The Keynote Chord System

Hands up those who have looked at a guitar chord book and then dropped the book and ran for the nearest exit. To be honest I don’t blame you!My earliest experience with chord books was with my first guitar teacher. The idea was to learn one new chord shape per lesson out of this massive chord book entitled 1001 chords. 

It all started out fine for the first two weeks but on my third lesson disaster struck. I had forgotten one of the chords from the previous lessons. This started me thinking, “How will I ever remember all these chords?”

You probably have had similar experiences. But what if there was an easier way to learn and remember chords? The good news is there are heaps of ways to learn chords. Here is just one of them. It’s called the Keynote Chord System:

Concept: Each chord has a keynote, also referred to as the root note. Essentially this is the note the chord takes its name from. Hence the name “keynote”.

Let’s take a look at a D major chord

D

–2—

–3—

–2—

–0—

–x—

–x—

The keynote for this D chord shape is on the second string, third fret, marked [ ].

D

–2—

-[3]–

–2—

–0—

–x—

–x—

By applying a chromatic scale to our keynote chord system concept we can play many chords without changing chord shape. It works like this:

Chromatic scale: A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A

I know it looks complicated but you can create your own chromatic scale by selecting any note. In this instance I began on the note ‘A’ open, fifth string and proceeded to play every note on that string (playing along the string – linear fashion) until I reached the next note ‘A’ on the twelfth fret, fifth string.

Think of the chromatic scale as an endless loop whereby you can start at any point,  and play all the notes in succession until you reach the note with the same letter name you began on. There you have the chromatic scale.

Some samples:

The ‘A’ chromatic scale – starting on the note ‘A’

A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A

The ‘D’ Chromatic scale – starting on the note ‘D’

D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D

The ‘F’ chromatic scale – starting on the note ‘F’

F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D – D#/Eb – E – F

Notice how each scale contains the same notes, only starting from different points in the scale.

Back to the D chord shape, since we are using the chord of D we will use the D chromatic scale as a reference.

The ‘D’ Chromatic scale – starting on the note ‘D’

D – D#/Eb – E – F – F#/Gb – G – G#/Ab – A – A#/Bb – B – C – C#/Db – D

Application: Since the keynote for a ‘D’ chord would be the note ‘D’ and we already know it is on the second string, third fret, if we moved the D shape up one fret higher the keynote would be D# or Eb (the second note in the D chromatic scale).

Therefore we would name the chord D# or Eb

D# / Eb

–3—

-[4]–

–3—

–x—

–x—

–x—

Notice how I’m only playing three notes not the usual four, this is because the open string is not moving therefore it would not be correct.

More examples:

Keynote E – second string, fifth fret

E

–4—

-[5]–

–4—

–x—

–x—

–x—

Keynote F – second string, sixth fret

F

–5—

-[6]–

–5—

–x—

–x—

–x—

Keynote F# / Gb – second string, seventh fret

F# / Gb

–6—

-[7]–

–6—

–x—

–x—

–x—

Keynote G – second string, eight fret

G

–7—

-[8]–

–7—

–x—

–x—

–x—

All I’m doing is moving consecutively through the D chromatic scale and using the same easy chord shape to create heaps of chords effortlessly.

I invite you to try these simple shapes next time you are playing your guitar.

About the Author:
Mike Hayes is a guitar teacher, author, performing musician and session guitarist with over 30 years of professional experience. Find out more about how to learn guitar fast with his popular FREE e-course

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