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CHORD FAMILIES 17

1 Chords keys. Of more relevance to the guitar player are ‘chord families’, or the groupings of
chords that go with the keys. This could be useful in knowing what chords actually sound good
together.
This easy-to-understand theory will help you to compose your own songs, obviously, but not only
this! You will have more tools to play those songs where you don't exactly remember the chords, or
even to guess the chords of a song you like.
According to the C scale, each note can represent a speci c chord in the key of C. Look at this chart of
chords for the key of C:
 

2 Scales Looking at the major scales, we can easily know which chords will sound good with any
chord. For instance, the rst note of the C scale represents the rst chord C (major). The fourth
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note, F, represents the fourth chord F (major). Some of them are major chords, some are minor, but
the seventh represents a ‘diminished’ chord. Note that, between some notes, you have a whole tone
di erence (W) and in other cases you only have half a tone step (H). Look at the chart of the major
scales:
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Scale name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
W W H W W W H
C Major C D E F G A B C

C# Major C# D# F F# G# A# C C#

D Major D E F# G A B C# D

D# Major D# F G G# A# C D D#

E Major E F# G# A B C# D# E

F Major F G A A# C D E F

F# Major F# G# A# B C# D# F F#

G Major G A B C D E F# G

G# Major G# A# C C# D# F G G#

A Major A B C# D E F# G# A

A# Major A# C D D# F G A A#

B Major B C# D# E F# G# A# B

3 Chords codi cation. Notice that, for chords, we typically switch our numbers to Roman
numerals: uppercase for major chords, lower case for minor chords. So, we can see that the
major chords are in positions I, IV and V. The minor chords are in positions ii, iii and vi. The seventh
position will be diminished chords, but they are more di cult to play and we can leave them aside for
later.
 

Major key I ii iii IV V vi

A (song examples) A Bm C#m D E F#m

B B C#m D#m E F# G#m

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C (song examples) C Dm Em F G Am

D (song examples) D Em F#m G A Bm

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E (song examples) E F#m G#m A B C#m

F (song examples) F Gm Am A# C Dm

G (song examples) G Am Bm C D Em
 
 
The following key chord chart shows minor keys. In this case, the major chords are in positions III, VI
and VII. The minor chords are in positions i, iv and v. The second chord will be a diminished chord,
but we will leave them aside for the moment.
 

Minor key i III iv v VI VII

Am (song examples) Am C Dm Em F G

Bm Bm D Em F#m G A

Cm Cm D# Fm Gm G# A#

Dm (song examples) Dm F Gm Am A# C

Em (song examples) Em G Am Bm C D

Fm Fm G# A#m Cm C# D#

Gm Gm A# Cm Dm D# F
 
 
Try to identify the key of the following songs.
 

4 The outside circle of this diagram is made up of 12 letters - these correspond to the key that
the music is in and comprise the root chord of that key.
The chords that exist on either side of the root chord sound great with that rst chord. The chord that
appears on the inside circle below the root chord is called the ‘relative minor’ chord. Minor chords
sound more mellow or sad. These four chords will be enough for most of your song writing, but also
look at the chords on either side of the relative minor - these chords, when used sparingly, will bring
texture and interest to your writing.
 

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