Understanding a Chord Key Chart [2023 Guide]

It’s all well and good learning chords to play along to someone else’s songs, but when it comes to writing your own, you’ll need to know which chords go together, and that’s why understanding a chord key chart is such an important skill.

This KillerGuitarRigs music theory guide features a chord key chart for all the major and minor key centers that exist in music. Each line will represent the harmonic field of the corresponding key.

The harmonic field is the set of 7 chords that you get from harmonizing each note of the scale you are working with. They are the diatonic chords of that key, or in other words, the chords that exist naturally in that key.

This does not mean that you can only use the 7 chords of the harmonic field when composing a song in a given key, as we will also discuss.

You can use these two charts to figure out what chords might work well in a composition of yours, to determine the key of a song that you have learned in the past (in addition to these methods), or even to find some chord substitution ideas.

If you want to see some specific chord keys, we have

Major Keys Chord Chart

The chord chart that you will find below represents all of the existing major keys. 

In the columns, you have all keys from C Major through E Major and G Major up to B Major, and the top line represents the chord degree and chord quality.

You might notice that with most enharmonic keys such as C# and Db, only Db is represented on the table, since it is more common to use Db, Eb, Ab and Bb, instead of C#, D#, G# and A#.

However, F# is still present on the table, as it is generally used as frequently as Gb.

The chord degrees are written in uppercase letters when that chord is major and lowercase letters when the chord is minor or diminished.

Key/Scale Degree	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii
C	C Major	D minor	E minor	F Major	G Major	A minor	B diminished
Db	Db Major	Eb minor	F minor	Gb Major	Ab Major	Bb minor	C diminished
D	D Major	E minor	F# minor	G Major	A Major	B minor	C# diminished
Eb	Eb Major	F minor	G minor	Ab Major	Bb Major	C minor	D diminished
E	E Major	F# minor	G# minor	A Major	B Major	C# minor	D# diminished
F	F Major	G minor	A minor	Bb Major	C Major	D minor	E diminished
F#	F# Major	G# minor	A# minor	B Major	C# Major	D# minor	E# diminished (F dim)
Gb	Gb Major	Ab minor	Bb minor	Cb Major (B Maj)	Db Major	Eb minor	F diminished
G	G Major	A minor	B minor	C Major	D Major	E minor	F# diminished
Ab	Ab Major	Bb minor	C minor	Db Major	Eb Major	F minor	G diminished
A	A Major	B minor	C# minor	D Major	E Major	F# minor	G# diminished
Bb	Bb Major	C minor	D minor	Eb Major	F Major	G minor	A diminished
B	B Major	C# minor	D# minor	E Major	F# Major	G# minor	A# diminished

Here are some of the main things that you should know in order to make the most out of this chart:

Every major key follows a formula. Each of its degrees, independently of the key center, always has the same chord quality. In every harmonic field, you can always verify that:

• The “I” chord is Major;
• The “ii” chord is minor;
• The “iii” chord is minor;
• The “IV” chord is Major;
• The “V” chord is Major;
• The “vi” chord is minor;
• The “vii” chord is diminished.

The 6^th degree of the key (vii chord) has a special detail to it: it is the relative minor key of its corresponding first degree.

For example, if you are in C Major, your relative minor is A minor, its 6^th degree.

Instead of going up one major sixth from your root note in a major key to find its relative minor, you can also go one minor third up from the root note of a minor key to find its relative major.

Lastly, since the harmonic field is built upon the major scale of a key, you can figure out the accidentals (sharps and flats) of any key by checking the Circle of Fifths.

Following the Circle of Fifths and the formula described above will guarantee that you always get the chords of a given key correctly every time.

You’ll find an image of the Circle of Fifths below, in case you need to consult it:

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Minor Keys Chord Chart

Next, let’s take a look at the same chord chart, but for minor keys instead.

If you compare any of these minor keys with their relative major, you will notice that they use the same set of chords, but the root is different. It is basically the same as starting the chord sequence from a different degree and going from there.

Key/Scale Degree	i	ii	III	iv	v	VI	VII
Cm	C minor	D diminished	Eb Major	F minor	G minor	Ab Major	Bb Major
C#min	C# minor	D# diminished	E Major	F# minor	G# minor	A Major	B Major
Dmin	D minor	E diminished	F Major	G minor	A minor	Bb Major	C Major
D#min	D# minor	E# diminished (F dim)	F# Major	G# minor	A# minor	B Major	C# Major
Ebmin	Eb minor	F diminished	Gb Major	Ab minor	Bb minor	Cb Major (B Maj)	Db Major
Emin	E minor	F# diminished	G Major	A minor	B minor	C Major	D Major
Fmin	F minor	G diminished	Ab Major	Bb minor	C minor	Db Major	Eb Major
F#min	F# minor	G# diminished	A Major	B minor	C# minor	D Major	E Major
Gmin	G minor	A diminished	Bb Major	C minor	D minor	Eb Major	F Major
G#min	G# minor	A# diminished	B Major	C# minor	D# minor	E Major	F# Major
Amin	A minor	B diminished	C Major	D minor	E minor	F Major	G Major
Bbmin	Bb minor	C diminished	Db Major	Eb minor	F minor	Gb Major	Ab Major
Bmin	B minor	C# diminished	D Major	E minor	F# minor	G Major	A Major

You may have noticed that some chords might not seem right at first (Cb Major or E# diminished). 

These are written that way to respect the order of the scale degrees, but since it is easier to think about those two as B Major and F diminished, those have been noted too.

When working with a minor key, you should always keep in mind that your relative major key is your third degree. 

For example, in A minor, your third degree is C Major, meaning that those two are relative keys.

Also, the formula that was explained previously has to be adapted to a minor key. You’ll find that minor keys follow this pattern:

• The “i” chord is minor;
• The “ii” chord is diminished;
• The “III” chord is Major;
• The “iv” chord is minor;
• The “v” chord is minor;
• The “VI” chord is Major,
• The “VII” chord is Major.

By memorizing the patterns that dictate the chord qualities of each scale degree in major and minor keys, it will be much easier for you to come up with your own chord progressions, especially if you start to identify the “color” or “sensation” of each degree, and use that to your advantage.

There is also a very interesting concept called “modal interchange”. In summary, it means that you are “borrowing” a chord from the minor key.

For example, if you are in C Major, and you want to use the “iii” chord, you can either use E minor or Eb Major (third degree in C minor).

Another example: if you are in A Major and you want to use the “IV” chord, you can replace it with the minor “iv” chord from the A minor key (D minor instead of D Major).

These chord substitutions can bring a new mood to your compositions; you should try them out and start opening up your range of options.

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Final Thoughts on Chord Key Charts

Understanding a chord key chart such as the ones that were presented in this guide can drastically improve both your songwriting and improvisation skills.

Ideally, you will reach the point at which you won’t even need to check a chart like this, as you will eventually start to memorize the degrees of each key center.

Make the most out of that knowledge by tastefully applying your available options when accompanying another musician or when composing your own music.