If we know the scale shapes well, nothing prevents us from creating solos and arrangements automatically (a skill known as improvisation). Therefore, knowing the chords of a key is of great use: this knowledge allows us to know the notes that we can use to make arrangements on a certain song. With that, we know that the scale to be used to make a solo, improvise, create riffs, etc. If a song contains the chords of the key of C major, it means that the song uses the C major scale as its base. You have probably heard the question: “ What key is this song in?” Well, the tonality (or key) of a song depends on the chords present in that song. Well, chords of a key serve for many things, and at this point we’ll focus on the most basic point: it serves to set the tonality of a song. Great, you just learned how to form chords of a key. It is a good exercise to try to form the remaining chords of the key of C. You can also check the fifth of each chord, but you will notice that it will always end up being the perfect fifth, except for the last chord, which will have the flat fifth. You must be realizing by now that we are forming the chords thinking about the triads and using only the notes that appear on the scale in question (C major scale).Īfter forming the triad, we observe whether the third of each chord has become major or minor. Therefore, the second chord is formed by the notes D, F and A (notice that this is the D minor chord, because the note F is the minor third of D). The third degree, counting from D, on this scale, is F. Now let’s build the chord of the next note on the scale, which is D. The first chord of the key of C major is then formed by the notes C, E, G (notice that this is the C major chord, since E is the major third of C). How do we do this?įor each note of the scale, the respective chord will be formed using the first, the third and the fifth degrees (counted from that note, on top of that same scale). Therefore, we will have seven chords, which will be the chords of the key of C major.

Take the C major scale as an example: C, D, E, F, G, A, B.įor each note of this scale, we will form a chord. Chords of a key are chords formed from a given scale.

D flat major scale triads