G major

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**G major**
Relative key	E minor

Parallel key	G minor
Component pitches
G, A, B, C, D, E, F♯, G

G major is a major scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, F# and G. Its key signature consists of one sharp.

In the alto clef, the sharp is usually placed on the first space from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first line from the bottom.

Its relative minor is E minor, and its parallel minor is G minor.

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."

69 of Domenico Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas 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, 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, especially guitar.