Notes of the Major Scales

It is essential that you have a working knowledge of the major scales in order to be able to work out your own chords. Below is a table of major keys and the notes they contain:

Familiarise yourself with these keys. Of course, all this memory work may seem very tedious, and at first this is true because everyone loves to be able to recall the facts instantly. But this comes only with familiarity which takes time depending upon how much talent you have, how quickly you absorb this kind of information, and how much time and effort you put into it. Also, when I say familiarise, I mean in a practical way on an instrument, not just in your head.

If a song is in a particular key and it contains a note other than those that belong in the key (for instance, G# in the key of C major), that note is referred to as a chromatic note.

Now read: Understanding Scale Degrees

For information on natural and harmonic minor scales, buy Contemporary Music Theory. (This link will take you to Createspace.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.)

Understanding Scales | Understanding Chord Structure | Understanding Diatonic Chords | Understanding Minor Scales | Diatonic Chords in Minor Keys | Scale Degree Names | Chord Substitution - Extended Chords | Chord Substitution - Overlapping Chords | Improvisation - Arpeggios | Improvisation - Major Scales | Improvisation - Pentatonic Scales | Improvisation - Blues Scales