F^#, G

G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F♯. 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."

Ascending and descending G major scale.

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.^{[citation needed]} It is the key stipulated by Queen Elizabeth II to be used for "God Save the Queen" in Canada.^[1]