Scribd
Upload
925 views4 pages

Scale Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C Major C D E F G A B C: Chords Keys

This document discusses chord families and chord progressions in different musical keys. It provides charts showing the chords that typically go with each major and minor key. For major keys, the primary chords are the I, IV, and V chords, while for minor keys they are the i, III, and vi chords. It encourages identifying the keys of songs based on the chords used. Finally, it presents a diagram showing the root chord and other chords that typically sound good with it, including the relative minor chord.

Uploaded by

Amy Grant
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
925 views4 pages

Scale Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 C Major C D E F G A B C: Chords Keys

This document discusses chord families and chord progressions in different musical keys. It provides charts showing the chords that typically go with each major and minor key. For major keys, the primary chords are the I, IV, and V chords, while for minor keys they are the i, III, and vi chords. It encourages identifying the keys of songs based on the chords used. Finally, it presents a diagram showing the root chord and other chords that typically sound good with it, including the relative minor chord.

Uploaded by

Amy Grant
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

1

Chords keys. Of more relevance to the guitar player are ‘chord families’, or the
groupings of chords that go with the keys. This could be useful in knowing what
chords actually sound good together.
This easy-to-understand theory will help you to compose your own songs, obviously,
but not only this! You will have more tools to play those songs where you don't
exactly remember the chords, or even to guess the chords of a song you like.
According to the C scale, each note can represent a specific chord in the key of C.
Look at this chart of chords for the key of C:
 

2
Scales Looking at the major scales, we can easily know which chords will sound good
with any chord. For instance, the first note of the C scale represents the first chord C
(major). The fourth note, F, represents the fourth chord F (major). Some of them are
major chords, some are minor, but the seventh represents a ‘diminished’ chord. Note
that, between some notes, you have a whole tone difference (W) and in other cases
you only have half a tone step (H). Look at the chart of the major scales:
 
Scale name W W H W W W H 8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C Major C D E F G A B C
C# Major C# D# F F# G# A# C C#
D Major D E F# G A B C# D
D# Major D# F G G# A# C D D#
E Major E F# G# A B C# D# E
F Major F G A A# C D E F
F# Major F# G# A# B C# D# F F#
G Major G A B C D E F# G
G# Major G# A# C C# D# F G G#
A Major A B C# D E F# G# A
A# Major A# C D D# F G A A#
B Major B C# D# E F# G# A# B

3
Chords codification. Notice that, for chords, we typically switch our numbers to
Roman numerals: uppercase for major chords, lower case for minor chords. So, we
can see that the major chords are in positions I, IV and V. The minor chords are in
positions ii, iii and vi. The seventh position will be diminished chords, but they are
more difficult to play and we can leave them aside for later.
 
Major key I ii iii IV V vi
A (song examples) A Bm C#m D E F#m
B B C#m D#m E F# G#m
C (song examples) C Dm Em F G Am
D (song examples) D Em F#m G A Bm
E (song examples) E F#m G#m A B C#m
F (song examples) F Gm Am A# C Dm
G (song examples) G Am Bm C D Em
 
 
The following key chord chart shows minor keys. In this case, the
major chords are in positions III, VI and VII. The minor chords are
in positions i, iv and v. The second chord will be a diminished
chord, but we will leave them aside for the moment.
 

Minor key i III iv v VI VII


Am (song examples) Am C Dm Em F G
Bm Bm D Em F#m G A
Cm Cm D# Fm Gm G# A#
Dm (song examples) Dm F Gm Am A# C
Em (song examples) Em G Am Bm C D
Fm Fm G# A#m Cm C# D#
Gm Gm A# Cm Dm D# F
 
 
Try to identify the key of the following songs.
 

4
The outside circle of this diagram is made up of 12 letters - these correspond to the
key that the music is in and comprise the root chord of that key.
The chords that exist on either side of the root chord sound great with that first chord.
The chord that appears on the inside circle below the root chord is called the ‘relative
minor’ chord. Minor chords sound more mellow or sad. These four chords will be
enough for most of your song writing, but also look at the chords on either side of the
relative minor - these chords, when used sparingly, will bring texture and interest to
your writing.
 
---

You might also like