The Chord/Key Relationship

Lesson 8/67 | Study Time: 5 Min

Course: Lead Guitar Method

The Chord/Key Relationship

The chords which occur most frequently in any key will be those whose notes are taken from the key’s major scale.

E.g., in the key of C the most likely chords to appear will be those which contain all natural notes (i.e., notes from the C scale). Here are 25 such chords, which can be said to "belong" to the key of C.

A thorough knowledge of these chords will help you decide the key of a piece (and therefore the location of improvising patterns) where no key signature is given. For example:

This progression is in the key of C, using the chords:

Another way to decide the key of a progression is to look at the first and last chords. These will often be the same, and also have the same name as the key. E.g., for a progression starting and finishing on F, the key is most likely to be F.

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Gary Turner and Brenton White

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1- Sixths 2- The Major Pentatonic Scale in Blues Improvising 3- Summary of Pattern One 4- Pattern Four 5- Patterns One and Four Combination 6- The Complete Pattern 7- Summary of Patterns 8- Additional Notes - the Blues Scale 9- Major Pentatonic Scale - Additional Notes 10- Minor Pentatonic Scale - Additional Notes 11- INTRODUCTION 12- Harmony Notes 13- Open String Slurs 14- An Alternative Improvising Method 15- Playing With the Pick and Fingers 16- Ideas For Further Study 17- Music Theory 18- Improvising Within A Song 19- Modulation 20- Ear Training 21- Harmonics 22- Chord Progressions 23- GLOSSARY OF MUSICAL TERMS 24- The Bend 25- The Major Scale 26- The 12 Bar Blues Progression 27- 12 Bar Blues Riff Number 2 28- Alternate Picking 29- The Major Scale - 2 Octaves 30- Minor Key Progressions 31- New Topic 32- The Blues Scale 33- Transposing 34- The Slur 35- Pattern One Extension (Key of A) 36- Major Key Progressions 37- Blues And Rock Progressions 38- Natural Harmonics 39- Copying Lead Solos From Records 40- Introductions 41- Fretboard Diagrams 42- The Major Scale 43- 12 Bar Blues Riff Number 7 44- Left Hand Position 45- 12 Bar Blues Riff Number 3 46- 12 Bar Blues Riff Number 4 47- Octaves 48- Key Signatures 49- Riff Number 8 50- Major Key Progressions 51- Left Hand Fingering 52- Tuning By Harmonics 53- Listening 54- Fill-Ins 55- Lead Solos 56- Tablature 57- Artificial Harmonics 58- Minor Key Progressions 59- Minor Keys And Scales 60- Notes on the Guitar Fretboard 61- Ideas For Improvising 62- Scale Tone Chords 63- Modulation 64- Tablature Symbols 65- Scale Tone Chord Extensions 66- The Chord/Key Relationship 67- Chord Formula Chart

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The Chord/Key Relationship