Easy Keys For Guitar & How To Play Them

• October 5, 2016
• Guitar Lessons

Here are some easy keys for guitarists. Generally speaking, the easy keys are the ones with the fewest sharps and flats. C major, G major, D major, and the chording gets trickier as you progress through the circle of fifths.

Don't get nervous. This won't be a heady article full of technical jargon. We're going to show you some practical music theory and how to apply it to guitar immediately, all within the context of showing you the easy keys. So grab your guitar and play along as we look at the three easiest keys out there.

Easy Keys: C Major

To be honest, this isn't the easiest of the easy keys, but it doesn't have any sharps or flats, and that makes it a great jump off point. Let's take a look at the notes in C.

C D E F G A B

Here's what it looks like on your guitar

Well, to be honest, there are a dozen popular ways to play C major on guitar. We just chose one of the more prominent ones. The truth is that anywhere that you play those notes, you are playing a C major scale.

To make simple chords, you start at any note and play leapfrog. The first chord in C has the notes C, E, and G, and this is the most common shape:

For the second chord, you start at D and play leapfrog again. The notes are D, F, and A. This chord is actually a D minor. The D major chord has an F#, and we'll take a look at it in our next two keys. Here's a shape for the D minor chord:

The third chord in C is E minor. The notes are E, G, and B. Hopefully, you're starting to see the pattern. We'll skip the lengthy descriptions and give you the chord name, notes, and shapes to finish up the Cmajor scale.

Easy Keys: E minor

F major- F A C

G major- G B D

A minor- A C E

G/B - G B D with a B in the bass.

Maybe some more explanation is in order for the seventh chord in C. Basically, we'll use the fifth chord but play the root of the seventh so it functions as a seven chord. This replaces the rather ugly sounding chord that naturally occurs at the seventh degree of a major scale with a very cool sounding chord substitution.

Pro Tip: When you see a compound chord like G/B, you pronounce it "G over B". The top letter is your chord (i.e., G), and the bottom letter is your bass note. One of the best ways to add add hundreds of awesome sounding chords to your vocabulary is to try common chords with new bass notes.

Easy Keys: G Major

The easiest of the easy keys. G major does have one sharp, but it's probably the most popular key in the history of recorded music, so it may be the familiarity that makes this one so easy. Here are the notes in G:

G A B C D E F#

Since we have most the same notes in G that we had in C, most of the chords will be the same as well. The first chord is G. The second chord is A minor. The third chord is B minor and that can be a real handful if you're not used to bar chords. We'll show you B minor but we'll also show you a common chord substitution.

B minor has these notes: B, D, and F#. Here's the most popular shape:

A lot of people substitute G/B for B minor in the key of G. Mostly for artistic reasons. A three over one chord has a great sound and feels a little more "commercial" than the standard 3 chord. Try them both out and be aware that it's a common chord substitution.

C major is the fourth, and D major is the fifth chord in G. D major is the main reason G is easier than C. C G and D are the first three chords that most guitarists learn. Those three chords only occur in the key of G. Here's a shape for D (as if you needed it):

E minor is the sixth, and D/F# is the seventh chord in the key of G. D/F# is a GREAT sounding chord. Here's a common shape for it (although we've heard that Jimi Hendrix used his thumb on the low E:

Pro Tip: Unfortunately, most guitar players only see their guitar as frets and strings rather than notes, so music theory remains clouded in mystery. If you really want to liberate yourself and open up a world of understanding, then learn your notes on the fretboard. Here's a helpful exercise:

 

 

D Major

The last key we'll look at today is a common one. Although it might be the trickiest of the easy keys, it's still a very important key to know. Since it shares most of the notes with G major, it will have most of the same chords.

D major is the first chord, E minor is the second chord, F# minor is the third. Let's stop right there and look at the notes and chord shape for F# minor. The notes are F#, A, and C#, and this is the bar shape with the root on the low E string.

[Insert shape]

The fourth chord is G and the fifth is A major. This is an important one. The notes are A, C#, and E. There are a couple common ways to play this chord, either with your second, third and fourth fingers or by barring your first finger.

The sixth chord is B minor.  The sixth is a very important chord in any key so we're not going to give you a work around. You're going to have to learn it at some point before you become a rock star anyways.

The final chord in D, and final chord in the the three easy keys, is A/C#. Because we like to party.

Now that you know how to play all of the basic chords in the three easy keys, you have what it takes to play thousands of songs. Hopefully, you've gained some insight into how chords function within these keys, as well as the similarities and differences. Once you learn all of the bar chords and your notes on the fretboard, all keys become easy keys. One of our favorite producers has a fun little saying. "What's hard for you, is easy for someone else" he usually says that right before he gives someone the axe. Don't be that person. Be the musician who knows how music functions and executes it with skill and ease.

Now that we have covered all the easy keys for guitarists why don't you take the next step in your musical journey. Pro Lessons has the best instructors who will demonstrate these easy keys and more. Click below to get started.