playing in a key?

[neil groves]

I have searched high and low for what this means and can’t find the answer, what does it mean to play in the key of ‘E’ or the key of ‘A’? is it important and what is the difference and how is it accomplished please?

Neil.

[GnLguy]

@neil groves wrote:

I have searched high and low for what this means and can’t find the answer, what does it mean to play in the key of ‘E’ or the key of ‘A’? is it important and what is the difference and how is it accomplished please?

Neil.

The abridged answer is that – yes it is important. I will be as brief as possible because this is a question that can go in many directions/

The major scale for any given key will have 8 notes, I will use the key of C because, in theory, there are no sharps or flats in C (and some will argue that there are only 7 notes in a major scale but for simplicity, lets not complicate things)

The ‘formula’ for determining which 8 notes are use follow these guidelines. Beginning with a C note, refer to the guidelines below of root, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step.

(a good way to visualize whole & half steps is that moving 1 fret on a guitar is a half step, 2 frets would be a whole step.)

So, If I go up 1 whole step for the 2nd tone of the scale and that is D. I then follow the guideline below, we I can determine the notes of the C major scale

root, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step
C D E F G A B C (octave)

Typically the chords based on the tones of a key will be as follows

Root Major
2nd Minor
3rd Minor
4th Major
5th Major
6th Minor
7th Diminished

So if I am playing in the key of C and someone says ‘let play a 1-4-5’ blues – the chords would be C – F – G all major in tonality – 7th, 9th and other extensions can be used.
A 2-5-1 progression is popular in jazz and those chords in C would be Dm – G – C

Using the same formula, start with an E note and find the E major scale
root, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step
E F# G# A B C# D# E (octave)

You can determine the chords that will typically be used in the key of E using the formula above.

It is important to know this because sitting in with someone or even playing along with a recording requires one to be able play in various keys. If I don’t know what chords are used in that key, well….. I’m going to lost

It helped me great to write the formula on paper and determine the notes and chords

Music theory is a subject that can go on forever and sometimes it gets overcomplicated but from what I listed above, you can find the notes of any key, the chords for any key and there is a similar formula that can be used to find the notes of a chord.

Hope this helps

[neil groves]

wow….this is way more complicated than I imagined lol

i’m going to try again to find some practical KEY sessions online and follow those till I get a feel for what is going on, I don’t read music and didn’t intend to but it looks like I could do with a little music theory after all…..

thanks Bluezhawk

Neil.

[GnLguy]

@neil groves wrote:

wow….this is way more complicated than I imagined lol

i’m going to try again to find some practical KEY sessions online and follow those till I get a feel for what is going on, I don’t read music and didn’t intend to but it looks like I could do with a little music theory after all…..

thanks Bluezhawk

Neil.

Neil, I know exactly what you mean about being complicated. That was just the start of some that I’ve read and there is so much more that it would nauseate the everyday guitar picker.

Best advice for you at this point is to learn the chords that go with a key and memorize them. Key of C would use
C major
D minor
E minor
F major
G major
A minor
B diminished.

If you playing a song that you know is in the key of C, usually the chords will be from this group. There are exceptions but that will come in time.

Memorize the chords for the keys of A, D, E, G, C and go from there. You will learn as you go to play the chords as 7th or 9th – whatever your ear tells you. That will come in time.

Main thing – enjoy where you are on the way to where you are going.

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