C major

About C major

Play C – D – E – F – G – A – B and back to the first note again, and you have the scale of C major. With no sharps or flats, it is easy to read once you know the signature. Every chord in the table above is made only from these notes.

In C major the chords C, F and G carry the weight: they are major, they are built on the strongest degrees of the scale, and moving between them sounds like a sentence with a beginning, a middle and an end. The minor chords ii, iii and vi share two notes each with those, which makes them easy substitutes.

Starting the same scale from A gives A minor, the relative key. Borrowing a chord from C minor, the parallel key, is a classic way to add colour: a minor chord in a major key, or a major chord in a minor one, for a moment.

The dominant seventh chord, G7, is the strongest way to lead back to C: it contains the leading note B, a half step below the home note, and resolving it feels like coming home. Nearby keys on the circle are G major and F major.

C major lies well on the guitar, with 5 chords available as open shapes. That is one reason so many guitar-based songs are written in this key.

Practise the key in three steps: the scale up and down, the seven chords in order, then one of the progressions above until the changes feel automatic. Ten minutes is enough.