As worship musicians who read from chord charts, we often want to know what chords we will be using in a particular key. It might surprise you to learn that there are only 6 main chords in each key - 3 major chords, and 3 minor chords. For example, let’s look at the key of C:
The C scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, and each of the chords shown above is built on a note of the scale. For example, the C chord is built on the first note of the scale (C), and it uses every other note in the scale (C-E-G). The Dm chord is built on the second note of the scale (D), and it uses every other note (D-F-A). The Em chord is built on the third note of the scale (E), and it also uses every other note (E-G-B). This process is repeated for the F, G, and Am chords. (You will notice that we did not include a chord for the seventh tone of the scale, the B.) This is because the chord that is built on B is neither major nor minor; it is diminished, and it is rarely used in worship piano.) This topic is explained in more detail in the Beginning Worship Piano course.
Every chord can be given a number. The first chord is called the 1 chord, the second is 2 (or 2m, as the 2 chord is always minor), etc. The 1, 4, and 5 chords are major in every key; and the 2m, 3m, and 6m chords are minor in every key. This numeric notation is referred to as the Nashville Number System (or simply the
The Nashville Number System
If you would like to learn how to use these chords in your playing as well as inversions, accompaniment patterns, and more, check out my Worship Essentials courses. This unique approach combines a simple, easy-to-follow method of learning the piano along with teachings on the heart of worship - and it has proven successful for people of all ages and levels.
Or, if you would prefer one-on-one instruction, consider online lessons. Lessons incorporate the same content of the Worship Essentials courses but have the added bonus of one-on-one coaching and instruction.NOTE: This lesson contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This helps cover costs of maintaining this website.
Below is a guitar chord key chart the major and minor keys. A chord key chart outlines the diatonic chords, or the chords that naturally occur in a given key. Guitar key charts are useful when trying to figure out the key of a song. If you know the chords of a song, you can list them out and compare them to the chords in the chart to help determine the key.
Music Key Signature Print, Yellow
These guitar key charts can also be used as a reference to help guide chord selection and substitution. This is particularly useful when writing your own chord progressions.
In addition to the charts below, a really useful reference is the Guitar Key Guide. It’s based on the circle of fifths and gives you the scale patterns and chords for all major and minor keys. It’s useful for songwriters choosing chords for a progression or those interested in learning more about chord and key theory.
The guitar key chart below describes the chords belonging to the major keys. The top row of the chart lists the intervals and qualities of the chord.
Working Out The Key Of A Tune
* The vi (6th) interval of a major key is the relative minor key. The relative major/minor keys share the same key signature and chords, only the intervals are re-numbered to reflect the minor root. Read more about relative major and minor keys.
The key chord chart below lists out the chords for the minor keys. Again, the top row represents the interval for each chord.
* The III (3rd) interval of a minor key is the relative major key. The relative major/minor keys share the same key signature and chords, only the intervals are re-numbered to reflect the minor root. Read more about relative major and minor keys.
Piano Chords By Key. Chords In The Key Of…
Chords of a given key are built from the scale of the key center. For instance, chords in the key of C major are built from the C major scale. The chord and chord quality is determined by the intervals between the notes in a scale.
To learn more about how chords in a key are made, check out the lesson Building Chords from the Major Scale. It’ll walk you through the steps of creating the major and minor chords of a key.But I get it—today you’re in a hurry and you want to know: How do I figure out the key of a song?
Although putting this in a checklist makes it seem really formal, this is something that will eventually happen automatically, in a matter of seconds.
Major Key Chord Progressions Chart
I’m going to explain each of these in order, but I want to begin by saying that you should be going through this checklist in this order when trying to determine a song’s key.
On a chart written by a literate musician, there will be key signature—some number of sharps or flats between the clef and the time signature:
Of course, if someone says, “this is a blues in G” or “we’re playing Dock of the Bay, but in F, ” you’ll obviously know what to do.
Complete Guitar Chord Chart
If you’re learning a song from a recording, or reading a chart written by a less-than-literate musician, you can look at the first & last chords of the song—they’re frequently the I chord.
If we look at the extended chords that show up diatonically (diatonic = made up of only notes from within the key), we see that there’s only one that’s a dominant 7 chord: the V.
If you see a set of chords that only has one dominant 7 among them, there’s a pretty good chance that that chord is the V.
Should You Be Using Sharps Or Flats When Transcribing Tabs And Chords?
(This example is from Dave Matthews Band’s #41. The band eventually does go to the G chord, but it takes them a minute and a half of this progression before they do.)
If you do a google image search for “Sweet Home Alabama sheet music, ” you’ll see that roughly half of the transcriptions show it in D, and half in G.
Although we don’t leave the key long enough to warrant writing in a key change, for measures 11 & 12 we’re very clearly playing I-ii-iii-IV in the key of A.
Chord Conversion Chart Basic
If you were soloing over these changes, the E major scale that sounded so good over the rest of it suddenly doesn’t fit quite right—you have to smoothly switch to A major for those two bars.
Jazz music is filled to the brim with this sort of thing—there’s ii-V-I, and then I becomes minor and it’s the ii of some other key…
Jazz musicians still use this same roman numeral language, but they’re not beholden to whatever key is written on the chart—they’re talking about what key the song is in for this subsection of the tune.
Right Hand Guitar Chord Chart 120 Chords For Right Handed Guitarists
Learning to see subsections of songs as being in their own key is the logical extension of getting good at seeing songs as being in a key.
We’re going to touch on this again next week when we talk about how all of this feeds into our understanding of modes.
It’s worth mentioning that up until now we have studiously avoided talking about minor keys—keys where the “one chord” is minor: i.
Guitar Chords Perfect For Lofi Hip Hop With Tabs
Minor keys are their own thing, and worthy of their own article (which we’ll get into in two weeks, after our discussion of modes).
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