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I've been playing piano by ear for a long time and now I am trying to learn the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. I am a little confused about the meaning of a little cross placed right before a note ; if I rely on my ear it seems to cancel a sharp or something, but the meaning is not quite clear! If you understand the symbol I'm describing help me out here!

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This probably seems like stupid notation, but it has to do with spelling stuff using notes in the scale. – Josh Mar 29 '12 at 19:35

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I'm assuming that you're talking about the one that looks like a blocky X.....this is a double sharp. Instead of shifting the tone up one half step, it shifts the tone up 2 half steps (i.e. 1 whole step).

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This image shows G double-sharp in the treble clef, and E double-flat in the bass clef. G double sharp is enharmonic with A natural, and E double-flat is enharmonic with D natural.

Coincidentally, Moonlight Sonata is the piece where I first encountered double-sharps, too!

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I think what brought confusion while I read was that at some point I think there was a double sharp on a note which was already "sharpened" in the scale, is it possible that in this case it only "raises half a tone"? If you understand what I mean. – Patrick Da Silva Mar 25 '12 at 3:59
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Yes; this overrides any other accidentals in the key signature. Think of it as sharping a sharp, if it helps. For a more thorough discussion than I can provide, you should look at this question. music.stackexchange.com/questions/87/… – Babu Mar 25 '12 at 14:55
@PatrickDaSilva: Like you noticed, it really raises it half a note from the already sharpened note in the key signature. This is the most common situation to use the double-sharp. I have never seen it used to raise a note a whole step that is not already raised by a normal sharp. See the linked question in Babu's comment for more details on why it is used. – awe Mar 30 '12 at 11:03

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