Editing Figured bass (section)

===Accidentals===

When an [[accidental (music)|accidental]] is shown on its own without a number, it applies to the note a third above the lowest note; most commonly, this is the third of the chord.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Harmony, Fifth Edition|last=Piston|first=Walter|publisher=W. W. Norton|year=1987|isbn=978-0-393-95480-7|location=New York|pages=84–86}}</ref> Otherwise, if a number is shown, the accidental affects the said interval.<ref name=":0" /> For example, this, showing the widespread default meaning of an accidental without number as applying to the third above the bass:

:<score>{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \clef bass << { e1 c } \figures { < _+ >1 < 6- _- > } >> }</score> can be realized as <score>{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \clef bass <e gis b>1 <c ees aes> }</score>

Sometimes the accidental is placed after the number rather than before it.

Alternatively, a cross placed next to a number indicates that the pitch of that note should be raised ([[augmented interval|augmented]]) by a [[semitone]] (so that if it is normally a [[flat (music)|flat]] it becomes a natural, and if it is normally a natural it becomes a [[sharp (music)|sharp]]). A different way to indicate this is to draw a [[backslash]] through the number itself.<ref name=":1" /> The following three notations, therefore, all indicate the same thing:

:<score lang="lilypond">{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { c1 c c } \figures { < 6! >1 < 6\+ > <6\\> } >> }</score> can all be realized as <score lang="lilypond">{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { <c ees a>1 } >> }</score>

More rarely, a [[Slash_(punctuation)|"forward" slash]] through a number indicates that a pitch is to be lowered ([[diminished interval|diminished]]) by a semitone: <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.teoria.com/en/reference/a/alterations.php | title=Reference : Alterations in figured bass }}</ref>

:<score lang="lilypond">{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { c1 c } \figures { < 5- >1 < 5/ > } >> }</score> can both be realized as  <score lang="lilypond">{ \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \time 4/4 \key c \minor \clef bass << { <c ees ges>1 } >> }</score>

When sharps or flats are used with [[key signature]]s, they may have a slightly different meaning, especially in 17th-century music. A sharp might be used to cancel a flat in the key signature, or vice versa, instead of a [[natural sign]].