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Many beginner guitar players start off by learning a random assortment of chords, but not understanding how those chords fit together in a key. Once you understand which chords go together in a key (starting with the key of G and C), then you can “transpose” any song to these two keys. With a capo, you can play as if you’re in the key of G or the key of C by using the chord shapes of these two keys. By sliding the capo around, you are changing the key, while still using the same chord shapes! Many professional singer songwriters and acoustic players can make a whole career using just the chord shapes in these two keys, and a capo! You can do this too, very early on in your playing journey. You just need to understand how it works, and that is what I’m going to explain here.
As you can see, our three major chords are G, C and D. That is the I, IV and V chord. Our three minor chords are Am, Bm, and Em. That is the ii, iii and vi chord. Our three major chords are C, F and G. That is the I, IV and V chord. Our three minor chords are Dm, Em, and Am. That is the ii, iii and vi chord.
Let’s play the pop progression, which has been used in popular music for many many decades across multiple genres, and is as popular today as it was in the 60s. That progression goes like this:
I - V - vi - IV
If we apply that structure to the key of G, we have G - D - Em - C
If we apply that structure to the key of C, we have C - G - Am - F
Now let’s imagine we encountered a song with the chords Ab, Eb, Fm and Db! Well, this is still the same chord progression that we just played! The key is Ab, and we are playing the I chord (Ab), then the V chord (Eb), then the vi chord (Fm), and then the IV chord (Db)!
If you’re able to figure that out by just “counting” through the music alphabet, then you can use a capo to play this progression, using the chord shapes of either G major, or of C major! In order to use the chord shapes of G major, you’ll simply put a capo on the first fret. With the capo on the 4th fret, we can play the chord shapes G - D - Em - C, and the actual chords that we will hear are Ab, Eb, Fm and Db!
Now you might be wondering, what about minor keys? Well the next little piece of understanding you want to have is that every minor key has a relative major key, which means, they share the same notes and the same chords. The relative minor of a major key is whatever the 6th chord in the key is! That becomes the home chord, and when you make it the new home chord (maybe by starting a chord progression on that chord, or resolving a melody on the note that this chord is named after) you then are playing in the relative minor key.
With this in mind, the key of C and the key of A minor are relative major/minor keys. The key of G and the key of E minor are relative major/minor keys.
The only thing to be aware of is that often in the relative minor key, we make the iii minor chord into a major chord because this chord, relative to the new minor tonic chord, is the V chord, which has a special function of leading us back home to the tonic minor chord. By making it major, we create what’s called a “leading tone” which is 1 half step below the tonic.
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17 окт 2024
