The Musical "Key": Unlocking How Music Works (FREE Printable Chart!)

Understanding how music "works" helps to take out some of the guesswork, opening doors to improvising, composing, songwriting and playing by ear. When talking about western music, there are 12 musical "keys", which are sets of 7 notes and chords which work together - if you know what key you're playing in, then you can know/figure out what notes and chords you immediately have available to you. Below is a FREE chart (click here to download full size copy) I've put together of the notes and chords in each key, along with some short explanatory notes.

For example, if we are improvising single notes in the key of C, then we have the notes of C, D, E, F, G, A and B - which is all the white notes on the piano. Want to play in the key of G? Then our notes become G, A, B, C, D, E and F# - only 1 note has changed compared to C, introducing 1 black note on the piano.

When I was learning, I didn't understand the difference between "major" keys and "minor" keys ("Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" anyone?), thinking they were completely separate.. but they are not. Here's where the "Relative Minor" comes in (the VI note of the major scale) - the key of "D Minor" is actually just the key of F Major, but focusing around the D minor note and chord. In fact, altering the chords being played can make a significant difference to the sound and feel of the music.

For the guitarists amongst you, knowing the relative minor of each major key opens doors to using the Pentatonic Minor scale - the staple of many a rock guitarist, the scale uses just 5 notes (missing out the IV and VII) and will sound good over any of the chords in a key. To work out which pentatonic scale we need, we look to the relative minor in our given key - in the key of G, this is E Minor, so we can use E Pentatonic Minor (E, G, A, B, D). Study some guitar solos and you'll see how this is used.

There's so much more I could cover, but I'll leave it there for now - thanks for reading and stay tuned for more! :)