Making Chords in Every Key

If you want to do this, you need to know your key signatures. Good news. It’s not that complicated.

 

Take a look at the image below.

Notice how, as you go clockwise around the circle (starting on C), you gain one sharp every time you change letters. The key of C has no accidentals (sharps and flats); the next letter/key – G – has 1 sharp; the next letter (key of D)  has 2 sharps, etc.

 

Go counter-clockwise and you gain a flat every time you move.

 

So that means that you can take any key – say E major – and do the same thing that you did with the key of C. The key of E has 4 sharps (check this out above) so…

 

E   F#   G#   A    B    C#   D#

1    2    3       4    5    6      7

 

Start on E, take the 1, the 3, and the 5, and you get an E major chord – E  G#  B.

 

Now make five E major chords. Now move between them. Now move between them and the C major chords you made. This is a lot of work, I know. But worth it.