music keys

[Ze.]

In my theory i practice the keys coming from the C Major scale only neglecting the other keys of the circle of fifths (The # and b keys ) .Am i doing wrong for guitar and should i revise the other keys also .I am assuming those other keys are for instruments other than guitar (mostly ) and in my musical life i am never likely to play in a sharp or flat key .

[Kerbie]

How do you "practice the keys"? Do you mean you play songs in only the key of C? Or do you practice scales?

There are lots of keys and you can play any or all on the guitar. There are keys that are easier from some instruments than others, but keys aren't made for particular instruments. You can play guitar in any key.

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by Ze.

the keys coming from the C Major scale

What do you mean by this? If you are practicing playing the intervals of a major scale, then that is the same in any key of the major scale.

If you are practicing fingering all the shapes of chords of certain keys, some are more common than others in most popular guitar and some are easier to finger, so you might start with the more common ones.

The most useful perspective on theory should help you to see that there's no inherent difference between playing naturals, sharps, or flats. No key or scale is inherently more difficult than another, and, although some chords will have a finger shape that is easier, essentially all the chords are the same, too. They are all just intervals between tones.

[Ze.]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

How do you "practice the keys"? Do you mean you play songs in only the key of C? Or do you practice scales?

There are lots of keys and you can play any or all on the guitar. There are keys that are easier from some instruments than others, but keys aren't made for particular instruments. You can play guitar in any key.

I practice chord progressions and arpeggio some notes as i pick ...don't do scales yet its a matter of practice time .

I have heard the guitar referred to as a C instrument and i try to work through the circle of fifths but as there is no sharp or flat keys coming off the C Major scale notes i assumed that for western music anyway the sharp and flat keys were less important .I am trying to divide my time equally to full cover the C Major scale and all of its keys .I understand that in the Chromatic scale there are sharp and flat keys but i am only interested in the western tradition for now as like i say its a matter of time to understand music .

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by Ze.

I practice chord progressions and arpeggio some notes as i pick ...don't do scales yet its a matter of practice time .

I have heard the guitar referred to as a C instrument and i try to work through the circle of fifths but as there is no sharp or flat keys coming off the C Major scale notes i assumed that for western music anyway the sharp and flat keys were less important .I am trying to divide my time equally to full cover the C Major scale and all of its keys .I understand that in the Chromatic scale there are sharp and flat keys but i am only interested in the western tradition for now as like i say its a matter of time to understand music .

I think you may be confusing the elements of scale, key, and what's on the Circle of 5ths. The major scale is the pattern of intervals, WWHWWWH or TTSTTTS. The key is those same intervals but starting on a different tone. One of those tones is C. The Circle of 5ths is the keys of the major scale (and their relative minors, which are just the same intervals and tones starting from the 6th tone), so the Circle of 5ths IS "the C Major scale and all of its keys". Only the key of C will have no sharps or flats in the major scale. Every other major key will have some sharps and/or flats. What chords are you working on?

[zhunter]

Originally Posted by Ze.

I practice chord progressions and arpeggio some notes as i pick ...don't do scales yet its a matter of practice time .

I have heard the guitar referred to as a C instrument and i try to work through the circle of fifths but as there is no sharp or flat keys coming off the C Major scale notes i assumed that for western music anyway the sharp and flat keys were less important .I am trying to divide my time equally to full cover the C Major scale and all of its keys .I understand that in the Chromatic scale there are sharp and flat keys but i am only interested in the western tradition for now as like i say its a matter of time to understand music .

I can't really address much of your post but guitar is fully chromatic and is used for all keys.

Guitar is a C instrument in that it is not a transposing instrument. Sheet music in C is played in C on the guitar (though technically played in a different octave which is in fact transposing but the key letter remains the same). Get C sheet music for guitar. Many instruments are transposing and notes played are transposed from C chart values. Get an Eb book of charts if playing an Eb horn so it isn't necessary to transpose a minor 3 to play with non-transposing instruments.

The transposing horn instruments are the reason you find horn players choosing Eb for example since for an Eb instrument they are playing (and reading) in C.

hunter

[Ze.]

To try to explain mly question as i understand it is the we get "The major scale C" from the chromatic scale by leaving out the sharps and flats ...can we do the same ( in western music commonly) with the keys

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by Ze.

To try to explain mly question as i understand it is the we get "The major scale C" from the chromatic scale by leaving out the sharps and flats ...can we do the same ( in western music commonly) with the keys

You're confusing the scale with the key. I've learned music theory online in the last two years, so I remember how confusing it can be.

