I’m just starting to learn music theory and I don’t understand how keys work. I want to learn how to figure out what chords are being played in a song. I found a song I want to learn, but it doesn’t have the chords listed, just says it’s in the key of E major. I have a link to it. Can someone explain what chords are being played or how to use keys to find them? https://youtu.be/m69bc-FbQLs?si=3Vc_z2iiFIebGsLZ
Let me break it down for you. But, a quicker tip would be to look up the chords online. Check Youtube, Ultimate Guitar, or Chordify for a faster answer.
The Musical Alphabet:
There are 12 notes in total. But to start with, there are 7 main natural notes: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. These notes represent sounds. For example, if you play the open A string, you hear an A note. The same goes for the E string and others.
In music, there are whole steps and half steps, which measure the distance between notes. A whole step is 2 frets apart, and a half step is just 1 fret apart.
You can add sharps (#) and flats (b) to natural notes. Sharp raises a note by a half step and flat lowers it.
For example, A# is a half step up from A, and Ab is a half step down from A.
Major Scale:
The major scale is a pattern of whole and half steps starting from a root note. If you start from A, the key is A major. Here’s the pattern for the major scale:
R W W H W W W H
Where R = Root, W = Whole step, and H = Half step.
For example, if A is the root note: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#.
You can start the pattern from any note.
Chords in a Major Scale:
In E major, the notes are: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#.
The 1st, 4th, and 5th notes form major chords, so E, A, and B are major. The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th are minor chords (F#, G#, C#). The 7th note (D#) forms a diminished chord.
If you’re playing in E major, try out the chords E, A, and B as major, and F#, G#, and C# as minors. D# will be diminished.
@Skyler
Thanks for taking the time to explain all of this. Really helpful!
Here’s a link that might help guide you: https://youtu.be/rgaTLrZGlk0?si=FBjeV19o5_uxSfZK. It won’t go too deep into the details, but it covers the basics. You can use it to help focus your learning in the right direction.
Music is basically a bunch of sounds put together that our brain picks up as a tune. A key is like the home of that tune. You already know it, you just don’t know how to say it. To figure out the key, just hum along with the song and find the note that sounds most ‘right’. That’s probably the key.
A key (or scale) is a set of notes that sound good together, like a letter set in Scrabble. These sets are already defined. To understand music theory applied to guitar, I suggest watching ‘Absolutely Understand Guitar’ course on YouTube.
E major consists of these notes: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, and E. The pattern of intervals between these notes is WWHWWWH, where W means a whole step and H means a half step. This is why there are so many sharps in the E major scale.
For comparison, C major has C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, with no sharps or flats. It follows the same WWHWWWH step pattern, but sounds different because it’s in a different key.
@Hollis
I never thought of it like that. I used to play piano and I think of keys visually on a keyboard. It’s funny how I still think of them this way, even when I play guitar.
That song is terrible, and what even is ‘slow core’?
The chords in E major are: E major, F# minor, G# minor, A major, B major, C# minor, and D# half diminished.
But, I don’t think this will help you much. I don’t have my guitar with me right now, so I can’t give you exact details. From what I can tell, it’s not a standard chord progression. It sounds like a variation based on E major.