"Key" patterns

Hi Tim,

The chords in the key of A are: A, D, E7  and F#m is the primary minor.

C is; C, F, G7 with Am as the primary minor.

D is: D, G, A7 with Bm as the primary minor.

There are of course many chords you can actually use in a song (I have seen 14 different chords in a song) but those are the basic ones.

Roger

Thanks guys that helps alot! 

Damn Jerome that made a helluva lot of sense ... thanks for the "Scale Theory 101" impromptu!

Here's a bit of a tip.  Keep it in mind when you're writing songs.     

Every note in every one of those chords is found within the root scale.   So going back to our C major example, every note in chord D minor is found in the C major scale.  Same with E minor, F major, G major, etc...

You can play any of those chords and you'll at least be tonally correct.   There are some simple rules for chord resolution, too, that help you build chord progressions.

-I chord can change to any chord
-II chord can change to any chord except the I chord
-III chord can change to any chord except the I or the VII chords
-IV chord can change to any chord
-V chord can change to any chord except the II chord or the VII chord
-VI chord can change to any chord except the I or the VII chords
-VII chord can change to any chord except the II or IV

So that's a pretty simple framework for song writing.  There are much more complicated progressions that fall out of this but that's the start.

We always say that good artists know when to break the rules, but we rarely talk about what the rules are.  There they are.  Go learn 'em, so you can break 'em. 

I bow before the Music Theory master ... thanks Jerome!