
You’ll find that minor keys follow this pattern:īy memorizing the patterns that dictate the chord qualities of each scale degree in major and minor keys, it will be much easier for you to come up with your own chord progressions, especially if you start to identify the “color” or “sensation” of each degree, and use that to your advantage. When working with a minor key, you should always keep in mind that your relative major key is your third degree.įor example, in A minor, your third degree is C Major, meaning that those two are relative keys.Īlso, the formula that was explained previously has to be adapted to a minor key. These are written that way to respect the order of the scale degrees, but since it is easier to think about those two as B Major and F diminished, those have been noted too.

You may have noticed that some chords might not seem right at first (Cb Major or E# diminished). It is basically the same as starting the chord sequence from a different degree and going from there. If you compare any of these minor keys with their relative major, you will notice that they use the same set of chords, but the root is different. Next, let’s take a look at the same chord chart, but for minor keys instead. You’ll find an image of the Circle of Fifths below, in case you need to consult it:Ĭheck out our complete guide to scales to find more jumping off points, including the modes, pentatonic scales, and more! Lastly, since the harmonic field is built upon the major scale of a key, you can figure out the accidentals (sharps and flats) of any key by checking the Circle of Fifths.įollowing the Circle of Fifths and the formula described above will guarantee that you always get the chords of a given key correctly every time. Instead of going up one major sixth from your root note in a major key to find its relative minor, you can also go one minor third up from the root note of a minor key to find its relative major. The 6 th degree of the key (vii chord) has a special detail to it: it is the relative minor key of its corresponding first degree.įor example, if you are in C Major, your relative minor is A minor, its 6 th degree. In every harmonic field, you can always verify that: Each of its degrees, independently of the key center, always has the same chord quality. Here are some of the main things that you should know in order to make the most out of this chart:Įvery major key follows a formula. The chord degrees are written in uppercase letters when that chord is major and lowercase letters when the chord is minor or diminished. However, F# is still present on the table, as it is generally used as frequently as Gb. You might notice that with most enharmonic keys such as C# and Db, only Db is represented on the table, since it is more common to use Db, Eb, Ab and Bb, instead of C#, D#, G# and A#. In the columns, you have all keys from C Major through E Major and G Major up to B Major, and the top line represents the chord degree and chord quality.



The chord chart that you will find below represents all of the existing major keys. If you want to see some specific chord keys, we have Major Keys Chord Chart You can use these two charts to figure out what chords might work well in a composition of yours, to determine the key of a song that you have learned in the past, or even to find some chord substitution ideas. This does not mean that you can only use the 7 chords of the harmonic field when composing a song in a given key, as we will also discuss. They are the diatonic chords of that key, or in other words, the chords that exist naturally in that key. The harmonic field is the set of 7 chords that you get from harmonizing each note of the scale you are working with. Each line will represent the harmonic field of the corresponding key. Worship songs in the key of e.This KillerGuitarRigs music theory guide features a chord key chart for all the major and minor key centers that exist in music.
