Guitar Key Theory

When we say a song or piece of music is in a particular key, it usually means that all the chords are derived from one scale type. For the moment it's best to take that as a loose description because there are a few things to think about here. The chords alone won't always tell the full story, for instance, a chord progression containing only the chords F, C and Dmin could belong to the key of F major or C major.

So far we have learnt that chords are built by stacking scale intervals in thirds from the root note. We can however treat each note in turn as the root note to find all the different chords that can be derived from the notes of one scale. In the key of C major for instance, up until now, we have only been concerned with all C chord variations.

We can easily find all the triads that belong to the key of C major by stacking third scale intervals, starting each note in turn from the C major scale. The diagram below shows us how.

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This gives us seven triads that all belong to the key of C major. We can figure out what chord each one is by associating each root with it's relative scale. For example, the second chord in the sequence starts with a D so we can use the D major scale to find out what kind of chord it is, using the formulas we have discussed so far. For this then, we will need to know how the notes D, F and A relate to the D major scale.

The notes in the D major scale are D E F# G A B C#. We know already that the formula for the major triad is 1-3-5, which in D major would give us the notes D F# A. Therefore D, F A with respect to the D major scale must be 1-b3-5. By now you should recognise that as a minor triad. So the second chord in the key of C major is D minor.

The third chord has the notes E, G and B, likewise we will use the E major scale to figure out what kind of E chord it is. The notes belonging to E major are: E F# G# A B C# D#. So the notes E, G, B would come from the chord formula 1-b3-5 which is also a minor triad. The chord therefore is E minor.

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If we carry on using this idea we will end up with the following chords that share notes belonging to C major.

I won't carry on with lengthy details, the above gives you the idea of how the chords are figured out but the good news is we don't need to do this kind of mathematics every time we want to know what chords belong to what key. As long as we know the scale notes then we can use a simple formula to find the chords in any major key. For this we use the chord numbering system.

Music theory can be complicated but we need to know it if we want to make sense of everything and improve our guitar knowledge and playing.

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My latest book focuses mostly on the things that are really worth knowing, not so much on the rest. Start making sense of chords, scales, modes and finding the key to help you be more creative on the guitar.

This website earns advertising commissions. To find out more about cookies, privacy and how we use advertising, please read our Advertising DisclaimeGuitar theory is essential to know if you want to become an advanced guitarist, guitar theory shows you HOW everything works in the guitar world.

Guitar theory can be a daunting prospect for many guitarists. However, it’s vital to know if you want to take your playing to the next level.

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Guitar theory is a HUGE subject, so don’t expect to learn it all in one go. Take it one step at a time.

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Both scales are used to create different types of sounds, major scales have a ‘happy’ sound and minor scales have a ‘sad’ sound.

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The key of C has no sharps or flats. Therefore, if we’re playing in the key of C, that means the notes are:

Can you see, how the scale has a different root note, yet it uses the EXACT same notes as the C major scale?

This means, that if our root note is ‘C’, the rest of the notes in the scale have an individual relationship with the note C.

Open Chords In Key Of E

We can apply a similar concept to the minor scale, however this time the minor scale has a different root note, so this means that the perspective of the intervals change.

When we learn a scale, it’s easy to find the root note and blast through the pattern without even thinking about what any of the notes are called.

Guitar chords are built from each note in the scale. Here’s a really simple way to build chords off of scale. In today’s lesson, we’re going to apply this to the C major scale.

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Pick your root note, this can be ANY note in the scale. However, for today’s lesson we’re going to use the note ‘C’.

All major and minor chords, are created by using the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes. To change the chord, we just change the root note.

You can build a chord off of each note in the scale. However, for each note in the scale, we get a different chord type.

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This means in the key of C, notes 1, 4 and 5  are C, F and G. Therefore the chords are  C major, F major and G major., articleState:, data:, slug:academics-the-arts, categoryId:33662}, , slug:music, categoryId:33730}, , slug:instruments, categoryId:33731}, , slug:guitar, categoryId:33735, title:Guitar Theory For Cheat Sheet, strippedTitle:guitar theory for cheat sheet, slug:guitar-theory-for--cheat-sheet, canonicalUrl:, seo:, content:Guitar theory is an area of study that explains how you can play, improvise, and compose popular music on the guitar fretboard — and why certain elements of music go together the way they do.rnrnDive into guitar theory by exploring a fretboard diagram showing notes along the 6th and 5th strings; some major scale patterns; Roman numerals and the major/minor chord sequence; and mode names., description:Guitar theory is an area of study that explains how you can play, improvise, and compose popular music on the guitar fretboard — and why certain elements of music go together the way they do.rnrnDive into guitar theory by exploring a fretboard diagram showing notes along the 6th and 5th strings; some major scale patterns; Roman numerals and the major/minor chord sequence; and mode names., blurb:, authors:[, primaryCategoryTaxonomy:}, secondaryCategoryTaxonomy:}, tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy:, trendingArticles:null, inThisArticle:[], relatedArticles:}, }, }, }, , fromCategory:[}, }, }, }, }, hasRelatedBookFromSearch:false, relatedBook:, image:, title:Guitar Theory For : Book + Online Video & Audio Instruction, testBankPinActivationLink:, bookOutOfPrint:false, authorsInfo:

Desi Serna, hailed as a music theory expert by Rolling Stone magazine, is a guitar player and teacher with over 10, 000 hours of experience providing private guitar lessons and classes. He owns and operates one of the most popular guitar theory sites on the web, guitar-music-theory.com.

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