Ear Fusion Guitar Lessons - How To Play By Ear

Different keys

            All right, we should now understand the structure of the key of C. Let’s say that we want to play a song in the key of E. It may be clear to you by now…but if it’s not then look at figure 8.

 

FIGURE 8

            You can do this pattern starting from any note. Whatever tone is your root tone is the key you’re in. You’ll notice that each key has a different number of sharps and flats. The key of E has 3 sharps and 1 flat…and the key of C of course has no sharps or flats. There’s another way of describing keys in terms of sharps and flats. Remember that when we say G#, we simply mean a half step up from G. So essentially a G# could also be called an Ab…because it is the note right between G and A and so it can be described relative to either G or A. So since E is the note right between Eb and F…then F could also be referred to as E#...or a sharpened E. So each key can be described in terms of how many sharpened or flattened tones it has.

 

FIGURE 9

 Next - Lesson #11 - Major vs. Minor