Two Basic Keys For Guitar Players

Rather than just learning chords at random it's far better to learn them in terms of Keys. We will always get the most value and purchase from the chords we learn when they are put into the context of a complete key.

All songs are set in a certain musical key and there are 12 Major and 12 Minor keys to choose from. To begin however you really just need to learn 2 of those and they actually share quite a few common chords as well.

The key of C consists of C Major, D minor, E minor, F Major, G Major, A minor and B diminished. If you count up you'll see that the key has a total of seven chords and playing the chords through will give you a perfect musical circle. All keys have a total of 7 chords and they will follow the same structure and design.



The second key to learn is G. The chords would be G Major, A minor, B minor, C Major, D Major, E minor and F# diminished. Again by playing through the chords in sequence you'll hear a perfect musical circle.

Now with those 2 keys plus the use of a Capo you'll be able to play a great many songs. You can see how the two keys share common chords and this is why it's much more valuable to learn chords in terms of keys and not just at random. Random won't give you any 'musical power' but keys are the lifeblood of music and songs. Learning them is essential to understanding so many things about playing guitar and music.

You should know them off by heart and once you learn Barre Chords you'll be able to learn more and more. Some people however never learn more than just 3 or 4 keys and this amount of knowledge combined with the use of a Capo will still allow you to play 1000's of songs. The choice is up to you!

You'll notice also that the final chord, number 7, in a key is a diminished chord and they are not used so often in pop songs. It's more of a jazz or classical chord. For more great acoustic guitar lessons be sure to check out Guitar in a Nutshell!