Welcome to another edition of “What Key Am I In?”
If you haven’t seen my past ones, click here to check them out.
Ok… here we go:
What major key am I in if I have these chords:
A minor
B minor
E minor
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Answer:
Explanation:
Remember this chart from other posts?
The first degree of a scale is associated with the major chord.
The second degree of a scale is associated with the minor chord.
The third degree of a scale is associated with the minor chord.
The fourth degree of a scale is associated with the major chord.
The fifth degree of a scale is associated with the major chord.
The sixth degree of a scale is associated with the minor chord.
The seventh degree of a scale is associated with the diminished chord.
Recap:
The 1st, 4th, 5th degrees are major chords.
The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th degrees are minor chords.
The 7th degree is a diminished chord.
*Of course, when you play 4-toned chords, all these change to “seventh” chords (and the 5th tone becomes a “dominant seventh” chord and the 7th tone becomes a “half-diminished seventh” chord… but you didn’t need to know that for this lesson).
There’s only one key that has A, B and E as minor chords… and that key is G major!
Let’s take a look at the G major scale:
G A B C D E F# G
Now, if we apply the rules from above, we’ll be able to figure out which tones are minor:
G – major chord
A – minor chord
B – minor chord
C – major chord
D – major chord
E – minor chord
F# – diminished chord
So if you got this one right, good job! 🙂
Until next time —
