G Major and E Minor
This lesson serves as a primer to understanding keys other than C Major and A Minor. This is the only lesson that addresses a specific key as such. Combining this lesson with the circle of fifths lesson and the upcoming the all-positions lesson should be enough, so that you can learn any key you desire on your own.
The key of G Major consists of the notes G A B C D E F♯. G is a 5th above C, or one clockwise movement along the circle of fifths above C. It shares all the same notes as C Major, except the F♯, which is the leading tone in G Major.
E Minor is the relative minor of G Major, sharing all the same notes. E is the 5th of A, and A Minor is the relative minor of C Major. Just as we traverse the circle of fifths clockwise to go from C to G, we can do the same for A to E. E Minor is a rather popular key for guitar, having a tonic note as the lowest note of the standard-tuned 6-string guitar.
Contents
PreReqs
- Music Theory Basics
- C Major Chord
- G Major Chord
- E Minor, D Minor, and A Minor Chords
- Other Open String Chords
- Circle of Fifths
G Major
Diatonic Chords
G Major contains the following diatonic chords:
| I | ii | iii | IV | V | vi | vii° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F° |
| G B D | A C E | B D F♯ | C E G | D F♯ A | E G B | F♯ A C |
Notice the 3 chords with the F♯ are the only ones that aren't also diatonic to C Major. The B° in C Major gets a raised 5th to become Bm. The Dm gets a raised 3rd to become D, and the F becomes F♯°. Their inclusion of the F♯ leading tone gives them a dominant harmonic function.
Open Position Scale
E--------------------------------------0--2--3- B-----------------------------0--1--3---------- G-----------------------0--2------------------- D--------------0--2--4------------------------- A-----0--2--3---------------------------------- E--3------------------------------------------- r o m r o m p o m o i r o m r G A B C D E F# G A B C D E F# G
Notice how the root note of the key is found on the 1st and 6th strings. This means that the key has a full 2 octaves of notes for a single position.
E Minor
Diatonic Chords
E (Natural) Minor contains the following diatonic chords:
| i | ii° | III | iv | v | VI | VII |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Em | F° | G | Am | Bm | C | D |
| E G B | F♯ A C | G B D | A C E | B D F♯ | C E G | D F♯ A |
Again, notice the 3 chords with the F♯ are the only ones that aren't also diatonic to A minor. The B° in A Minor gets a raised 5th to become Bm, the Dm gets a raised 3rd to become D, and the F becomes F♯°. But unlike G Major, only the D is a dominant-function chord, while the F♯° and Bm are pre-dominant.
Open Position Scale
E--------------------------------------------0-- B-----------------------------------0--1--3----- G-----------------------------0--2-------------- D--------------------0--2--4-------------------- A-----------0--2--3----------------------------- E--0--2--3-------------------------------------- o m r o m r o m p o m o i r o E F# G A B C D E F# G A B C D E
Open Position Chord Voicings
Here are open position chord voicings for G Major and E Minor. Notice that 4 of these are already well-known from C Major. D is already known from the other open string chords lesson. The only new ones are Bm and F♯°. Bm is difficult to make use of open strings (unlike its 7th chord), so it uses the common 5-string barre shape. Really only F♯° is new, and unfortunately diminished triads can have some nasty shapes. The 7th chord varieties actually make more sense, but we haven't gotten that far quite yet.
| G | Am | Bm | C | D | Em | F♯° |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||-|-|p| ||-|-|r| o|-|-|-| o|-|-|-| ||-|i|-| ||-|-|m| |
o|-|-| ||i|-| ||-|r| ||-|m| o|-|-| ||-|-| |
||-|i|-|-| ||-|)|m|-| ||-|)|-|p| ||-|)|-|r| ||-|i|-|-| ||-|-|-|-| |
o|-|-|-| ||i|-|-| o|-|-|-| ||-|m|-| ||-|-|r| ||-|-|-| |
||-|m|-| ||-|-|r| ||-|i|-| o|-|-|-| ||-|-|-| ||-|-|-| |
o|-|-| o|-|-| o|-|-| ||-|r| ||-|m| o|-|-| |
||-|p|-|-| ||i|-|-|-| ||-|r|-|-| ||-|-|-|-| o|-|-|-|-| ||-|m|-|-| |
For F♯°, use the ring finger to mute the open D on the D string. If the shape is too difficult, you can leave off the F♯ on the high E string, using the pinky in place of the ring finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, and using the ring finger solely to mute the open D string.
