

In Western music, there are 12 different notes you can play. This way, you’ll know exactly how they work together to form lead and rhythm guitar parts. But it’s still helpful to look at the individual notes that make up keys.

If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.If you’re a rhythm guitar player, chances are you’ll be working mainly with chords. There is only so much that self-study can accomplish. That is why people take lessons: way better results and progress, much more complete information, exposed to way more creative ideas than you can get from a blog or YouTube video.
#Music keys guitar free#
These free lessons are cool, but you will never experience the progress, joy, and results that my students experience in lessons when you’re learning by yourself from blogs and videos. Hit me up anytime at if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.

The above examples show how you could be soloing with an Ab or a D scale while you’re in the key of C. Not only are “key” and “scale” easily confused or are the words interchanged incorrectly, but you could also be in a different key and scale simultaneously. The scale of choice over the D7 chord is the D Mixolydian scale. While this example is entirely in the key of C, you would again have to change the scale over the D7 chord. It is also one of the chords in a C Lydian scale. This example has a secondary dominant D7 resolving to G7Īgain we never leave the key of C in this example. However: the scale of choice over the Gm chord would be G Dorian, which is relative to the C Mixolydian scale The chord progression, never leaves the key of C, because the Gm7 chord is borrowed from another C scale. It is borrowed from a C minor or C Mixolydian scale. The Gm7 chord is a modal interchange chord. The above example is again in the key of C. You temporarily have to switch to an Ab Lydian scale. However, you could not play a C major scale over the Abmaj7 chord. Since the Abmaj7 chord is taken from another C scale, the above chord progression never leaves the key of C. The Ab chord is a modal interchange chord taken from a parallel C scale (the key of C minor), to be used in the C major scale chord progression above. The above chord progression is in the key of C throughout all 4 chords. Here are a couple of examples to showcase the difference between key and scale. One of the easiest ways to showcase that distinction between key and scale would be with modal interchange chords. It is the one note you can sing throughout a whole song, without that note ever clashing anywhere with the chords in the song.Ī song you write could be in a certain key throughout the whole song, yet be using different scales within that song. Key: gravitational center that the song keeps coming back to.

Later on: I will explain how this is possible. Very few musicians realize there is a difference.įor example: You could be in the key of C but in the scale of Ab Lydian. The terms “key” and “scale” are usually interchanged and confused. “Scale” and “Key” are not the same thing.
