Guitar UpscaleHow to find the chords in a key
Build the seven chords of any major or minor key from its scale, then use them in the progressions behind most songs.
By Oleg Chibikov, the author of Guitar Upscale
Chords come from the scale
A key is a scale plus its home note. To build a chord on a note of the scale, take that note, skip one, take the next, skip one and take the next. In C major, start on C: C, skip D, E, skip F, G. That is the C major chord.
Do the same from each of the seven notes and you get the seven chords of the key. Every one of them uses only notes of the scale, so they all sound at home together.
The chords of C major
| Number | Chord | Seventh chord |
|---|---|---|
| I | C | Cmaj7 |
| ii | Dm | Dm7 |
| iii | Em | Em7 |
| IV | F | Fmaj7 |
| V | G | G7 |
| vi | Am | Am7 |
| vii° | Bdim | Bm7b5 |
Musicians number the chords with Roman numerals. Capitals mean major, small letters mean minor, and ° means diminished. The pattern is the same in every major key: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and vii°.
The chords of the common guitar keys
| Key | I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C major | C | Dm | Em | F | G | Am | Bdim |
| G major | G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F#dim |
| D major | D | Em | F#m | G | A | Bm | C#dim |
| A major | A | Bm | C#m | D | E | F#m | G#dim |
| E major | E | F#m | G#m | A | B | C#m | D#dim |
| F major | F | Gm | Am | Bb | C | Dm | Edim |
Progressions that use them
- I IV V, such as G, C, D. Folk, country and early rock and roll.
- I V vi IV, such as C, G, Am, F. Countless pop songs use these four chords.
- vi IV I V, such as Am, F, C, G. The same chords started on the minor one, for a sadder feel.
- ii V I, such as Dm7, G7, Cmaj7. The core of jazz.
- 12 bar blues uses I, IV and V, usually as dominant 7th chords: A7, D7 and E7 in A.
Since the pattern is the same in every key, a progression written in numbers works anywhere. I V vi IV in G is G, D, Em, C.
Minor keys
A minor uses the same notes as C major, so it has the same chords. Only the home chord changes. Numbered from A, the pattern is i, ii°, III, iv, v, VI and VII.
| Key | i | ii° | III | iv | v | VI | VII |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A minor | Am | Bdim | C | Dm | Em | F | G |
| E minor | Em | F#dim | G | Am | Bm | C | D |
| B minor | Bm | C#dim | D | Em | F#m | G | A |
| D minor | Dm | Edim | F | Gm | Am | Bb | C |
| G minor | Gm | Adim | Bb | Cm | Dm | Eb | F |
Many songs in minor swap the minor v chord for a major V, such as E instead of Em in A minor. That E chord comes from harmonic minor, and it pulls harder back to Am.
Find the key of a song
- Write down the chords of the song.
- Find the major key that holds most of them, using the table.
- Listen for the chord that feels like home. If it is the vi chord, the song is in the relative minor key.
Play the chords of any key
In Guitar Upscale the chord panel shows the chords of the scale you pick, in order from the root. Tap a chord to strum it, or hold it to strum a pattern. Open C major in Guitar Upscale and play I V vi IV with the chords on screen. Every scale page on this site also lists the chords of that scale, and the chord pages show how to play each one.