||-|-|-|-| ||i|-|-|-| ||-|p|-|-| ||-|-|-|-| - use ring finger to mute o|-|-|-|-| ||-|m|-|-|
Sample Song in G Major
Here is a very simple song using a I - IV - V - I progression in G Major. The chord progression is written above the tab. You can apply rhythm to it however you like, as discussed in a prior lesson. The melody written in the tab basically just ascends the G Major scale, playing the root of the chord in the harmony on the downbeat of each measure.
G C D G I IV V I 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 E----------------|---------------|--------0---2--|3--------------| B-------------0--|1-------0---1--|3--------------|---------------| G-0-------2------|---------------|---------------|---------------| D----------------|---------------|---------------|---------------| A----------------|---------------|---------------|---------------| E----------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
Notice there's nothing special about the different keys. Notes may change and chords may need to be voiced a little differently, but ultimately what matters is the pattern. A I-IV-V-I progression will feel the same in G Major as it does in C Major. The ascending G Major scale melody above uses the following notes from the scale: 1 2 3 4 3 4 5 6 7 8. Using the same relationship of notes in C Major would produce an identical effect.
Why Use Different Keys?
So if everything is relative and any major key is going to be roughly the same as any other major key, what's the point of using different keys? Why not write everything in C Major?
We have not yet gotten to the topic of modulation, which involves changing keys inside a song. This can have a profound effect on the piece as a whole. It requires we know the different keys used, which must be at least 2. We won't always modulate to the current key's 5th, either. While one song may modulate from C Major to G Major, another song may modulate from C Major to E Major.
While many songs have sections devoted to a modulation, it doesn't need to be so obvious. We may want to modulate out of the key for just a measure to play a certain melody we think will sound good over the current chord.
Even if a song does not modulate to another key, it may require being written in a certain key so that it fits the range of a certain instrument. For instance, consider a piece written for clarinet, whose range is E3 to G6. The piece features an ascending 3 octave arpeggio run of the tonic chord, ending on the root note 3 octaves above the original note. There are only a few possible notes that this will work for without exceeding the clarinet's range: E, F, F♯ and G. If C Major is the key, the clarinet will not be able to play the piece. So the piece is written in a different key, such as E Major.
Even if an instrument's range is not the concern, timbre might be. For instance, many songs written for guitar are written in E Minor. Even though the guitar could play the song in any minor key, the composer chose E Minor because the low E is the lowest note of the guitar. He had conceptualized hitting that low E in mind when he wrote the piece, which is deeper and more impactful than hitting the A or E♭ above low E.
If a song is written in one key for a certain instrument, but we want to play it with a different instrument, we may consider transposing the song to a different key. This simply means moving all the pitches/notes uniformly higher or lower. All the relative pitches between notes remain intact. However, now the piece may fit the instrument's range or desired timbre. For guitar, the easiest way to do this is to use a capo. All the chord fingerings will be identical.
Homework
- Know that G Major is one clockwise movement from C Major on the circle of fifths.
- Know that E Minor is one clockwise movement from A Minor on the circle of fifths.
- Know that G Major and E Minor are relative keys.
- Know that G Major differs from C Major (or E Minor from A Minor) only by one note: F -> F♯.
- Learn the diatonic chords of G Major/E Minor.
- Play the accompanying chords for the sample song above in open position.
- Play the melody for the sample song above.
- Play previous chord progression samples from C Major or A Minor in the key of G Major or E Minor. Use the roman numerals as your guide.
- Know the above reasons why playing in different keys can be useful.