Musical keys and the chords in each key
A key is a home note plus the scale built on it. There are 24 keys, a major and a minor on each of the 12 notes. Each key has seven chords; in C major they are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bdim. Tap a chord to hear it.
Tap a numeral to hear one chord; tap a shape to open it.
What a key is
When a song is "in G", three things are true. It mostly uses the seven notes of the G major scale. Its chords are built from those notes. And the G chord feels like home: the song settles there, often starting and ending on it. The key is the frame that makes one note the center.
Keys matter in practice because they tell you which chords to expect. If a chord chart says the key is D major, you know the likely chords before you look: D, G, A and Bm for sure, maybe Em or F♯m.
The chords of a major key
Stack thirds on each note of a major scale and you always get the same pattern of chord types: I ii iii IV V vi vii°. Capital numerals are major chords, lowercase are minor, and ° is diminished. In C that is C (I), Dm (ii), Em (iii), F (IV), G (V), Am (vi), Bdim (vii°). In G the same numerals give G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F♯dim. Every major key follows the pattern: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished.
Add one more note on top of each chord and you get the seventh chords of the key: Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7 and Bm7♭5 in C. How triads are built.
The chords of a minor key
A natural minor scale gives the pattern i ii° III iv v VI VII. In A minor: Am (i), Bdim (ii°), C (III), Dm (iv), Em (v), F (VI), G (VII). In practice most music in minor keys changes the v chord to major, borrowing one raised note from the harmonic minor scale. In A minor that turns Em into E, which pulls back to Am much harder.
Relative and parallel keys
Every major key shares its notes with one minor key, its relative minor, which starts on the 6th note of the major scale (three half steps below the major key's home note). C major and A minor use the same white keys and the same empty key signature. G major and E minor both have one sharp. The chords are the same too; what changes is which one sounds like home.
Parallel keys share a home note instead: C major and C minor. C minor has three flats (B♭, E♭, A♭), so the two keys sound very different. Borrowing a chord from the parallel key (like A♭ in a C major song) is a common way to add a darker color. The circle of fifths shows every relative pair at a glance.
Which key to play in
On piano, C major and A minor are the easiest, since they use only white keys. On guitar, the open-chord keys are C major, G major, D major, A major and E major on the major side, and A minor, E minor and D minor on the minor side. For other keys, guitarists use barre chords or a capo. Singers pick the key that suits their range, and the chord transposer moves a whole song to it.
All 12 major keys
| Key | Signature | I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° | Relative minor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C major | 0 | C | Dm | Em | F | G | Am | Bdim | A minor |
| G major | 1♯ | G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F♯dim | E minor |
| D major | 2♯ | D | Em | F♯m | G | A | Bm | C♯dim | B minor |
| A major | 3♯ | A | Bm | C♯m | D | E | F♯m | G♯dim | F♯ minor |
| E major | 4♯ | E | F♯m | G♯m | A | B | C♯m | D♯dim | C♯ minor |
| B major | 5♯ | B | C♯m | D♯m | E | F♯ | G♯m | A♯dim | G♯ minor |
| F♯ major | 6♯ | F♯ | G♯m | A♯m | B | C♯ | D♯m | E♯dim | E♭ minor |
| D♭ major | 5♭ | D♭ | E♭m | Fm | G♭ | A♭ | B♭m | Cdim | B♭ minor |
| A♭ major | 4♭ | A♭ | B♭m | Cm | D♭ | E♭ | Fm | Gdim | F minor |
| E♭ major | 3♭ | E♭ | Fm | Gm | A♭ | B♭ | Cm | Ddim | C minor |
| B♭ major | 2♭ | B♭ | Cm | Dm | E♭ | F | Gm | Adim | G minor |
| F major | 1♭ | F | Gm | Am | B♭ | C | Dm | Edim | D minor |
All 12 minor keys
| Key | Signature | i | ii° | III | iv | v | VI | VII | Relative major |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A minor | 0 | Am | Bdim | C | Dm | Em | F | G | C major |
| E minor | 1♯ | Em | F♯dim | G | Am | Bm | C | D | G major |
| B minor | 2♯ | Bm | C♯dim | D | Em | F♯m | G | A | D major |
| F♯ minor | 3♯ | F♯m | G♯dim | A | Bm | C♯m | D | E | A major |
| C♯ minor | 4♯ | C♯m | D♯dim | E | F♯m | G♯m | A | B | E major |
| G♯ minor | 5♯ | G♯m | A♯dim | B | C♯m | D♯m | E | F♯ | B major |
| E♭ minor | 6♭ | E♭m | Fdim | G♭ | A♭m | B♭m | C♭ | D♭ | F♯ major |
| B♭ minor | 5♭ | B♭m | Cdim | D♭ | E♭m | Fm | G♭ | A♭ | D♭ major |
| F minor | 4♭ | Fm | Gdim | A♭ | B♭m | Cm | D♭ | E♭ | A♭ major |
| C minor | 3♭ | Cm | Ddim | E♭ | Fm | Gm | A♭ | B♭ | E♭ major |
| G minor | 2♭ | Gm | Adim | B♭ | Cm | Dm | E♭ | F | B♭ major |
| D minor | 1♭ | Dm | Edim | F | Gm | Am | B♭ | C | F major |
Signature: number of sharps (♯) or flats (♭). Each key page has the key signature on the staff, the seven chords with guitar shapes, and the common progressions in that key.
Related: key signatures · scales · chord progressions · progression builder · music theory basics
Questions about keys
What is a key in music?
A key is a home note plus the scale built on it. Music in the key of G major uses mostly the notes of the G major scale, and its chords are built from those notes. The home note, G, is where melodies and progressions tend to come to rest.
How many keys are there in music?
Twelve major and twelve minor, one of each on every note: 24 in all. Some of them can be spelled two ways (F♯ major is the same as G♭ major on the piano), which is why some charts list 30.
What is the easiest key for beginners?
On piano, C major and A minor, which use only white keys. On guitar, G, C, D, A and E major and A, E and D minor, because their chords use open strings. On ukulele, C, F, G and A minor.
What are relative major and minor keys?
Pairs of keys that share all their notes and their key signature. The relative minor starts on the 6th note of the major scale: C major and A minor, G major and E minor. They differ in which chord feels like home.
How do I find the key of a song?
Look at the chords. Find the key whose seven chords contain all or most of them, then check which chord the song starts and ends on and keeps returning to. If sheet music is available, the key signature narrows it to two choices, a major key and its relative minor.
What is the difference between a parallel and a relative key?
Relative keys share notes but start on different notes (C major and A minor). Parallel keys start on the same note but use different notes (C major and C minor).
Every chord and signature on this page is computed by the site's theory engine. Updated September 2026.