Key Mastery

We've spent quite a lot of time by now building out our options for playing.

The best way to put it all back together is to practice it one key at a time.

Key Mastery is all about exploring our options within a given key and pushing that to the limit. We want to build a degree of fluency especially within the most common keys of the guitar.

I'll run through the process here using the Key of C Major.

At the bottom of the page is a cheat sheet for a quick recap of what you need to practice.

Chords

First of all, we want to know our Diatonic Chords.

That's C, Dm,  Em,  F,  G,  Am,  and Bdim. When you're working through another key, you'll need to be able to find those on your own.

Can you play all 7 chords? That's a good start, but there's always more than one way to play a chord. Try to find 3 options for each. (Use your E, A and D string roots to make that really simple!)

Also, look for easy chord extensions and alterations that can be accessed, especially on the open chords. Obviously, barre chords will largely have the same options available everywhere on the fretboard.

There's a huge number of possibilities, but a good jumping off point will be the 7th and 9th chord extensions and the sus2 and sus4 alterations.

I've worked through the open shapes here to find some examples of possibilities. There are certainly more but I've included only the most common alterations:

• C - Cmaj7, Cadd9, Csus2, Csus4

• Dm - Dm7, Dsus2, Dsus4

• Em - Em7, Em9, Esus4

• G - G6, G7

• Am - Am7, Asus2, Asus4

Brush up on your Barre Chord Modifications for the F chord if needed.

Diminished chords are somewhat of a separate topic but make sure you also know your Half-Diminished shape for the B chord.

Scales

Now, let's get comfortable accessing our scales in the Key.

Of course, we'll want to know the Scale that our Key relates to, so find your C Major Scale.

But don't stop there! Let's also find our Major Pentatonic, and work through the 5 forms in C. Try to do it with the Blues Forms as well.

I'd also like to work on playing the Major Scale one string at a time (Or, Minor Scale if you're in a Minor Key!). Take notice of your Root Notes here, and try to memorize them.

Try it on the low E string first, and list the intervals and note names as you go. Then you can apply all that to the high E as well.

From there, I like to do it again on the D string, that way you have some frame of reference, by moving the notes of the low E an octave higher.

At some point though, it would be good to spend time doing this with all 6 strings. This will help you build an intuitive sense of the key.

If you've begun to study the 3 Note Per String Forms and Modes, you can apply that knowledge here as well.

Relative Keys

Since every Key has a Relative Key, it makes sense to practice them in tandem.

In C Major, our Relative Key is A Minor.

Remember - all the chords you just practiced can still be used in the Key of A Minor! But you need to treat A as the tonal center now. That makes your diatonic chords fall into the following order:

A - Bdim - C - Dm - Em - F - G

And, if you're familiar with Minor Diatonics, you may remember that we often substitute in a Major or Dominant chord on the V in Minor Keys. So get comfortable with E7 here as well.

Now, find your Am Scale and get comfortable with it, and then work through the 5 forms of the Blues Pentatonic again, this time with Minor Key Root Notes.

Spend some time here again with One String Scales as well, this time paying attention to the A notes.

Cheat Sheet

Chords:

• Find all 7 Diatonic Chords

• Play each Diatonic Chord 3 or more ways

• Search for ways to extend and alter the Open Chords

• Brush up on Barre Shape Modifications and Half Diminished Chords as needed

Scales:

• Find the Major Scale or Minor Scale of the Key

• Find all 5 Forms of the Blues Pentatonic in the Key

• Play One String Scales and try to memorize at least the Root Notes of the Key

• Access your 3 Note Per String Forms to extend your Major or Minor Scale across the fretboard

Relative Key:

• Find the relative Key

• Memorize the new order of Diatonic Chords

• Work through the new Scale of the Key (Extending with 3 Note per String forms if you are able)

• Work through the Blues Pentatonic again, paying attention to the new position of the Root Notes

• Play the One String Scales again in the new Key, and aim to memorize as much as possible

We'll stop there! There's always more to learn but this should encompass most of the knowledge you've built up to this point in Tier 3.

A big next step will be incorporating the CAGED Shapes and Triad Inversions into your toolbox as well.

Once you feel comfortable with the C & Am Keys, a good next choice would be to work on Em & G.

Guitarists like to write songs with open chords, so any Key with C, A, G, E, or D as the Tonic will come up fairly often!

This is a lot of work, so just take it a piece at a time. You might need a month of daily practice in a Key (or a lot more!) to really start feeling comfortable with all the concepts brought up here.

The good news is once you get one Key down, the rest will get easier and easier!