THE KEY TO THE MYSTERY

As a learner of the guitar and the system we call music, I was always aware of the term 'Key'. I was also aware that it was important to know what it meant -- the name itself indicated that it was fundamental -- trouble was, no one could define it for me.

Here is my definition: The key is the family of notes and chords generated by the Major Scale.

Simple as that.

Unfortunately, the way music has been labeled and notated over the centuries, the straight forwardness of it all is often clouded.

First of all, the scale is not really a series of notes, so much as a series of intervals: tone tone semitone, tone tone tone semitone. Pick any of the 12 notes as the starting note, apply the template, and you'll wind up with 7 notes that sound like 'do re mi' when you play them in sequence.

Secondly, because of the way music evolved, only 7 notes got named: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. But there are 12 in all, so 5 wound up with the sharp/flat tag. To a beginner, these notes seem to be different from the rest. They're not.

Third, the sequence, the template, the recipe, the formula, the scale -- whatever you want to call it -- is not symmetrical. It's uneven. Tone Tone semitone, Tone Tone Tone semitone. It's all over the place. Why? Because physics dictated this series of intervals without regard to symmetry. The science of vibrating sound waves gave us this formula. It wasn't invented so much as tweaked and refined from Nature herself. The consequence of this unevenness is that the chords generated by the scale have different flavors. 3 are major, 3 minor and one is half diminished.

Fourth, the rules of music don't prohibit the use of chords from outside the key, in fact it happens all the time. Many, many well known hits use chords that are from outside the key, in fact their use is often the reason they become hits. They contribute to the 'hook' that grabs the attention.

Added to all that, the guitar itself is a great source of confusion with its multiplicity of repeat notes, its uneven tuning and the fact that the strings end at the nut.

Nonetheless, despite all the above, knowing your keys remains the best way to keep an overview of music, as the key provides a constant, a context, to which all else can be referred. And what exactly do I mean by 'knowing your keys'?

Well, know, for example, that the One Chord -- the chord built by selecting three alternate scale notes starting with the first -- is the chord which everything revolves around, and which everything resolves to. It's the boss chord.

Know that the three major chords are in fact the One, Four and Five chords. These three chords are the basis of hundreds of thousands of tunes. These are the 'twelve bar blues' chords.

Know that the Five chord is the chord that brings you home to the One chord, and that the scale allows for it to be a 7th chord, indeed demands it be so.

Know that the Six chord is the main minor chord and that it is so close to being the One chord that it's called the Relative Minor. It's like the minor counterpart of the One chord.

Know that the Seven chord, the half diminished, can be better viewed as another Five chord.

Know that all 12 keys are the same, that the way the 7 chords relate to each other is the same for all.

Know that the more you remind yourself which chords are which, the easier it becomes to recognize them by ear, the easier it becomes to locate yourself within the key and play through the changes. Most of us know the sound of the 12 bar blues chords, the sound of E, A, B7. Hearing the others is just as easy.

Know that each of the seven chords has a specific function within the key, and that the sound of each tends to lead our ear to another chord.

Know that it will become second nature to you, with enough practice, to be able to hear piece of music as a chord progression and label it as, for example --One chord, Six chord, Four chord, Five Chord -- Or One chord, Three Chord, Four chord, Five chord.

Know that eventually the key will become exactly that -- the key which will unlock the mystery of how all these seemingly inconsistent elements add up to Music, capital M.

So there you go. Know your key. Try and imagine that there's only one key, with 12 starting notes.

And how to keep track of all the chords and notes? Learn the TRICK, by buying my book PlaneTalk -- The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book. Even better, get the book / video special. There will be no mystery left. The hidden logic of the fretboard will jump out at you forever more. Check it all out at http://lorange.kirk.net

I've done another few instrumental slide tracks. Hear them at:
http://www.mp3.com/kirklorange

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com continues to grow. I've done a bunch of moveable chord charts.

Until next time, all the best, Kirk

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If you've always wondered WHAT'S THE TRICK?... how come some players have the whole fretboard at their disposal?... then be sure to get yourself a copy of this powerful teaching tool: Planetalk http://www.lorange.kirk.net

PlaneTalk is a comic-strip conversation that takes place on a plane between a seasoned guitarist and a guy who gave up trying to figure it out. The pro lets him in on a secret, a shorthand way of thinking of music and the guitar, a simple trick. The reader gets to listen in as the lesson unfolds...

See cartoon samplers from the book:
http://www.guitarsite.com/kirk-cartoon.htm