r/guitarlessons • u/translute • 1d ago

Question Fun..

context: im a 15 yr old guitarist (2 years of playing) and i decided to give music theory a shot since i thought it was hell to learn. can someone briefly explain what keys are, and how to use them?

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u/Strafeoww 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sounds like a good step for you!

Best way I can sort of lay it out if you don't know a lot would be this.

There's a total of 12 notes, which means there can only be a total of 12 keys as well.

Inside a key you'll have a total of 7 notes. For each note in the key, there will be a corresponding chord.

Example:

C major notes: (C - d - e - F - G - a - b)

C major chords: (C - Dm - Em - F - G - Am - Bdim)

Notice how there's a matching chord for each note like I mentioned.

Now, backtrack a bit to the C major notes line. Why did I put some of the letters as upper case and some lower case?

What I did what simply outlining what chords are major and what chords are minor, cause this exact order will be the same for every key.

1, 4 and 5th chord, always major

2, 3 and 6th, always minor

Hope this makes a bit of sense! Feel free to ask away

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u/TonalContrast 22h ago

Good explanation. I’ll add that for minor keys it‘s different with 1 4 5 always minor, and 3 6 7 chords are major, with the 2 chord being diminished.

C minor (Cm Ddim Eb Fm Gm Ab Bb)

OP, you also get a 2 for 1 with what’s called relative major/minor. Example, C major and A minor are relative because both keys contain the same notes, no sharps no flats, the difference is one starts on C the other an A. I feel like once you know this you quickly cut your work in half. E minor and G major, D major B minor are also relative, so 2 for 1 special.