The chord family hiding in your scale
In Lesson 1 you learned the C major scale. Here is the payoff: the six chords you already play, C, Dm, Em, F, G, and Am, are not six random chords. They are the complete chord family of the key of C, all generated from that one scale. Learn this family and you will know the key of thousands of songs, plus which notes to play over them.
1. Warm-up: recall the scale
Before we build, say the notes of the C major scale out loud from memory, then play them once on the guitar. Re-run Lesson 1 if it feels foggy; it only takes a few minutes.
C D E F G A B2. The skip rule
To build a chord on any scale note, take the note, skip the next one, take the one after it, skip again, and take the next one. Starting on C:
C (skip D) E (skip F) GC, E, G gives you the C chord. Try it on D: D, skip E, F, skip G, A. A regular D major chord would need F#, but F# is not in the C major scale. So in the key of C, D has to use F instead: D-F-A, which is D minor. That is the secret of why a major key contains minor chords: chords stay inside the scale, and staying inside changes some of them to minor.
3. The family on guitar and piano
Build a chord on each scale note with the skip rule and you get the six workhorse chords of the key. On each keyboard below, red is the chord root, amber is the rest of the chord, and dimmed keys are skipped.
C
C / E / G
Dm
D / F / A
Em
E / G / B
F
F / A / C
G
G / B / D
Am
A / C / E
Notice that the guitar diagram and the keyboard show the same three notes. The fretted shape and the three keys are the same chord. Compare the C cards: C / E / G on both.
F uses a barre across fret 1. If that is still a stretch, play the easy F shape, x33211, or Fmaj7, x33210. Same family, friendlier hand shape.
4. The pattern repeats
| Scale degree | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note | C | D | E | F | G | A |
| Chord | C | Dm | Em | F | G | Am |
| Type | Major | minor | minor | Major | Major | minor |
Chords 1, 4, and 5 are major; chords 2, 3, and 6 are minor. That is true in every major key, not just C. If a song's chords are inside one family like this, the scale notes from that key can work over the whole song.
5. Try it now
- Play the family in order, saying the names: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am.
- Play the classic pop progression C / G / Am / F, then try C / F / G / Am.
- Take the four-note melody you wrote in Lesson 1 and play it over C-G-Am-F. Then stretch it by adding a few more scale notes.
Find each of the six chords on the keyboard: root, skip one white key, add the third, skip, add the fifth. Do this for C and G, then notice that C-G-Am-F is easy to play with your left hand while you hum a melody with the right.
End phrases on a note of the C chord: C, E, or G. The C itself feels most final because it is the home note, the tonic.
Check what stuck
Answer from memory. Retrieving is what makes it stick.
Which chords are in the key of C?
The D chord in the key of C is D minor because:
To build a chord from a scale note:
To end a melody so it sounds settled:
Go deeper
- Primary source: Justin Guitar: Major Scale Maestro
- Read: TheGuitarLesson: Chords in the key of C
- Reference: PianoScales: harmonizing major scales
You now own a key: scale and chords. Next, move this exact recipe to a new key and see how the guitar shapes shift.