The major scale is the pattern of intervals starting anywhere on any note and moving from the first tone to the second to the third, etc. with the pattern WWHWWWH or TTSTTTS (depends where you are which you see but they are the same - whole and half steps, tones and semitones). Other scales have different patterns.

For the major scale, people give C as an example because, on a piano, it's easy to see this pattern in the white keys. That's the only major key that is leaving out the sharps and flats, but using C as an example and explaining it that way often confuses people.

Don't think of it as starting with the chromatic and leaving out sharps and flats. Instead think of it as starting on any tone/note and playing every note that falls in that pattern TTSTTTS. Playing this same pattern from every chromatic note will give you every key in the major scale. All of these are shown on the Circle of 5ths. In other words, you can't play every key of the major scale without sharps and flats or without going through the circle of 5ths, and, yes, this is all common Western music.

[FwL]

Originally Posted by Ze.

To try to explain mly question as i understand it is the we get "The major scale C" from the chromatic scale by leaving out the sharps and flats ...can we do the same ( in western music commonly) with the keys

C major is the only key with no sharp or flat notes. A minor is considered the relative minor to C major. They share the same key signature of no sharps or flats, but it is common practice to include the notes G# and F# in the key of A minor.

Common keys used for guitar music include E major, E minor, A major, A minor, D major, C major, G major.

The remaining keys aren't as common on guitar, but they still pop up here and there. It's a good idea to eventually learn to play in all keys.

[Wyllys]

Originally Posted by Ze.

To try to explain mly question as i understand it is the we get "The major scale C" from the chromatic scale by leaving out the sharps and flats ...can we do the same ( in western music commonly) with the keys

Sunny is correct regarding your confusion. It's all about intervals and relationships, not the names and notation.

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by FwL

C major is the only key with no sharp or flat notes. A minor is considered the relative minor to C major. They share the same key signature of no sharps or flats, but it is common practice to include the notes G# and F# in the key of A minor.

Since we're talking about the differences in scales and key - Just to clarify for the OP, if "A minor" had G# and F#, that would be a different scale with different intervals. That is the melodic minor scale with the pattern W-H-W-W-W-W-H.

The natural minor scale of A minor has the same notes as C major because it is the same intervals starting on A instead of C. The Circle of 5ths shows natural minors.

[mr. beaumont]

Practice them all. No shortcuts.

[Big Band Guitar]

The right "keys" will unlock a vast musical wonderland.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Ze.

To try to explain mly question as i understand it is the we get "The major scale C" from the chromatic scale by leaving out the sharps and flats ...

Yes...

Originally Posted by Ze.

can we do the same ( in western music commonly) with the keys

Not exactly.

The "C major scale" is the common name for the natural notes ABCDEFG, because they are most commonly used for the C major "key" - meaning C sounds like the "tonic", the keynote or tonal centre. The "do" of the do re mi fa so la ti do.

7 different "chords" can be created from that scale, all of which are "diatonic to" C major. C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim (and their respective 7th versions, and other extended versions).

The "circle of 5ths" is a system for producing (or organising) the other major scales, by adding sharps or flats (altering one or more of the natural notes). So, changing the F note for F# produces the set of notes most often called "the G major scale", because G is its usual keynote. (we get the do re mi etc sound now when we start from G.)
The G major scale has its own set of chords, some of which are shared with C major (the exceptions being any chord that contains the F# note).

IOW, we start the C major scale from its 5th note (G), and raise F to F# to get G major. Next we start G major from its 5th note (D), and raise C to C# to get the D major scale. Hence the idea of the "circle of 5ths".

Going the other way from C, we start from the 5th note down (F), and need to lower B to Bb to get the F major scale. That leads on to the Bb major scale, for which we need to lower E to Eb. And so on.

At the bottom of the circle, after 5 moves in either direction, the keys overlap. We reach "enharmonic" keys, meaning keys that sound the same, but are spelled differently, according to whether we want to use sharps or flats. F# major (F# G# A# B C# D# E#) sounds the same as Gb major (Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F). Take your pick!

Every major key has its "relative minor", which is basically another mode of the same scale - the one based on the 6th degree of the relative major.

Guitarists find some keys easier than others, namely those that use open strings in their main chords, and contain fewest barre chords. This is why most guitar music is in the major keys of G, D, A, E and C (probably in that order) - and in the minor keys of Am, Em and Dm.
So those would be the important keys to get familiar with (including all the chords in each one).

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Practice them all. No shortcuts.

The shortcut is realizing how they are all the same and that it makes no difference whether the notes are sharps and flats.