What Are The Keys On Guitar And How To Play Them?

2 Responses

Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.

1. Guitarpi said

   on July 13, 2010

   In the major keys you have: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, and G# or A, Bb, B, C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Ab, and A.
   The same holds true for all the minor keys from Am to G#m or Abm.
   Whether a key is flatted or sharped you can form the pertinent chord for the intended key in the usual formation. You simply must learn the major and minor chords for each key signature. But writing your song in the key of Ab would have a different signature from writing it in G#–which are the same chord, but different incidentals.
   In short, you need lessons on basic music theory to better understand how to write your music.

2. gtarczar said

   on July 13, 2010

   The key of a song is determined by the major scale it is based in. The guitar can play in any key possible. One of the easiest ways to figure out basic keys is to use the simple 1 4 5 relationship of the chords. It is very easy. Just remember that there are 7 letter names in music A B C D E F G and then it starts over with A again. If you want to know the chords in a specific key, use the 1 4 5 relationship. For example in the key of A the chrods are A, D, E, (A is one, D is four, E is five) now try the key of C. C, F, G, (C=1 F=4 G=5) Now the key of E. E A B7. Now D. D G A .
   It really is that simple to start off with these are all the exact same progression in different keys. By using a number system it becomes very easy to TRANSPOSE from one key to another. Of course it can get much more in depth than this but this will get you started. To learn more about this I strongly suggest getting a teacher and taking some lessons regarding music harmony and theory.