So, coming back to the original question, touching all chords in a key. The net result is that there's a beautiful 'meta chord progression' where the tonic keeps changing (2-5-1 is powerful like that.) And same happens for the second 2-5-1, we feel like we key changed to Emin.

For example, autumn leaves often starts with Amin, and that feels like the tonic until you reach the Gmaj, and realize there was just a 2-5-1, then it feels like we're in Gmaj. It gets even more interesting than that, though, because starting on the ii-chord already created some ambiguity about what key we should feel like the piece is in. there's a new temporary perceived key change. So after one of those 2-5-1 sequences, it already feels like we resolved to a new tonic, i.e. another interpretation of that chord progression is stringing together two 2-5-1 standard jazz progressions with one connecting chord in between. We could just see it as ii - V - I - IV - vii - iii - vi - vi7, but what does that tell us?. Have a look at guitar chords in other keys as well.So it's totally reasonable to ask this question, but I worry it may be missing some of the deep richness and complexity of longer chord progressions - when you have lengthy chord progressions like this, it's very likely to have smaller parts that would actually be better to interpret as a temporary key change.Īutumn leaves is a great example. You should now know not just each chord, but also why each chord is major or minor. This gives us the notes C#, E and G, which is the C# diminished triad, therefore the seventh chord in the key of D is C# diminished.Īnd there you have it ladies and gentleman, the chords in the key of D. Ohoh, now we need to flatten the 3 rd AND the 5 th, since neither the X or the X are on the D major scale. This gives us the notes B, D and F#, which is the B minor triad, therefore the sixth chord in the key of D is B minor. We have to lower the 3 rd to the flattened 3 rd. We get the notes A, C# and E, which is the A major triad, therefore the fifth chord in the key of D is A major.Īgain, we need to modify our 3 rd note, which would be a D#, since that note is not in the key of D. We get the notes G, B and D, which is the G major triad, therefore the fourth chord in the key of D is G major.Īgain, the 1 st, 3 rd and 5 th of the A major scale are in the key of D, so we don’t need to modify any of the notes. This time we’re in luck, the 1 st, 3 rd and 5 th of the G major scale are in the key of D, so we don’t need to modify any of the notes. This gives us the notes F#, A and C#, which is the F# minor triad, therefore the third chord in the key of D is F# minor. So our 3 rd note would be an A#, but we can’t have that, since that note is not in the key of D. All of these notes are on the D major scale as well, therefore the second chord in the key of D is E minor. This gives us the notes E, G and B, which is the E minor triad. So our 3 rd note for would be a G#, but we can’t have that, since that note is not in the key of D major (not on the D major scale). This gives us the notes D, F# and A, which is the D major triad, therefore the first chord in the key of D is D major. Now let’s calculate the quality of each chord in the key of D. Diminished triads (diminished chords) with scale degrees 1 b3 b5.Minor triad (minor chords) with scale degrees 1 b3 5.Major triad (major chords) with scale degrees 1 3 5.We'll get to some examples shortly, don't worry 🙂 We then compare these notes with the notes of the D major, and if any single note is not in our key, we’ll have to flatten it to make it a note that can be found on the D major scale.

This means that starting from each root note, we’ll count out the 1 st, 3 rd, and 5 th degrees along the major scale of that given root note. Starting from a given root note, we need to form its triad in a way that leaves the chord constructed only from notes that can be found on the D major scale. So as I was saying, the D major scale has 7 notes, here they are with the corresponding scale degree:īut how do we know which chord will be major or minor? We're going to head into music theory land now, so if you need to, brush up on your knowledge of the major scale. The chords in D will root on the notes along the D major scale, since all chords in a major key are formed by notes from their respective diatonic scale. Why are these the chords in the key of D major? (the theory) I = major, ii = minor, iii = minor, IV = major, V = major, vi = minor, vii = diminished Popular chord progressions in the key of D Progression TIP: The chords of any major key will always have the following major-minor pattern:

Through it all chords key of d